Time for holistic response on climate

Canberra Times
Friday 8/12/2006 Page: 25

THE CURRENT flurry about nuclear power in Australia misses the point.

What's really needed is a holistic approach to meeting our energy needs while also cutting greenhouse emissions. A startling aspect of the Prime Minister's draft Nuclear Taskforce report is the assumption that "Australia's demand for electricity will more than double before 2050". This doesn't have to be the case.

Our international panel of energy experts, who reviewed the draft nuclear report, told us,"The average Australian consumes about 12,000kWh per year; that is twice the EU average consumption per capita. The energy service delivered in Australia via these high consumption levels is not substantially different from the EU. If Australian citizens consumed the same amount of electricity as the Europeans, it could save half of the installed generation capacity, or 22,000 MW, rather than building new plants. Because efficiency is much cheaper than new generation, such a course would also lower Australians' electricity bills and make Australian industry more competitive in world markets." Energy efficiency is simple common sense.

Using more efficient appliances, better building codes and retro - fitting existing buildings are the great unsung hero in the climate-change debate. Even the Nuclear Taskforce report acknowledges that energy efficiency can contribute up to 50 per cent of the total CO, emissions reductions. And investing a dollar in energy-efficient appliances can save $2 or more through the whole energy system.

Unfortunately, Australia's record on improving energy efficiency has not been good compared with others. The European Union has just introduced an action plan to increase energy efficiency by 20 per cent by 2020, saving an estimated 100 billion ettros a year in energy bills and resulting in an overall decline in energy consumption.

Energy-efficiency measures will not leave the toxic legacy of radioactive waste for future generations, as does nuclear. The British Association for the Conservation of Energy says the most optimistic assumption is that one new nuclear power plant could be operating in Britain by 2020, delivering perhaps just over one million tonnes of carbon saving. In contrast, energy efficiency "could save around 25 million tonnes of carbon through cost-effective energyefficiency measures" by that date.

The other winner in the climate-change debate is renewable energy which, contrary to government claims, can deliver reliably and not just at the margins. It just requires a rethink about our energy systems, rather than a frozen-in-time approach.

Major energy economies, such as California, plan to fast-track renewables to provide 20 per cent of electricity by 2010 and 33 per cent by 2020. In parts of Germany and Denmark wind power provides 100 per cent of the region's power needs for months of the year, and excess electricity is exported to other parts of Europe.

Taking the renewable-energy route through active policy support can not only dramatically lower CO, emissions but position Australia as a leader in the rapidly growing global renewables marketplace. Solar and wind energy are the fastest-growing forms of electricity generation, with global growth rates of 40 per cent and 28 per cent a year over the past five years.

The global wind market is expected to have an annual turnover in 2006 of more than $A21.6 billion and employ more than 150,000 people. Wind is competitive with gas in some places in Australia and will become cheaper than coal in future. In an honest assessment of the true costs (decommissioning costs and waste) wind is already cheaper than nuclear power.

Australia's solar industry has been almost static since 2003. Last year Germany installed nearly 80 times as much solar power as Australia with an average of half our sunshine. Yet Australia could develop a solar market worth $5 billion by 2025, creating 44,000 jobs and cutting billions of tonnes of CO,.

If the Howard Government was serious about addressing climate change it would look at how to encourage greater energy efficiency and speed the uptake of wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy.

Together renewable energy and energy efficiency can move its to a clean energy future - one that is not based on polluting energy such as coal and nuclear power.

Steve Shallhorn is the chief executive officer of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.