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Polluting Power For decades concerned Australians have been calling for a move away from polluting energy sources such as coal, oil and nuclear energy. Despite this vested corporate and bureaucratic interests have prevented the growth and development of a renewable, clean, highly efficient industry. Instead of supporting the development of a sustainable energy future, governments have poured huge sums of money into maintaining the existing polluting industries. Today Australian governments spend more than $8.8 billion subsidising oil, coal, gas and nuclear energy, while subsidies for safe renewable power, such as wind and solar energy, are in decline. Subsidies that Encourage Fossil Fuel Use in Australia (document) Take action Buy clean power for your home or business! Calculate how much CO2 you are putting into the atmosphere using Origin Energy's CO2 Emissions Calculator	Coal Power Oil Power Nuclear Power
Coal Power There are lots of things wrong with coal, especially brown coal! Burning coal to generate electricity releases more greenhouse gases per kilowatt-hour than any other electricity source. 85% of electricity generated in Victoria currently comes from burning brown coal which produces 55% of our greenhouse gas emissions. As well, coal plants emit a deadly stew of air pollutants, including smog-causing nitrogen oxides, and toxic gases. Coal's toxic output - mercury, arsenides, fluorides, aluminium, thorium, uranium and radon - is associated with cancer and brain damage. Victoria's coal bodies consist of brown coal (or lignite as it is known), rather than the black coal that predominates in the rest of Australia. Brown coal has been compressed underground for far less time than black coal and hence has a higher water content. It takes twice the amount of brown coal ore as black coal ore to produce the same amount of energy. This makes brown coal an especially damaging power source. Coal and Geosequestration Both the Federal and State governments want to keep using coal power. They justify this by claiming geosequestration will enable a 'zero emission' CO2 coal industry. Geosequestration is the act of capturing CO2 and storing it under ground. Hopefully for a very long time. Geosequestration will capture only upto 80% of CO2, hence energy produce using fossil fuel and geosequestration will still be adding to the Greenhouse gasses. The electricity produced using geosequestration will be more expensive than electricity from wind power. Instead the 100's of millions of dollars being spent on researching goesequestration should be spent on renewable energy options, energy efficiency and demand reduction. Futureenergy.org takes a look at the issue of Goesequestration. Coal and Alcoa Under a deal struck by the Labor Cain government, Victorian energy users subside Alcoa approximately $110 million a year to make aluminium using coal power. Alcoa claims to employ 1,800 people in Victoria, 600 of whom work in Portland. This equates to a subsidy per worker of $61,000 per year per worker. Alcoa claims to employ 1,800 people in Victoria, 600 of whom work in Portland. This equates to a subsidy per worker of $61,000 per year per worker. Wouldn't we rather pay them to plant trees and be custodians of our land? Latrobe Valley residents have cancer rates 7 times the national average. For every cubic meter of Aluminium produced 22 tones of CO2 are pumped into the atmosphere. Alcoa uses 12,600 GW or 28% of Victoria's electricity annually. Hazelwood As we head for the climate crisis, the Victorian government is considering expanding one of Australia's most polluting power stations. Hazelwood built with 1950's technology, was due to finish its life in 2022, but nows wants more coal so it can opperate until 2027. Entending the life of Hazelwood would whipe out all the greenhouse gains created by all other state pollicies. International Power, the stations owner (92%) and based in the UK, is also seeking to create a coal to diesel plant, which is a terrible Greenhouse casusing fuel. Do we need Hazelwood? No closing Alcoa (see above) and introducing energy saving measures would be more than enough. The problems of privatisation If our power comapnies had not been sold to private interests, the SEC (State Electriity Commission) would have shut the station down in next year in 2005. Instead we see International Power making profit from this dirty station for an extra 17 years and hoping to extend this profit making another 5 years. Last year International Power made $236 million dollars profit in Australia. At the same time 150,000 people died because fo climate change. Find out more details about Hazel Wood at the Power Works site. Top	Coal Links Institute for Sustainable Futures (2002): Why brown coal should stay in the ground Nuclear material released from coal-fired power stations Soot contributes 25% to global warming but also to global dimming? Victorian power users subsidise Alcoa $100 million a year, now others question the subsidies . . . Ontario Clean Air Alliance - world's best coal phase-out campaign Victorian Coal Industry Site - Power Works You can go on a tour of the mines at power works. This link takes you to their industry information (power plants, owners, output etc). Different products made at a coal gassification plant in Dakota USA. Coal Documents Up the Stack: Coal-Fired Electricity's Toxic Impact Moving to a coal free future (Ontario Canada 28 pages) The Full Costs of Thermal Power Production in Eastern Canada Backing a loser - a look at Geosequestration and the coal industry by DR Mark Diesendorf Hazelwood power station viewed across open cut mine. Large coal getting machine in Hazelwood's open cut mine.
