Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
not stop the increase of its concentration and therefore will not stop climate
change. Scientists can show that reductions of 70 per cent or more in current
global emissions are necessary in order to stabilise concentrations.
This is an enormous challenge, as on the one hand, we have probably
only a matter of decades, or at the most this century, to get stabilisation
under control, yet there are an existing two billion people who currently do
not have access to levels of energy that those of us in the developed world use
to meet the standards of living we enjoy. Increased access to energy, at least
currently, means increased carbon dioxide ('greenhouse') emissions. Fur-
ther, by the middle of this century, world human population is likely to rise
by a further two billion people, each aspiring to the amenities that the utili-
sation of energy provides, such as heating, cooling, transport and cooking. It
is not energy per se that is demanded, rather, it is the amenity that it delivers.
Raising energy usage is one option, but the other is increasing the efficiency
with which 'amenity' is provided per unit of energy consumed. Indeed, one
of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 2000) relates to poverty alle-
viation that itself will be in part dependent on the availability of the amenity
of energy. These mutual requirements of emission reduction and energy
amenity are, on the surface of it, contradictory.
This challenge is so demanding that we can safely conclude that there is
no single solution. Rather, there is a need for a portfolio of activities that
each delivers part of the answer. At the same time there is a need for main-
taining flexibility for different sectors of the global and national communi-
ties and through different time scales. The advantage of such an approach is
that individual companies, jurisdictions and countries can hone and evolve
their respective portfolios (both economic and social) to maximise emission
reduction and energy amenity.
Ingredients of a portfolio approach for Australia might include:
•
improved end-use efficiency
•
higher efficiency combustion technologies
•
new automotive technologies
•
decentralised power generation
•
affordable renewable technologies
•
capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide from power plants.
It is encouraging to see the energy sector in Australia paying more atten-
tion to the degree to which energy futures will be largely shaped by the
