Low Impact

The Australian Bureau of Statistics just released their 2008 Year Book where they present a variety of statistics, including a number on energy production. There’s an inevitable lag in reporting due to the time taken to collect and analyse the statistics. Consequently, the 2008 Year Book discusses energy production in 2005/2006 and finds that in that year Australia’s energy production consisted of 98% non-renewable sources (like coal and gas), and only 2% renewable sources (like solar and biofuels).

Not terribly impressive!

The energy produced is measured in Peta Joules (PJ), and adds up to 16,729 PJ. Contributing to the 98% non renewable figure, 49% is black coal, 28% is uranium, natural gas is 10% and crude oil is 5%.

Now, its important to remember that this refers to energy production. This includes things like coal that was dug out of the ground and then sold to China, or uranium that was sold to Europe. Domestically, Australia only uses about one third of the energy it produces. However the fact remains that somewhere, be it here or overseas, power plants are burning that coal, or producing radioactive waste from the uranium. So we still need to bear in mind that only 2% of all the energy that is sourced from Australia came from renewable sources.

Another slightly disheartening statistic that comes out the Year Book is that while renewable energy production climbed by 1% from 2000/01 to 2005/06, energy production from black coal climbed by 19%. Clearly, in 2006 at least, the demand from energy from dirty sources such as coal were not showing much signs of slowing.

While these statistics are concerned with Australian production, the problem is at least partly a global one. Given that Australia exports two thirds of its energy production, a large part of the problem is global demand for cheap energy, regardless of its environmental cost. Perhaps the negotiation process for the next round of Kyoto that was kicked off in Bali in 2007 will go some way to reducing demand for dirty energy like coal.

Of course, thats not to say that Australia can shirk all responsibility for these figures. Australia currently sources the lion’s share of its domestic energy from non-renewable sources - in particular, coal. But things might be changing. Looking ahead, the newly elected Federal Government was voted in on a platform of increasing the role of renewable energy in Australia’s energy mix - their target is for 20% by 2020.

Perhaps the ABS Year Book will make more encouraging reading in the years ahead!

Categories: current affairs, energy, environment, green, solar

Tags: coal, electricity, emissions, energy, renewable, solar