Oil Power Oil discovery is now being outstripped 4 to 1 by oil consumption. We're running out of oil. Few problems facing our generation are as serious, for much of our society is dependent on oil-run infrastructure. We need to find alternatives to oil, the sooner the better. Read up on this vital topic by using our links. The first one, on the oil crisis, is especially comprehensive. Oil Production Models Dr King Hubbert in the 50's and 60's developed a model for mapping the production of oil from an oil field. The model produces a bell curve and can be applied to any area containing wells, such as a single field, a country, a region, or the world. An example is shown below. Dr Hubbert, using his modelling, accurately predicted the US oil peak production in the 1970's - despite being ridiculed at the time. Oil Peak In 1995 Petroconsultants (who were brought by Information Handling Services Group in 1996) released their 3 volume report titled 'The World Oil Supply' which using Dr Hubbard's modelling techniques predicted world oil production would peak around 2010. The report cost $32,000 US at the time. The two authors were Colin J. Campbell and Jean H. Laherrere, both petroleum geologists. A number of studies since, have predicted the peak to occur between 2010 and 2020. The graph below shows more recent modelling produced by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas and Dr Campbell, and includes production for natural gas liquids such as CNG (compressed natural gas). The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas have release their 2004 graph on oil and gass peak. The new graph show the oil / gass peak as being predicted to occur a few years earlier in 2006. Oil Crisis Acknowledged Comments by the Queensland Greens Senate candidate in early May resulted in the Federal Government's first acknowledgement of the oil crisis. Here is the sequence of media events that lead to this acknowledgement. May 9th - Queensland Greens Senate Candidate Drew Hutton: "If we keep going on as we are believing that this stuff (oil) is never going to run out or it's never going to get too expensive for us to use, then we're living in a fool's paradise," May 9th - Deputy PM John Anderson's spokesperson: "The Greens like the idea of catastrophe, it didn't happen in the 1970s (when they first predicted one) and it won't happen now," Anderson 7 days later... ". . . the very real prospect that at some stage in the next few short years global [oil] production may very well peak . . ." Read futureenergy.org's comments on the Howard government and the oil peak in our news section. Energy White Paper Howard's energy plan, released on June 17th, proposes $1.5 billion of tax concessions on rural diesel to take effect in 2007. His timing is interesting, in that it coincides with geologists' predictions for timing of the oil peak (Some are now speculating on the oil peak hitting as early as 2007). Reducing tax on fuel is one option governments have to deal with increasing international oil prices once the oil peak starts taking effect. Governments that levy high fuel taxes, such as those in Europe, will fare better as they have more options available to reduce petrol tax and avert price increases. Governments with existing low fuel taxes (eg. the US government) will have little ability to buffer oil price increases by reducing taxes. In any event, reducing fuel taxes is only a short term option as price increase due to ever growing demand will prevent governments from keeping the prices artificially low. To deal with this issue properly, significant amounts of money must be invested in an alternative transport infrastructure that does not rely on fossil fuels as its energy source. Energy White Paper - Why Diesel In the Oil Peak graph above shows the peak occurring in 2020. However that graph is actually the oil and natural gas energy peak, not just the oil peak by itself. The oil peak is still important, as natural gas does not contain the heavy elements needed to make a diesel type fuel, and hence diesel is likely to be affected more severely than petrol if gas-based petrol alternatives are developed. Diesel is the key fuel used by our trucking industry for movement of goods and materials and it is used for mining, agriculture and forestry. Top	2002 oil spill on the coast of Spain Some Oil Peak Links Oil Crisis Article: End of the age of oil Association for the Study of Peak Oil - an organisation established by one of the ground breaking authors of the 1995 Petroconsultants report "The World Oil Supply" which predicted a oil production peak around 2010 Energy Bullitine - ASPO September News Letter
Nuclear Power The Australian Government is spending $300 - $500 million this year to build a replacement nuclear reactor for Lucas Heights. From 1984 to 2002 the anti-nuclear movement has managed to stop any new nuclear development in Australia. Now the nuclear industry is on the move in Australia again with new mines opening and Lucas Heights being redeveloped. Top	World Nuclear Association: "To reconcile global human need and environmental preservation, our world needs nuclear power" Remember Chernobyl - information on the world's worst nuclear accident Nuclear Free Australia Greenpeace anti-nuclear campaign FOE: Stop the Nuclear Dump Lucas Heights Waging Peace - a very good anti-nuke site where you can suscribe to their Sunflower e-newsletter