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Yes We Can! - Zero Emissions Electricity by 2020

Zero emissions electricity by 2020 – affordable, sensible, do-able

• See how – 6 page preview executive summary is available now for download
  
  http://media.beyondzeroemissions.org/preview-exec-sum14.pdf

• The full report will be available for distribution and download by mid year.
  
  

Beyond Zero Emissions' cutting-edge Zero Carbon Australia 2020 (ZCA2020) Stationary Energy Plan is a detailed, costed blueprint demonstrating how Australia can reach zero emissions electricity by 2020 using proven, existing, commercialised technology.
Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director said, “we have concluded that there are no technological impediments to transforming Australia’s stationary energy sector to zero emissions over the next ten years. The costs of transformation are adequately offset by savings made from shifting away from the business as usual scenario.”

“No resource constraints were identified. With adequate societal and political commitment and regulatory support, the goal of an efficient and competitive zero-emissions stationary energy sector is well within Australia’s reach.” Wright said.

“The investment required for ZCA2020 implementation over the ten years is only 3-3.5% of GDP. However, this is offset by avoiding the costs of a future carbon price and escalating oil, coal and water prices. Given the urgent necessity of transitioning to a 100% renewable economy within a decade, this is a sensible expenditure.” Wright concluded.

For Comment – Matthew Wright, 0421 616 733
Alternative Contact – Pablo Brait, 0421 011 182


Further Details – also available in the summary: http://media.beyondzeroemissions.org/preview-exec-sum14.pdf

Beyond Zero Emissions will be presenting the results of our ZCA2020 Stationary Energy Plan at the Sustainable Living Festival on the 21st of February and our Monthly Discussion Group on 1 March. Come along to be inspired and empowered!

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Continuity

 

The ZCA2020 Stationary Energy Plan is a design for electrical infrastructure that delivers the same end-service as we get today, but exclusively supplied from renewable sources.

 

The plan includes projections for energy use in transportation, buildings and industry which will be further developed in future work by Beyond Zero Emissions.

The most obvious energy efficiency savings have been identified and incorporated into the plan.  The result is net delivered energy in Australia reduced by half, while all the electrical services we use today (heaters, computers, lights, aluminium smelters etc) continue to operate.

Green Jobs

Under the plan, coal mining communities in the Hunter, Bowen and Latrobe Valleys would receive the $billions that were earmarked for theoretical clean coal to build factories that will create the components for the new infrastructure. Many more green jobs will be created than lost in these communities with high levels of fossil fuel employment.

 

Leading companies such as Solar Reserve, Suzlon, Sener, Vestas, Enercon, Siemens and GE will be provided with the incentives to setup their component manufacturing in Australian coal communities as they are transitioned from their dependency on coal.

Japan, the major importer of Australian coal, announced a 25% emissions reduction by 2020. They are unlikely to sustain their demand for Australian coal.  A plan is required for these communities now.
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BEYOND ZERO EMISSIONS INFORMATION:

Beyond Zero Emissions Inc. (BZE) is a not-for-profit, independent, volunteer- run organisation.

BZE’s core goal is to facilitate the implementation of the social changes and technologies that will reduce the impacts of climate change and give our society and global ecosystems, a chance of surviving into the future.

BZE is involved in the following activities:

·         education

·         research

·         transition planning/modelling

·         climate change solution development

·         advocacy

BZE accepts the scientific evidence that we have already allowed climate change to go too far, and must act immediately to reduce our levels of greenhouse gas emissions to zero and below.
Further information on Beyond Zero Emissions Inc.’s core values, goals & activities can be found at www.beyondzeroemissions.org  

Melbourne Times T10 ZCA2020 Preview Executive Summary The Age T10 ZCA2020 Preview Executive Summary BZE talks ZCA2020 with Mark Vale 2EL Orange BZE talks ZCA2020 and Green Jobs with Peter Godfrey Radio Adelaide BZE talks ZCA2020 with James Hitchcock 2SER AttachmentSize ZeroEmissionsElectricity2020-17Feb10-BZE.pdf57.91 KB

For those in Melbourne, Beyond Zero Emissions is giving a series of talks during the Sustainable Living Festival at Federation Square, 19-21 February.

Details are:

Saturday 20 Feb - 5-6pm, Design Tent. Zero Emissions Transport - how do we get there? For more information click here.

Sunday 21 Feb – 11am–12.30pm, The Edge. Presenting with Professor Mark Z Jacobson from Stanford University. Going zero emissions - local and global. For more information click here.

Sunday 21 Feb – 3-4pm, Think Tent. Zero Emissions Electricity - how do we get there? For more information click here.

