EEE has Answers & Cleaner Energy is Required:Energy Demand & Cleaner Production--K-Fuel is One Answer:
Doubling Demand Puts Australia's Power in "Clean" $90 Billion Dilemma
JOHANNESBURG --March 3, 2008--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Powering Australia, a new report, points out some of the dilemmas of national power policies and their future directions worldwide. The report sounds a warning that if the nation's power stations are forced to employ clean coal technology, the cost of wholesale electricity could rise by 50% and the cost to the consumer by 25%. Energy prices for the domestic household user are already rising steeply because of the effect of drought on water supplies, and these prices are expected to spiral higher as a national carbon trading scheme starts in 2010. In New South Wales, domestic household energy bills are already set to rise 25% by 2010 as the state fund established to protect consumers is phased out.
The report was produced with major contributions from the National Generators Forum (NGF), which says that fossil fuels power 93% of the Australian economy and that most of this is produced by power stations burning black and brown coal, which adds to the greenhouse gas emission problem.
The basic pressure being exerted on these problems is the need for more than $90 billion to be invested in the Power Industry to keep up with consumption, which is rising at double the expected rate, while also investing in efforts to cut greenhouse emissions. If clean technologies are not applied to power generation and power demand continues to rise at the current rate, greenhouse gas emissions will rise 50% by 2030, the report states.
The NGF says that government moves to cut emissions too quickly could incur major costs, which might include the closure of power stations and rises in power prices. The government has just released projections saying that its policies would substantially reduce emissions by 2020. But these projects rely on the Power Industry investing in renewable energy (plus increased energy efficiency), which is targeted by the government as 20% of total output.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports Brad Page, Chief Executive of the Energy Supply Association (ESA) of Australia, as saying that costs in the industry have nowhere to go but up. The ESA represents 40 electricity and gas supply businesses, and Page said that some industry members expected wholesale prices to jump 20% as soon as a national emissions trading scheme was introduced. He added that it was not all bleak for consumers as there were opportunities to use energy more wisely.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process and energy related industries with products and services ranging from industry news, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia advertising campaign assistance.
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