Greenhouse gas emissions from energy use in Australia’s eastern states has fallen says the latest report from the Climate Group – and increased uptake of renewable energy sources such as solar power are partly responsible.
The Climate Group report states emissions decreased by 2.17 per cent in 2010 in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, representing a 6.6 million tonne cut over 2009.
The largest decrease by far was in New South Wales – 5.3 million tonnes.
Coal-fired generation fell by five per cent across the four states, with the filthy fossil fuel’s share of total electricity generation in Australia now standing 84.3 per cent, down from 87.8 per cent in 2009.
The Climate Group says the share of scheduled electricity generation from renewable energy sources also rose by 50 per cent in 2010.
Renewables generated an additional 2.78 million MWh of clean electricity than in 2009 and accounted for around 4.3 percent of the scheduled electricity generation mix across the four states. The report notes also that a good proportion of renewable generation in each state is non-scheduled.
Rupert Posner, The Climate Group’s Global Director of Energy says this the second year in a row to see a drop in emissions from coal, as well as growing scheduled generation from gas and renewables.
“Hopefully this is evidence that we are finally starting to turn the corner towards cleaner forms of energy generation that can underpin a prosperous and sustainable Australian economy.”
However, ABC reports the Federal Government has this morning released new figures forecasting a sharp increase in carbon emissions, with a rise of 24 per cent above 2000 levels by 2020.
The results and forecast should give pause for thought over recent and planned cuts, caps or deferments to renewable energy funding, solar rebates and feed in tariffs. Renewable energy has and will need to continue to play a vital role in reining in carbon emissions and building a prosperous, green energy economy.
View the full report: Greenhouse Indicator Annual Report 2010 (PDF).