A map of the talk locations is below:

MEDIA RELEASE

‘Baseload’ solar power; once a distant dream, is now a reality. While solar electricity was once limited to when the sun was shining, solar thermal energy can now operate 24 hours a day, even at night, with an ingenious and cheap storage method utilising molten salt.

“There are plants in Spain operating with energy storage right now, providing electricity all night long” Matthew Wright, Beyond Zero Emissions Executive Director said.

“Most Australians are not aware of this technology, even though it has the capacity to revolutionise the way Australia produces electricity and eliminate global warming pollution from coal”.

Molten salt storage uses common salts, such as potassium nitrate, which are readily available and non-toxic. Using the sun’s energy, these salts are heated to high temperatures and stored in insulated storage tanks. When electricity is needed, the heat in the molten salt is used to create steam to turn a turbine. This sort of electricity is dispatchable, meaning it can be sent out on-demand at any time of day, so it can replace the baseload electricity made from burning fossil fuels.

“The arguments for needing coal, gas or nuclear power to provide our electricity needs in a modern economy are completely false. Solar thermal power with storage is  proven technology, which will reliably provide the backbone of  modern 100 per cent renewable electricity grids.” Wright said.

“The EU has been investing in the solar thermal storage power sector for more than a decade.  The US, Middle East and North Africa have proposals in the pipeline that, combined, are five times greater than Australia’s total coal-fired electricity capacity. Spain has 15,500MW of solar thermal plants approved through the planning process, more than enough to power all of NSW, and 34 massive power plants are under construction right now.

Wright said, “Australia is the country with one of the best solar resources in the world. We have some of the best researchers in this area too. Despite this, the Rudd Government remains in thrall to the coal lobby, investing in dead-end fantasies like carbon capture and storage (clean coal), while other countries develop their solar thermal expertise and manufacturing. The Spanish Government is supporting solar thermal power with a serious feed-in tariff for large-scale solar installations, and we should be doing the same here.”

“Solar thermal power with storage will soon be cheaper than new coal-fired power stations according to US Department of Energy projections. The Australian Government should be positioning Australia at the forefront of the renewable energy revolution by planning for a transition to 100% renewable energy. Unfortunately the Federal Solar Flagships Program is shaping up to be a failure, with guidelines skewed to favour 1980s style daytime-only solar plants rather than the newer standard of “baseload” solar thermal storage plants that are being built now in Europe and the USA”. Wright concluded.

 

24x7 Solar on ABC Wide Bay QLD with David Dowsett 24x7 Solar on Radio 2EL Orange NSW with Mark Vale 24x7 Solar on ABC West QLD with Tom Harwood 24x7 Solar on ABC Statewide QLD with Warren Boland 24x7 Solar on Radio Adelaide SA with Peter Godfrey 24x7 solar on 3RPP with the Green Room AttachmentSize 24hourSolarThermal-01Feb10-BZE.pdf39.32 KB

Register for your free seat here: http://t10.eventbrite.com/

Drawing together and showcasing the work of environment and social groups working for the necessary decade of transition to a safe climate and sustainable future.

Come along and learn how you can be involved in this inspiring and historic project.

For a brochure with further information on The Transition Decade click here.

Event details:
Sunday 14 February
12noon
Melbourne Town Hall, Swanston St, City.

Featuring:
The Governor of Victoria Professor David de Kretser AC
Uncle Bob Randall traditional owner of Uluru
Professor Will Steffen, Executive Director, ANU Climate Change Institute
Senator Christine Milne
The work of Australia's leading edge environmental and social organisations
...and more to be announced.

To get your seat, register online at http://t10.eventbrite.com/

http://www.t10.net.au/

THE federal government has the opportunity to switch the nation's power to renewable energy but favours attempts to make "dirty coal clean", according to the Australian Academy of Science.

Next month the academy will call on the government to give priority support to geothermal and solar thermal energy to make them major national energy sources, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The recommendation is among 25 development options contained in the academy's highly anticipated renewable energy report, which also will call on the government to introduce a national seven-star energy rating standard for new houses by 2015 and a nine-star rating for houses built after 2020.

The academy also wants to see smart meters installed in all households, the phasing in of time-of-use electricity pricing and legislation to limit stand-by power consumption by domestic electrical appliances.

Its renewable energy report, a copy of which has been seen by the HES, calls for a national system of feed-in tariffs, the price paid for green energy by householders and businesses into the grid. It recommends a coast-to-coast liquefied natural gas distribution network to replace petrol and diesel with this cleaner energy source, and incentives for motorists to buy green cars.

