2010 Media Releases
Renewables Can Power the 21st Century
18 October 2010
.jpg)
Last Thursday, 14 October, Willoughby City Council and local community group North Shore Climate Action hosted an engaging forum to discuss whether 100 per cent renewable energy could be used for Australia’s electricity requirements.
There was a resounding positive response that renewables can power the 21st century, with 100 per cent of the attendees in support of 100 per cent renewable energy for Australia.
More than 40 interested residents attended this ClimateClever event which was organised by North Shore Climate Action as part of the 350.org campaign which promotes the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels below 350 parts per million.
The night began with some inspiring words from Janet France, Northbridge resident and co-founder of North Shore Climate Action. Janet provided the audience with a fantastic list of simple, no fuss, low cost actions the everyday person can endeavour to achieve. Janet suggested joining an action group or getting involved in an action campaign, catching the bus occasionally instead of driving the car, being involved with a local community garden, buying a bike and using it and installing a discounted solar power system, efficient hot water system or rainwater tank through council’s ClimateClever Shop.
Matthew Wright, Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emissions and lead author of the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, spoke in detail about his plan for re-powering Australia with 100 per cent renewable energy in just 10 years.
Around 60 per cent of Australia’s energy demands could be supplied by large-scale concentrating solar thermal plants with molten salt storage, with the other 40 per cent derived from wind turbines. Concentrating solar thermal plants offer reliable electricity 24 hours per day and solar power towers are proposed because of their technological maturity, higher operating temperatures and efficiency compared to other technologies.
Mr Wright explained the technology is not new or untested. These types of facilities have been in operation for more than 30 years all over the world. He was able to show some awe-inspiring images of concentrating solar thermal plants from Spain, the United States, France and Russia.
Matthew also ran through the economic and logistical frameworks for using the technology. He suggested the switch would result in the creation of 80,000 high-quality ongoing jobs and existing car manufacturing factories could be used to build the required solar panels.
Matthew left the attendees with a choice – one mirror or 20 tonnes of coal.
Special guest speaker, Dr David Mills, Founder, former Executive Vice President and former Chief Scientific Officer of Ausra Inc. (now AREVA), gave an informative history of the development of harnessing the sun through concentrating solar thermal power. He also astounded the audience with his figures and analogies.
“Each molecule of CO2, during its subsequent lifetime in the atmosphere, traps 100,000 times more heat than was released during its formation,” said Dr David Mills, developer of the evacuated tube solar water heater technology.
“This means that running a handheld electric hairdryer delivers a planet-warming effect comparable to the heat given off by two jumbo jets taking off for the same time period,” he continued.
Residents were keen to approach the State and Federal Governments to endorse the plan and ask them to move swiftly in adopting the use of large-scale solar thermal power. Attendees would also like to ask the State Government to consider extending the feed-in-tariff for residential solar power for ten years and expand the tariff to incorporate large scale projects.
With MC, Dr Samantha Graham from Stormlight Consulting at the helm, the speakers also took the time to answer a range of technical questions about the plan and offered suggestions for community involvement.
Willoughby Mayor Pat Reilly thanked the speakers for addressing the Willoughby community and was pleased that so many residents took an interest in the topic.
“We are privileged to have such renowned and knowledgeable industry professionals speak with our community and offer practical, feasible alternatives to using electricity generated from coal. The residents in attendance are obviously ready for change and can see the importance and urgency of supporting this plan to move quickly to zero carbon energy,” said Willoughby Mayor, Pat Reilly.
For more information, phone Willoughby City Council on 9777 1000.
Media Contact
Media and Marketing Group Manager
Phone: 9777 7703
Mobile: 0421 492 757
Email: rebecca.hill@willoughby.nsw.gov.au