Wind, solar power find favour in poll

Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday 27/2/2007 Page: 5
Wendy Frew Environment Reporter

AUSTRALIANS want to see greater investment in renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, and cuts in the amount of coal used to generate electricity, an opinion poll suggests. Support for nuclear power came a distant last, with only 33 per cent of 1200 people polled by the Australian Research Group supporting uranium as a power source.

A greater reliance on clean energy was gaining support among Australians regardless of the positions taken by political parties, said the Climate Institute Australia's chief executive, John Connor, who commissioned the poll.

`Australians are saying they want to embrace new, clean renewable-energy technologies to deal with the challenge of climate change," Mr Connor said. "Our political leaders need to catch up with the Australian community on this issue and introduce effective policies which encourage significant clean energy investment." The poll results follow news at the weekend that the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, said a Federal Labor government would create a billion-dollar fund to include clean-coal technology in the national electricity grid by 2020.

Mr Rudd pledged $500 million to kick-start a fund that would reward business investment in experimental technology such as "cleaning" coal before it was burnt, and capturing carbon dioxide generated when it was burnt and burying it underground. CO2 is one of several key greenhouse gases linked to climate change. The Federal Government has already granted money to experimental projects such as drying brown coal.

Environmentalists and energy experts said researching technologies that could improve combustion efficiency was worthwhile, but warned that the greenhouse gas emission reductions would be minimal and nowhere near enough to make much difference to climate change. Technology that could capture and store CO2 also remained commercially unproven, they said, and was unlikely to be ready in time to tackle the immediate challenge posed by rising global temperatures.

The Australian Research Group poll found 91 per cent support for installing more solar panels, 82 per cent for more wind farms, and 70 per cent support for investments in clean-coal technology. Reducing the amount of electricity used in the first place was supported by 78 per cent, while only 46 per cent of people supported a carbon trading scheme.

Energetic Debate

• Japan has installed 13 times more, and Germany 10 times more solar systems on homes than Australia.
• Australia has access to 817 megawatts of wind power, compared with 20,622 in Germany and 11,615 in Spain.
• Australians surveyed were split on nuclear power, with 33 per cent supporting it, and 39 per cent against.