The academy also calls for an upgrade to the interstate rail network, and more federal and state government funding to push clean energy research through the development and commercialisation phases.

In an exclusive interview ahead of the report's release, academy spokesman Michael Dopita told the HES geothermal and solar thermal energy could soon replace coal as Australia's main source of electricity generation, if the government chose to stimulate the development of green technology and invested in efficient long-distance electricity transmission.

"At the moment, the government is concentrating seed funding in things like geosequestration, which is trying to make dirty coal clean," said Professor Dopita, co-editor of the renewable energy report.

Geothermal energy, which taps the heat of rocks deep within Earth's crust to generate electricity, could fast-track Australia's route to a low-carbon economy, he said.

The technology was mature enough for the government to act now to promote its take-up.

Solar thermal concentrating technology, which focuses the sun's energy to heat fluids and generate steam to drive turbines, also had great potential as Australia pursued its emissions reduction and renewable energy targets.

"Both technologies can provide the reliable and sustained energy flow needed for home and industry," said Professor Dopita, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University.

The report, titled Australia's Renewable Energy Future, puts the scientific might of the academy up against sceptics claiming that renewables cannot meet baseload energy needs.

It challenges assumptions underlying an economic model of renewable energy take-up developed by the CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics on the grounds they are too conservative. In the virtual futures generated in the modelling, geothermal and solar thermal would remain as only minor components in Australia's energy mix until 2040.

The model could not capture recent technological advances and the stimulatory impact of government intervention, Professor Dopita said.

In the real world, it risked becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, helping to reinforce a focus on fossil fuel in policy formulation.

"We can change the way we do business entirely by stimulating those new industries, getting them past the economic thresholds that make them appear to be uncompetitive with coal," he said.

"If you give the appropriate financial incentives early on, the whole thing snowballs.

"As the technology accrues the advantages of scale, it becomes self-sustaining and provides new employment and export opportunities."

The academy estimates Australia has enough accessible geothermal energy to meet 26,000 years of its power needs.

More than 30 companies aim to deliver geothermal energy to the grid, the renewable energy report says.

However, the accessible geothermal resource is concentrated in granite formations in the outback. To cut energy losses in getting the hot rock power to the cities, the government would need to invest billions of dollars in a high-voltage direct current long-distance electricity transmission system.

Source: 

The Australian

Dr. Keith Lovegrove unveiled the ANU's new solar thermal dish in September at the SolarPACES international solar thermal conference in Berlin to much acclaim. This will be the first time it will be presented in Melbourne.

It is the world's biggest solar dish that comes with a mass production system that can build one dish a day. The dish has the highest optical efficiency of any commercial solar technology in the world and a field of 500 produces 100MW electrical power. ANU's dishes can be used on undulating ground, which is difficult for current solar thermal systems that use mirror fields or troughs.

Dr. Keith Lovegrove will also talk about replacing all of Australia's energy needs with this solar technology used in conjunction with thermal salt storage.

Dr. Keith Lovegrove is a senior lecturer in Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the Australian National University (ANU). He heads the ANU Solar Thermal Group which works on a range of projects involving high and low temperature thermal conversion of solar energy. This includes looking at dish and trough concentrators and thermochemical energy storage. He is widely published in scientific journals and has advised the Australian Government on CSP . Dr Lovegrove and his team are at the forefront of International research into concentrated solar power.

Download Dr Keith LoveGrove ANU Presentation Download Dr Keith LoveGrove ANU audio podcast

 

UPDATE (16 December): around 90,000 people walked across Australia! Click here for photos and video of the 40,000 strong Walk in Melbourne.

WALK AGAINST WARMING
12/12/09 - In every capital city and regional centres

This year, we’re sending a safe climate message to the world. Are you in?

 

This December, our world leaders are gathering to decide how much they’re prepared to do about climate change.

Join thousands of Australian individuals and families concerned about climate change at this year’s Walk Against Warming.

 The Walk Against Warming is Australia’s biggest day of community action on climate change.  Similar Walks will be happening across the country, and across the globe as communities everywhere come together to tell their leaders they want action for a safe climate.

If you’ve ever replaced an old light globe with an energy efficient one, taken public transport instead of driving, switched to Green Power, or worried about the kind of world you’re going to leave to your kids, then the 2009 Walk Against Warming is for you! 

 

So get your community, family, kids, friends and everyone else you know all together... and get them to Walk Against Warming on December 12! 

To find your local action, visit: www.walkagainstwarming.org

 And help us spread the word...

