Renewable energy

By Paddy Manning

After an interview with Australian solar energy pioneer David Mills in October, this column previewed a Stanford University study showing that renewable sources - principally wind and solar - could meet all of our energy needs. Its co-author, Mark Jacobson - the university's professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of its atmosphere and energy program - appeared by videoconference at last weekend's Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne.

He spoke about the findings of his study, which was the cover story in November's Scientific American magazine, which has generated plenty of debate in the United States (and some here, too).

Jacobson and Mark Delucchi, a research scientist at the University of California, compared available world renewable energy resources - wind, water, solar - with maximum forecast energy demand, including transport, of about 16.9 terawatts (1 terawatt equals a trillion watts) in 2030. Today's demand is 12.5 terawatts.

No wonder Australia is lagging behind Spain and China with renewable energy, writes Matthew Wright.

Renewable energy is the fastest growing power source in the world, and already generates baseload electricity on the scale of utilities. Large solar thermal plants with heat storage can dispatch power around the clock every day of the week regardless of whether the sun is shining, and make handsome profits during demand peaks.

KEVIN Rudd might pull it all off - contribute to a meaningful agreement at Copenhagen, follow through with a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme next year and then win a federal poll in which environment issues play strongly. But it's looking dicey.

Two years after Rudd was voted in as Prime Minister - The Economist recently called it the world's first climate change election - there is growing uncertainty about his Government's direction.

Rudd got a standing ovation in Bali in 2007 after signing up to the Kyoto Protocol but is now among those rich country leaders working to replace it.

THE federal government has the opportunity to switch the nation's power to renewable energy but favours attempts to make "dirty coal clean", according to the Australian Academy of Science.

Next month the academy will call on the government to give priority support to geothermal and solar thermal energy to make them major national energy sources, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.