Non-spectacular response to climate change: These technologies were not spectacular like wind farms or futuristic systems like "hot rocks", but were the bedrock of humanity’s response to climate change. So what might global trends mean for Australians heading into a federal election?
Coal future threatened: Investors would start to cool on coal companies that stake their futures on unproven and financially risky clean coal technology. Investors would compare the risks and likely delays in clean coal to the annual growth in solar and wind of more than 30 per cent over the next decade. When consumers understand that renewable energy offers more security, coal would begin to face real political trouble.
Emissions trading will not create booming renewables sector: The Australia-based emissions trading scheme would likewise lose its sheen once it was understood. International evidence demonstrated that emissions trading would not create a booming renewables sector. A weak and uncertain scheme could even be a step backwards. No country has relied on emissions trading alone to switch from high-carbon to climate-safe energy because it does not work.
Clean energy revolution coming: History was now gathering pace around a clean energy revolution. It was now known that dropping global reliance on fossil fuels would be good for security, the economy and consumers. Australia was about to make a big switch, and not a moment too soon, Teske said.
The Sydney Morning Herald, 8/6/2007, p. 13