Answers are blowing in the wind

Courier Mail
Monday 1/11/2010 Page: 29

RESEARCH issued this week by HSBC shows Australians are increasingly pessimistic about whether climate change can be arrested and are less confident that their leaders are tackling the problem. But there are communities and groups developing plans to bring within reach a switch from planet-warming coal-fired and gas-fired power stations to clean energy from the sun, wind, waves and underground heat.

Beyond Zero Emissions last week held the Queensland launch of its plan to switch Australia entirely to zero emission electricity sources by 2020, while earlier this month, Embark, a group chaired by Simon Holmes a Court, was launched to help communities obtain project financing and specialist advice to build community-owned renewable energy projects such as wind farms.

Holmes a Court is the founding chairman of Hepburn Wind, which raised more than $11.6 million to start building a wind farm at Leonard's Hill in Victoria this month. Scientists say carbon emissions need to peak by about 2015, then fall sharply, to give a 50-50 chance of holding the average temperature rise to 2C. So it's quite urgent that new coalfired energy generation is avoided and existing coal plants used less. But many of Australia's political leaders and power companies remain in the thrall of coal and gas.

As Victorian Climate Change Minister Gavin Jennings visited the Leonard's Hill site to mark the start of construction of what is Australia's first community-owned clean-energy project, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was in Clermont praising Rio Tinto's newest thermal coal mine, which will feed coal-fired power stations in Australia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand for years.

Queensland Natural Resources Minister Stephen Robertson recently told a public meeting any new investment in renewable energy came down to whether voters would tolerate higher power bills. This view, however, was contradicted by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who said recent power bill rises were caused by state governments not investing enough in power networks. Meanwhile Origin Energy, which spends $170 million a year on gas and oil exploration, has spent just $100 million on solar research over 10 years.

The US could light the way for Australian politicians and power firms. California's BrightSource Energy makes solar thermal power stations able to supply power day and night using energy storage technology. It will soon start building the world's largest solar power plant, the Ivanpah project. US policy settings bolstered BrightSource Energy, while Australia's only significant existing clean-energy policy helps wind farm developers but leaves geothermal and solar in the wilderness.

Beyond Zero Emissions says switching to zero-carbon power by 2020 will require a $370 billion capital investment, which would add $8 a week to household power bills. But also to be counted are the huge economic opportunities for Australia from building its own clean technology industries, given analysts estimate the global marketplace will be worth $2.2 trillion a year by 2020.