NEEC Synopsis Summit: Latest Draft
Synopsis
Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay-off handsomely in the future.
Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, environmental damage, as well as climate change. Once these are accounted for, the net cost to the Australian economy of implementing wind and solar technologies is lower than the net cost of generation through fossil fuels.
As coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, the natural progression is to upgrade them with renewable alternatives. By 2050, the proposed electrical generation breakdown is as follows: 30 percent wind, 20 percent solar, 18 percent geosequestered coal, 12 percent geosequestered gas, 7 percent hydro, 7 percent coal, 5 percent other renewables and 1 percent gas generation. Thus, the generation target for 2050 is a 93 percent reliance on low emission generation.
Reliance on intermittent generation requires demand-side management. It will allow up to 15 percent load to be shed without significant economic impact, thereby increasing the penetration of renewable generation. This management will be aided by improvements in weather forecasting allowing times of low generation to be predicted weeks in advance.
Domestically, this will see non-essential loads such as refrigerators shut down momentarily to cope with peak demand. Industry has the opportunity to provide extensive load shedding in exchange for discounted power tariffs. In some energy intensive sectors, this is already commonplace.
Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12 percent of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its electricity associated greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon. For this to occur in the required timeframe, immediate bipartisan support is required followed by decisive international action by 2020. This radical change in policy relies on the rapid deployment of new technology. The rapid deployment will result in fast-tracked refinement of the technology. That change will spur development to levels last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed.
Post 2050, fossil fuels will become depleted, resulting in reliance on new technologies including wave power and solar thermal. The lack of fossil fuels also implies a reliance on electricity to power transport. Despite the stated limitations it is possible to see a highly evolved energy sector powering Australia to social, environmental and economic prosperity.
Low cost energy and the need to be green: these are the two key drivers for energy in Australia and the world. Australia needs to look beyond the short-term hurdle of capital expenditure and make wise investments that will pay-off handsomely in the future.
Australia’s current reliance on gas and coal has resulted in it being the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita. Emissions of nitrous and sulphur oxides and fine particulates mean that the cost of this generation extends to health costs, environmental damage, as well as climate change. Once these are accounted for, the net cost to the Australian economy of implementing wind and solar technologies is lower than the net cost of generation through fossil fuels.
As coal power plants come to the end of their design lives, the natural progression is to upgrade them with renewable alternatives. By 2050, the proposed electrical generation breakdown is as follows: 30 percent wind, 20 percent solar, 18 percent geosequestered coal, 12 percent geosequestered gas, 7 percent hydro, 7 percent coal, 5 percent other renewables and 1 percent gas generation. Thus, the generation target for 2050 is a 93 percent reliance on low emission generation.
Reliance on intermittent generation requires demand-side management. It will allow up to 15 percent load to be shed without significant economic impact, thereby increasing the penetration of renewable generation. This management will be aided by improvements in weather forecasting allowing times of low generation to be predicted weeks in advance.
Domestically, this will see non-essential loads such as refrigerators shut down momentarily to cope with peak demand. Industry has the opportunity to provide extensive load shedding in exchange for discounted power tariffs. In some energy intensive sectors, this is already commonplace.
Despite improvements in efficiency, Australia’s demand is predicted to more than double over the period 2010-2050, with existing electrical generators supplying 12 percent of that power in 2050. The new generation of electrical supply can either follow the current trend of reliance on fossil fuels or make a step change into renewable energy supply. It is that step change that will allow Australia to reduce its electricity associated greenhouse gas emissions to 60 percent of current levels by 2100, and play its role in minimising the global climate change phenomenon. For this to occur in the required timeframe, immediate bipartisan support is required followed by decisive international action by 2020. This radical change in policy relies on the rapid deployment of new technology. The rapid deployment will result in fast-tracked refinement of the technology. That change will spur development to levels last seen in the era of the World Wars, minus the bloodshed.
Post 2050, fossil fuels will become depleted, resulting in reliance on new technologies including wave power and solar thermal. The lack of fossil fuels also implies a reliance on electricity to power transport. Despite the stated limitations it is possible to see a highly evolved energy sector powering Australia to social, environmental and economic prosperity.
posted by BSJ-rom at 11:57 pm
1 Comments:
This essay could be one of two things. It could be something written just off the top of your head summarising the current understanding of the situation, with facts and numbers just made up. A few of your compeditors will have a similar essay. Or it could be the result of alot of study, a summary of extensive resurch to back up all the claims and numbers. Without any footnotes or quotes from a recognised expert, it is hard to know which of the two essays this is.
Your essay sounds ok, but it is not unique in any way. Nor does it give much new information or say how these changes are going to be made.
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