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While Abbott believes an Australian consulate in Houston is a key in securing our energy future, his fossil fuel fantasy ignores the facts.
Electricity demand peaked in 2009 and is headed somewhere between a flat and a downward trajectory in the near term. Reliable forecasts predict it will not increase until after 2024, and will likely stay well below 2009 levels until well after that. There is no need for additional coal-fired capacity, and with a decade in lead time renewables will fill the need, provided they find support from the government (the big risk to Australia's future).
In relation to the mix of renewables in the electricity market Tristan Edis demonstrates - roof top solar has already fundamentally changed the electricity market in favour of the consumer and has driven down demand. The contribution of solar is projected to continue to increase (despite the removal of much government support) and by 2030 will provide 9% of all electricity demand (regardless of what the Abbott government does).
As the Climate Council's most recent report demonstrates, the economics around our current coal dependent electricity infrastructure (especially if you factor in the need for Carbon Capture and storage -assuming the technology is ever market ready) means it is no longer the cheap fuel source Abbott believes it to be. It seems Abbott lives in the 1950's when you look at his social and his economic policies.
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Taking a punt on coal is clearly a mug's bet. And Abbott is clearly a mug.
The truth is.... Coal is not dead, but it is dying much faster than Abbott realises. That isn't something to fear, again as research and informed projections show.
The unavoidable demise of the coal industry is not the catastrophe many assume, and it will not have the impact on local communities many expect. In fact many locals will not miss it at all. Case in point - The Hunter Valley. According to research by the Australia Institute - 83% of Hunter Valley residents do not want to see the coal industry expand, and 41% would like to see it decrease or be phased out. 95% of Hunter workers do not work in the coal industry and only 2% of NSW government revenue comes from coal royalties. A smaller coal industry would have only minor impacts on the future Hunter economy with modelling shows that long-term declines in the coal industry would have minimal effects on employment and economic output.
It would seem that the efforts being made to shore up coal will only benefit the likes of Clive Palmer, Gina Reinhart and foreign owned mining companies.
The sad truth is that if Tony Dumb Dumb just opened his eyes, he'd see the way forward on energy policy.. for example, in the ACT they are launching a community solar project which will doubly benefit locals in terms of a financial investment and infrastructure which will drive down energy costs.
But does that come as a surprise when the Infrastructure Prime Minister doesn't have any idea what kind of infrastructure we need?
We now find we have a PM who is proving as embarrassing to the nation as George W Bush was to so many Americans not so long ago... and some of those long suffering Americans are now sympathising with us and the Canadians.