Zero Carbon Australia 2020

ANNETTE MARNER, PRESENTER: Well, will solar thermal power replace the coal-fired Playford B power station at Port Augusta? Now, Port Augusta has two coal-fired plants: Playford B, which became fully operational back in 1964; and the second is the Northern power station, which was commissioned in 1985. Now, these plants provide something like 40 percent of the State’s electricity supply. The older one is used during periods of higher demand - that’s the Playford one - for example, during a heatwave when we’re all running air conditioners. And as we know, the coal for the plants is mined at Leigh Creek and brought to Port Augusta by rail.

Now, Beyond Zero Emissions is an independent not-for-profit organization, they say they receive no government or industry funding. Now, they’ve released a report called Repowering Port Augusta, and very much, the focus is on a vision for Port Augusta being the hub of solar thermal power, ultimately, replacing both [coal-fired] power plants.

Mark Ogge is from Beyond Zero Emissions and joins us. Mark Ogge, welcome to ‘Late Afternoons’ today.

MARK OGGE, BEYOND ZERO EMISSIONS STRATEGIC DIRECTOR: Hi Anne. Good to be here.

BANYULE AND NILLUMBIK reports: Eltham resident Marguerite Marshall is a member of Beyond Zero Emissions, which campaigns for action on climate change. She was trained by Al Gore last year to advocate about the issue.

I came to Eltham in 1979 as a young married woman. I brought up my two daughters here. I’ve been an activist for 35 years. I’ve been a member of the Australian Conservation Foundation most of my adult life.

I’ve been a public speaker on the environment for about 16 years. I was passionate and I read about it. I devised my own presentation about how to be environmentally conscious in your own life.

I’m also a Christian and I’m involved in the Uniting Church in Greensborough. We’ve been brought up to care about God’s planet, and to help the world’s poor, since climate change is going to impact most upon the world’s poorest.

I became involved in Beyond Zero last year. We are a group of volunteers who are passionate about solving the climate problem. We are focusing on the Zero Carbon Australia plan, developed with Melbourne University’s Melbourne Energy Institute, to turn Australia into a carbon-neutral country within 10 years.

Carrie-Anne Greenbank of Channel 9 News Gold Coast reports on our visionary plan for a renewable powered Australia:

SUNSHINE COAST DAILY reports: THE Caloundra Greens are calling for Sunshine Coast residents to get behind a project to switch Australia to 100% renewable energy sources over the next 10 years.

But secretary Allan McKay has ruled out the placement of wind or solar thermal power farms on the Coast under the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan.

The proposal, put together by volunteer group Beyond Zero Emissions, was discussed yesterday at a Greens-sponsored public meeting at Lake Kawana Community Centre.

It detailed a rollout of large solar thermal plants at 12 proposed sites across the country to supply 60% of Australia's power, with the other 40% being supplied by wind.

Atherton, Georgetown, Collinsville and Stanthorpe in Queensland and Walcha, Orange, Cooma and Crookwell in New South Wales have been earmarked for wind plants.

Solar thermal energy is the focus for areas of Prairie, Roma, Charleville and Longreach in Queensland and Bourke and Dubbo in NSW.

The Western Times report:

WESTERN Queensland has been touted as one of the best locations in the country for the expansion of Australia’s solar industry.  A report by climate change group, Beyond Zero Emissions, found Charleville, along with Roma and Longreach, was an ideal site to establish a solar thermal power plant.

The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan outlines a technically feasible and economically attractive way for Australia to transition to 100% renewable energy within 10 years.

The proposed sites were chosen based on three criteria: their relatively high solar incidence and daily sunlight hours, low winter to summer solar resource ratios and proximity to load centres to connect the solar plants to existing population centres.

