WWF-Australia - for a living planet

WA's $450 million dollar question: a clean energy future or climate-changing pollution?

15 Apr 2004

As the tender process for south west WA's new power station speeds up, vital questions remain over the viability of building more greenhouse gas polluting coal-fired power stations.

A switch to clean energy generation would mean massive investment in regional areas, more jobs and less carbon dioxide pollution.

WWF-Australia and the Conservation Council of WA are urging decision-makers to take on board the key findings of a ground-breaking study recently released by the Clean Energy Future Group. The study found Australia's greenhouse gas pollution can be halved by 2040, using existing gas and renewable energy technologies and without affecting economic growth.

The Clean Energy Future for Australia study, commissioned by an unprecedented alliance of industry associations, energy organisations and WWF-Australia, found that a 50 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from stationary energy is now achievable within 36 years.

The study's co-author, energy expert Dr Mark Diesendorf, is in Western Australia to present government, opposition and public service representatives with the outcomes and key policy recommendations of this landmark report.

Western Australia's three coal fired power stations in the SouthWest Integrated System, annually produce 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions which is equivalent to emissions from 2.4 million cars. With coal-fired power stations proposed to meet WA's future energy demands, the clean, economically viable alternatives have obvious benefits in an overheating world and a drought-prone country.

"Less than two per cent of Western Australia's energy demand is met by renewable sources: we can do better than this", said Chris Tallentire, Director of the Conservation Council of Western Australia. "We are keen to see WA energy minister Eric Ripper meet with one of Australia's leading energy analysts to understand this exciting new vision: We can increase use of clean energy without a negative impact on WA's economic growth."

Much of Australia's 100 years of gas supply is located in remote fields off the WA coast - a fraction of this could be used for WA's future power generation needs in addition to WA's world-class windpower resources. Clean Energy projects under construction in WA include the Narrogin biomass plant, the Gosnells and Rockingham landfill gas plants, the Nine Mile Beach wind farm and the Kwinana natural gas plant.

Jobs in coal-fired electricity are down 50 per cent since 1991 but a future in wind power could see the wind energy industry providing 4-6 times more jobs per kilowatt hour (kWh) than coal. Currently, wind farms provide 2-3 more jobs per kWh than coal.

WWF-Australia is urging Western Australia to adopt a similar stance to NSW which last year rejected the proposed Red Bank 2 coal-fired power station in the Hunter Valley. NSW Premier Bob Carr became the first Australian decision-maker to act on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power stations.