Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
from fossil fuels. As the solar industry grows in scale and as the technology
matures the gap in cost is steadily decreasing. Fossil fuel users currently have
a free licence to pollute by emitting carbon dioxide. When the cost of elimi-
nating greenhouse gas emissions is added in, for example by requiring full
geosequestration of the CO
2
, then solar electricity production is likely to be
fully competitive with electricity production from fossil fuels.
Australia is a great place to harvest sustainable energy on a mass scale. We
have excellent and diverse solar energy resources by world standards. Aus-
tralia has a low population density, is one of the sunniest countries in the
world and has vast wind resources, particularly along the southern coastline.
Several solar-based renewable energy industries (e.g. solar hot water,
photovoltaics and wind energy) are likely to be A$100 billion per year
(worldwide) industries by 2015, and Australia has a foothold in the renewa-
ble energy industry. BP Solar and Rheem/Solahart have major manufactur-
ing facilities in Australia for photovoltaics and solar water heaters
respectively. Several wind energy companies are considering the establish-
ment of assembly plants in Australia for wind generators. Origin Energy is
commercialising the Sliver® solar cell technology developed at the Australian
National University and Solar Systems is commercialising its dish-concen-
trator photovoltaic technology. Australia has two large world-class renewa-
ble energy research groups: the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems
(CSES) at the Australian National University (CSES 2004) and the Key
Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering (KCPVE) at the University of NSW
(KCPVE 2004). In addition, a number of small groups and companies are
ready to respond quickly to improved funding for renewable energy.
Australia has large coal, oil and gas deposits and current Australian
energy policy is strongly influenced by the coal industry. The Australian
Government has committed large resources to strategic fossil fuel R&D
through a variety of mechanisms, including Cooperative Research Centres,
CSIRO divisions, Geoscience Australia and the Rio Tinto Foundation.
Carbon sequestration is a particular focus. Far more government funding is
committed to support for the fossil fuel industry than to support for the
renewable energy industry. It is a risky strategy for the Government to direct
most of its efforts to reduce energy-related greenhouse gas emissions
towards carbon sequestration.
The prospects for substantial Australian participation in the interna-
tional renewable energy industry will depend strongly upon the energy
