As we start to better understand the impacts of climate change, energy use is a clear issue. In Australia, Geothermal and Solar Thermal technologies are being explored.
As climate change takes hold, energy demand is increasing. In Australia, according to Professor Ian Lowe's Living in the Hothouse:how global warming affects Australia, 2005 "increasing temperatures produce a growing tendency to use electricity for cooling, which increases the emissions of carbon dioxide". As most electrical energy is supplied from burning coal, there is a greater need to seek clean renewable sources of energy for both environmental and economic reasons.
Like many western nations, half of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions originate from stationary energy. According to the latest figures from the Australian Federal Government’s State and Territory Greenhouse Gas Inventories, 2005, these emissions increased by over 40 per cent between 1990 and 2005.
In the early 70's, Australians consumed only one quarter of the electricity used today. Clean power generated from hydroelectricity projects, such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme, provided 20 per cent of the nation’s needs, whilst today it accounts for only 7 per cent.
Australia’s energy consumption, from coal, petroleum, natural gas and renewable sources makes it the eighteenth largest consumer in the world. However, when considering all greenhouse gas emissions including industrial processes, waste and agriculture, Australians and North Americans take the top position, per person. There is clearly a need to investigate alternative solutions as personal energy consumption increases.
Energy in Australia, 2006, a Federal Government report, shows that renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, supply just 0.5 per cent of total electricity generation today.
Geothermal
With a drying climate and increased droughts, more hydroelectricity schemes are not viable. One of the key factors limiting other forms of renewable energy is the inability to supply reliable base loads. However, research in the field of hot dry rock and geothermal technology indicates a potential to provide regular base load generation with very little associated impact.
According to Dr. Adrian Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Geodynamics Limited, the Cooper Basin in South Australia has the ability to produce energy “equal to 15 Snowy Mountain schemes or ten new large coal-fired power stations”.
Similar to geothermal energy, which relies on naturally occurring steam vents, hot dry rock utilises water pumped and recycled underground to produce steam at the surface. The lack of suitable sites close to the current electricity distribution grid would require an increased network of transmission lines.
Solar Thermal
Solar thermal, the heating of water to produce steam via various highly reflective surfaces, has been tested in Australia and is set to provide power to the Californian grid in the near future.
Dr. David Mills, formerly of Sydney University, has relocated to California where renewable energy targets have provided incentive for new technologies. His new company, Solar Heat and Power, is partnered with the new US-registered company Ausra.
Sun Microsystems founder and the project’s major financial backer, Vinod Khosla, is reportedly planning to invest US$20 million. He has stated that solar thermal technologies are so profound they can be compared to the dawn of the computer age. Ironically, the only place in the world where you can see Dr. Mills’ technology in action is in the heart of the Hunter Valley, Australia’s coal production heartland and home to the world’s largest coal export port. The test plant, on the grounds of a coal-fired power station, concentrates heat energy onto a water pipe suspended above. The whole process is very simple, effective and most importantly can compete with coal technologies – even so-called clean coal.
As Professor Ian Lowe highlighted in A Big Fix: radical solutions for Australia’s environmental crisis, 2005 “Many technological advances can potentially reduce resource demand”. It would appear that wise investment in clean technologies could provide a clean energy future.
