Energy Pollution

The majority of scientific evidence suggests that over the last century humans have begun to have a discernible influence on the world's climate, causing it to warm. There is substantial evidence to indicate that significant global warming will occur during the 21st century. The purpose of this paper is to dramatize the impact climate change could have on Australian society if we are unprepared for it. In discussing the future of the planet, climate change, caused by increased abundances of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, has been a serious cause of concern. Several studies have suggested that climate change can lead to mass-fatality disasters, international migration leading to tensions and conflict, resource shortages, infectious disease, terrorism and rising-sea levels and drought causing immense economic nuisances, all of which have the potential to harm Australia’s national security.

Professor Per Peterson from the Department of Nuclear Engineering says, “It's difficult for me to see how we can transition away from fossil fuels and not use significant amounts of nuclear energy” (Phillips, 2012). Many argue that renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind should be implemented instead of nuclear energy as they too produce no air pollution. However, modern society requires a reliable ‘base load’ of electricity which renewables are not equipped to provide. In Australia there are limited sources that could potentially supply a suitable ‘base load’. They include coal and gas (which produce CO2 emissions) geothermal, hydro (which is limited due to the lack of water), developing technology and nuclear energy (Krieg, 2014). Renewable sources of energy also prove to be a problem as they are too fickle to provide base load power to a nation, as they depend on intermittent things such as weather and seasons, whereas nuclear power is available constantly whilst being a cleaner source of power.

To meet the needs and demands of the ever rising human population, technology continues to advances and yet the bleak outlook for our future generations fails to push for a long term solution for our dying Earth. The excess greenhouse gases is an evident problems for our planet, it causes rapid climate change to adversely impacts Australia, resulting in fast increasing temperatures, jeopardizing the lives of Australians, and devastating the oceans and the ecosystems that rely upon it. Although the entire world is warming up due to climate change, Australia will suffer more severely – ensuing in a growing number of extreme weathers even with the slightest rise in average temperature (Milman, 2015). As this Oceanian country takes the blunt of

Countries around the world have agreed that to avoid potentially dangerous climate change, global warming stay below 2 degrees C. This means that every country, including Australia will need to significantly increase their efforts to reduce emissions. Currently, Australia’s per capita emissions are among the highest in the world, however, there has been recent progress in decarbonising its economy. For example, greenhouse gas emissions have remained stable while economy size has almost doubled. (Pathways to deep carbonisation).

With the increasing Australia’s population the demand for reliable energy to support our power needs now and into the future is escalating, with majority of the Australia’s energy depending solely on coal power with concerns arising on whether this is the best option for Australia’s future or focus more on harnessing green renewable energy. This essay will argue that green energy is the best option over coal power, for the world and Australia’s future, such as solar and wind. The biggest challenge though will be finding a way in being able to harness the resources nature provides to support the growing demand.

Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions have historically been steadily increasing. However, in recent years this trend has stopped - the emissions rate has steadied. The Australian nation has been emitting in the range of 250,000 to 450,000 thousand metric tons greenhouse gases per year from 1990 to 2010.

The introduction of the carbon tax in Australia is derived from the serious environmental issue of climate change. According to The Economist (2011), Australia's emissions measured on a per capita basis are the largest of any developed

Australia was once one of the healthiest and wealthiest single megadiverse country in the world. Unfortunately, it is now facing serious environmental problems which will affect the future generations.

The Australian public are concerned with the environment and keen that any Government in power have some commitment to the environment and climate on its agenda and that the Government is committed to preserving the environment. If those in power wish to remain there this commitment must be visible. Unfortunately Australia has just committed to an economic plan that is based on the mining, exportation and burning of the nations massive coal resources (Vorrath, 2014). Hand in hand with this strategy, should be an investment in CCS so that Australia takes some responsibility for reducing pollution. It is interesting to note that the two biggest countries Australia is relying on to buy this coal (India and China) are starting to move away from heavy polluting coal power stations and looking at alternative technologies. India, for example, is providing loans and subsidies to its citizens to set up the world’s largest solar farms whilst China has the ambitious aim to phase out coal completely in some cities by 2020 (Vorrath, 2014). By reducing their coal dependency these countries are in fact playing their part in trying to reduce Co2 pollution albeit not necessarily investing in CCS technology (Vorrath,

Global warming, the cause of our ice caps melting and the sea levels rising. The G7 nations have come together to put a stop to these environmental issues by introducing a plan to stop the earth’s temperature rising by 2c. Decarbonising the world’s economy is the only way to stop an increase in the earth’s temperature and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Climate works Australia and the Australian national university are leading the journey to a decarbonised Australia by 2050, with no major

The analysis pointed out Australia being one of the most carbon producing country will have to allow regulations and policies to be implemented to curb the rising carbon emission such as Carbon Taxing and Carbon Trading.

The first key commitment in the section of Climate Change and Energy states that “we will understand the sources, scope and extent of greenhouse gas emissions associated with our activities and we will continually improve energy and greenhouse gas management at our site”. This is highly beneficial to the community as it allows transparency in reporting of the company’s emission profile, inclusive of the emissions from production activities; and ways in which they are intended to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their production and use. It also enables the company to share leading practice and innovation in energy and operational efficiency to deliver savings in emissions and costs that can be dispersed across the entirety of the industry. It will in turn lead to external projects and other opportunities that deliver tangible reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and generate

The path to renewables in Australia in recent times has been met with a somewhat contentious debate. In a time where “No challenge poses a greater threat to our future than a changing climate.”(Barack Obama, August 3, 2015) the plight of Renewables is of more importance than ever in our history as a pillar on to which our highly carbon emitting society must rest, if we ever seek to reduce the impact on our climate both government and individuals must seek out and adhere to serious carbon abatement strategies. The idea of previous successful government involvement in the renewable energy industry through regulation and initiatives may elude the everyday modern Australian, marred with controversial schemes, which in hind sight were rolled out to fast without sufficient regulations has seen relatively recent schemes reduced or even thrown out. However, it is best to remind ourselves that some of Australia’s rite of passage as a nation were through Renewable energy projects. Examples of this such as the Snowy Hydro Scheme which at the time was named as one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world and the White Cliff Solar Power Station which can be seen as a world first solar energy provider.

What do we know about our energy sources and how our energy choices affect the environment? Many people still do not put much though into this topic or pay any attention to the amount of energy they use or where it comes from. For some it is just willful negligence, but for many others it may be due to a lack of knowledge on the subject. Perhaps it is a good idea to pay closer attention and educate ourselves so we can make informed decisions that may lead to less stress on our wallets and on our environment. In order to make a change, we should observe our currently used energy sources in everyday life, the impact of increasing energy uses, and observe all of the alternative options available to us.

I, Vineet Kr. Gupta, am completed M.Tech (Energy & Environmental Management) from Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India. I wish to apply for the suitable position (Environment Management Division) in your organization in the thrust area of Environment Management.