Featuring:

Clive Hamilton - Greens candidate for the Higgins by-election and author of Scorcher

Rob Gell - Environmental geographer and TV weather presenter

Mark Ogge - Beyond Zero Emissions

David Turner - Engineer and former Solar Systems employee

Thursday 3 December, 6.30pm, Fitzroy Town Hall, 201 Napier St, Fitzroy.

This event will explore the solutions to the climate crisis, in particular the potential for renewable energy development and the creation of clean energy jobs.

 

Brought to you by the Save Solar Systems campaign.

Facebook event click here.

 

Matthew Wright - Beyond Zero Emissions from Jonathan Doig on Vimeo.

I arrive early in the morning and help them set up their marquee on the lawn in front of Parliament House in Canberra. They are not in their usual position today because the lawn will be used to host a barbecue for the former wards of the state after their official apology from the Federal Government and the last thing they want is to be able to smell the food.

All three of the people I’m visiting, Paul, Marcella and Michael are in good spirits even though they have eaten nothing and have drunk only water for the last nine days. As we settle down under their marquee, I get the official business out of the way by letting them know that I am here not only representing myself, but Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), and that they have our admiration, respect and gratitude.

These three people on hunger strike outside Parliament House are one component of the Climate Justice Fast – an international hunger strike for climate justice and for urgent and science-based actions to prevent catastrophic global warming. There are around 100 people around the world taking part in fasts of varying length as part of this action, with numbers growing day by day. Eight of these people, including Paul and Michael here in Canberra are doing the “full” fast, which is indefinite and will probably go until after the Copenhagen negotiations finish – a total of six weeks without food!

The key messages of the fast are that in line with the most robust and up to date climate science, world leaders need to agree to cut emissions and draw-down carbon from the atmosphere in order to get below 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere (currently at around 387ppm and the Rudd Government target is a suicidal 450ppm), and that the rich world must pay the poor world US$160 billion per year to help them cut emissions and adapt to the impacts already being felt.

Paul, 29, from Melbourne and the main organiser of the huger strike said, “We feel that it is our duty to do everything possible to prevent the world’s poorest people and our very own children from suffering at the hands of a problem which they did not create.”

Marcella, 31 and also from Melbourne adds, “we may be suffering by not eating. However, our suffering is voluntary. The victims of the Victorian bushfires and heatwaves last summer died because of the terrible conditions caused in part by our climate changing. Climate change is already causing immense suffering and we can’t stand by and let it get worse.”

We lie under the marquee, it is a 36 degree day and it’s getting hot. Every now and then someone drops in to say hello and have a chat, most are very supportive and Marcella invites them to write in their guest book. At times the conversation is so normal that I forget the immense effort and sacrifice these three people are making. When I remember that they haven’t eaten for almost ten days it feels a little surreal.

I chat to Michael, from Sydney and 61 years old, about renewable energy and carbon sequestration. We eventually get onto the topic of his hunger strike. He tells me that the doctors who examine them regularly say he will most likely end up in hospital. He doesn’t seem too worried about this. For him, the fast is a way to show the Australian public how urgent and serious the climate crisis is. It is also about morality. “We are using our own bodies to expose the moral bankruptcy of our leaders”, he says.

At the end of the conversation he mentions that he has seen a BZE presentation and he gives me the money for a t-shirt! He writes down his address and says “don’t send it to me until the new year”.

The day ends on an exciting note. The Run for a Safe Climate is passing through Canberra today. They are about half-way through their run from Cooktown to Melbourne via Adelaide, and the 25 runners have run around 20km in the searing heat. I watch as the fasters and the runners, made up of police officers, fire fighters, SES workers and paramedics, chat – the parallels between their actions become obvious as they talk about their experiences.

Late in the evening we say our goodbyes. As I have my first morsel of food for over 24 hours and get on the bus back to Melbourne the next morning, I think about them once again setting up on the Parliament House lawn and settling in for another day without food. I think about the humble manner by which they are going about their extraordinary action and I hope they are able to get the coverage for the cause that they are aiming for. I also hope they don’t feel alone and isolated in a world that can sometimes seem impervious to acts of sanity like this one.

As the bus leaves Canberra behind my mind settles on one of the entries in their guestbook, written by a year seven student who dropped in to the marquee with his mother. It said, “You are doing a good thing. I wish there were more of you”.

To see video updates of the fast click here.

Invented by Wolfgang over 25 years ago 1000s of Scheffler dishes are now installed at 100s of locations around the world. Wolfgang Scheffler has made his dish designs and associated intellectual property available for free to create a solar world.

Originally Broadcast on the 5th of April, 2009

Visit Heike and Wolfgang at  Solar Brueke for more information.

Beyond Zero interviews Wolfgang Scheffler