Charleville scored equal highest for its high level of solar incidence. Beyond Zero Emissions strategic director Mark Ogge said solar could be a hugely successful industry for western Queensland. “We balanced the quality of the solar resource against the existing grid and demand for electricity,” he said. “Charleville measured up in terms of having a great solar resource.” Mr Ogge said a solar thermal power plant would provide a real economic boom for the region. “These plants employ about 750 permanent workers with ongoing fulltime maintenance jobs,” he said.

By Matthew Wright

CLIMATE SPECTATOR reports: A year ago I retired my old, dirty and inefficient gas wall heater, when I had it confirmed that it was using a significant amount of energy heating up outside rather than just inside my house like I would have expected.

Australians are generally unaware about the renewable heat resources available to domestic households, as a clean, safe and efficient competitor to dirty fossil gas.

That's why I bought six air conditioners. Air conditioners have a bad name and a bad wrap and it's completely unearned and unfair. Air conditioners are wonderful technology, like a laptop computer, smartphone or radiology machine. Air conditioners should rightly be called heat pumps, because they pump heat from one location to another. In doing so they concentrate that heat. They can pump heat out of our room making it feel cooler. Or than can pump heat into your room making it warmer.

There is nothing to feel guilty about here.  What you should be feeling guilty about is if you don't have a reverse cycle air conditioners, and you're heating with gas or electric resistive (bar radiators, oil filled heaters, electric fan heaters etc).

Denial and half-baked proposals for action constitute much of the debate about climate change in this country. There are, however, creative people quietly going about providing real solutions to the challenge. In this article, Brad Schultz outlines a well-developed plan for meeting our energy needs without producing carbon emissions.

As a young boy, I was inspired by things that people built. I was amazed how radios operated, how computers got faster and clearly remember one day walking through one of the cooling towers at Tarong Power Station, Kingaroy, and thinking “Wow!” I marveled at its grandness.

I’ve been an Engineer for over ten years now and I’ve gradually, sometimes nervously, come to see how such “grandness” is also a part of humankind’s undoing. While the media may have you believe that there is still a debate as to the science of climate change, those in the science community itself have long moved on to assessing the impacts of climate change.

WHEN environmentalist Ngaire McGaw says she's working for a brighter future, she really means it.

As the convener of Sustainable Jamboree she has spent years campaigning for a zero emission future for Australia through the use of renewable energy sources like solar power.

So when Ms McGaw learned of an organisation committed to the same goal she was keen to become involved.

Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) is an independent climate solutions group with a mission to decarbonise Australia within a decade.

ORGANISERS of this year’s North Coast Energy Forum at Mullumbimby tomorrow (June 3) are hopeful it will kick-start funding for a regional energy strategy. Mark Byrne, one of the organisers, said the challenge set by organisers of this year’s forum was to look at how the North Coast could make more of its own energy.

One of the main speakers will be Professor Stuart White, director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures.
Professor White’s institute has established that local energy options in NSW could save between $1.4 billion and $3.8 billion between now and 2020 and reduce emissions in 2020 by between 2.2 and 8.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Other speakers include NSW Greens MLC and spokesperson on energy John Kaye, and Matthew Wright, founder and executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions.

Interest in an energy strategy has been gathering pace since last year’s forum, according to Mr Byrne, from the Environmental Defenders Office Northern Rivers. Mr Byrne said electricity made up about 40 per cent of national carbon emissions.

YOUNG Environmentalist of the Year Matthew Wright will speak about options for ‘base-load’ power and living without coal or fossil fuels at an environmental forum in Balwyn North.

The Brunswick resident, who is also executive director of Fitzroy-based Beyond Zero Emissions, said there were “massive” roll-outs of renewable energy going on in economies less dominated by fossil fuel interests, including China, Spain, Germany and the UK.

“Australians are missing out on a gateway of opportunities in the 21st century energy revolution, and are instead stuck in the 19th century fossil fuel economy,” Mr Wright said.

The forum will be held on Wednesday, June 8, from 7.30pm at St Aidan’s Uniting Church, 21 Duggan St, Balwyn North.

Gold coin donation

Details: 9836 0925.