Renewable Energy In Australia Essay

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.

In conclusion, Australia must move away from coal to renewable energies, in order to meet the renewable energy target to control the climate change and also to generate electricity more efficient. Despite the fact that closing coal power stations would be a significant disadvantage for Australia, as coal is one of the biggest potential that Australia has. However, renewable energies such as solar, wave and geothermal would bring their own advantages, such as cost, environmental benefits and the job opportunities, which are more necessary that using the coal potential. Therefore, the coal power stations must be closed immediately.

Today I will be protesting against unrenewable energy and its effect on the environment. This is a problem because big companies and power hungry individuals don’t want to change because they will lose money. No doubt Australia benefits from the mining of fossil fuels and helps us trade with other countries but ask your self do you want your kids to see the wonders of the world, the wide variety of sea and land wildlife or do you want them to see a world so toxic and polluted that nothing is surviving. If we stand now and make a change we can live in a cleaner, safer, happier and greener world

Over all in Australia, there exists an extensive difference in the price of electrical energy, as the data shows that over 80% is output of black and brown coal which add pressure of the supply, once they experience such cost of producing these energy, market distortions come across other renewable alternatives in the future energy development ( Dopita &Williamson 2010, pp.11-13).

Renewable forms of energy are becoming more and more necessary for a sustainable future. Wind energy is a form of energy that is becoming more and more popular, and it offers a way for people to harness energy from something natural to create electricity. Wind energy in addition to other sustainable forms of creating energy are going to start taking the place of fossil fuels as people realize the true benefits of using them.

The year is 2200. The world is going through a fossil fuel shortage. Oil reserves are almost completely consumed and it is becoming impossible to find new fossil fuel sources. Not prepared for this event to occur, The United States, has no alternative options. As a result of the oil shortage, the standard of living deteriorates. Heat in homes, supermarkets full of food, and transportation, all basic necessities taken for granted, will be depleted because fossil fuels are used to power almost everything. The key to the prevention of this future is renewable energy. Unfortunately the support for the use of renewable energy is weak and ineffective. Unless the US puts forth effort to research and promote the use of renewable energy to

Securing a sustainable future for electricity can be ensured by introducing renewable energy sources to develop a sustainable weighting of the three Economic, Environmental and Social pillars of sustainability. It is known today that the world needs sustainable electricity sources to produce energy, as our natural recourses such as coal are running out. The burning of coal for energy produces an output of carbon dioxide, which is the leading cause to global warming the detrimental effects on the future of the environment. The world has access to many sources of renewable energy such as, wind power, solar power, and hydro power. Although, renewable energy does not produce the majority of the worlds electricity as the conversion to renewable energy sources has been difficult due to lack of funding the governments are willing to pay across the world.

Today, global energy consumption heavily relies on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, in 2015, Australia relied 86% of the electricity generation on traditional non-renewable energy sources (73% coal, 13% natural gas).1 The burning of these fossil fuels has been very closely associated with carbon and greenhouse gas emission, resulting changes in the climate such as global warming and extreme weathers. The CO2 emissions had increased from estimated 198 megatons in 1850 to an astonishing 32274 megatons in 2011. The CO2 emission increased 160 times in just the last 160 years.2 As such, the exploration of new, clean renewable energy sources becomes increasing important. To meet the ever increasing demand for energy, renewable energy resources like solar, wind, geothermal, tidal wave and biomass have been introduced and successfully made up almost 22% of the global electricity generation in 2013, and the IEA predicted that this number is going to increase to at least 26% by 2020.

Today, global energy consumption heavily relies on fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, in 2015, Australia relied 86% of the electricity generation on traditional non-renewable energy sources (73% coal, 13% natural gas).1 The burning of these fossil fuels has been very closely associated with carbon and greenhouse gas emission, resulting changes in the climate such as global warming and extreme weathers. The CO2 emissions had increased from estimated 198 megatons in 1850 to an astonishing 32274 megatons in 2011. The CO2 emission increased 160 times in just the last 160 years.2 As such, the exploration of new, clean renewable energy sources becomes increasing important. To meet the ever increasing demand for energy,

Electricity industry is one of the fastest growing industries in Australia. Any electricity industry essentially comprises of electricity generators, transmission and distribution networks and retailers, who facilitate final sale of electricity to the end consumers (industry, households, etc.). Electricity industry in Australia has shown a very robust revenue growth year on year. The Australian electricity industry has undergone huge transformation in the past two decades. Regulatory barriers to the interstate trade have been removed in phases. (Australian Energy Regulator)

Target 7.1: Dimensions can be created to track the progress of this target however, they are difficult to quantify. This is due to the fact that the metrics which can be created to measure this target depend on what the key elements of the target (such as universal, affordable, reliable, and modern) are agreed to be defined as. What is considered to be affordable/reliable/modern can be subjective especially in a global context. Therefore, the dimensions can be measured, however the target itself is not truly measurable.

The main focus on the article relates to how long-festering energy policy challenges can be addressed in 2017. The article recognizes the Australia Energy Industry operates on

Energy is a critical component for every economy and society around the world. Energy is divided into two groups, nonrenewable (coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear) with a finite amount found around the globe and renewable (hydro, tidal, solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass) that are constantly being replenished so that they will never run out (Green Energy Choice, 2011). The international economic impact of renewable energy is explored by examining subsidies, strategic policies, and comparative advantage of renewable energy.

Today, Australian’s are beginning to recognise the dangers that are associated with fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are substances such as coal that are formed within the earth. (Origin Energy, 2015). At present the fossil fuel coal, is supplying 73% of Australia’s energy (Origin Energy , 2015) manly due to its excessive availability, however due to its toxic emissions has made Australia on of the highest green house gas contributors in the world. Renewable energy is sourced from products that can be replenished and are more sustainable for our environment. With Australia’s increasing demand for electricity there are debates that we should be moving towards renewable energy to cut down our annual emissions as well as cut costs on electricity. There are many types of renewable energies that are becoming available in Australia, including solar, tidal, geothermal, wind, nuclear and many more. Some of these energies particularly solar and wind energy could be potential alternatives in supplying Australia with electricity as they are cheap and could reduce our carbon emissions significantly.

Newman in a 2010 CSIRO publication covered the relevant policy and social dynamics in Australia ((Newman et al., 2010). Their focus in this paper was on the role of renewable energy in building resilience into Australian cities. Peter Newman is a specialist in socio-ecology systems but in my view missed the need for the consumer to engage in trading and sharing of energy resources before the economics of renewable energy can be acceptable to the broader society. His view is that integration of more renewables is possible ipso facto. I argue that to do this, policy development must allow sharing and trading of electricity.