Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Solar power industry growth potential - or prepare for war instead?: "The solar thermal power industry could be worth 16.4 billion Euros and create 54,000 jobs worldwide by 2025... Greenpeace and ESTIA are encouraging politicians and policymakers to support this new sustainable industry by taking the necessary steps laid out in the report, which provides a detailed action plan for Governments who want to invest in this new technology."

"In only two decades, the electricity generated from solar thermal power plants could be equivalent to the power generated by 72 coal-fired power stations, supplying enough electricity each year for Israel, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia combined or half the electricity demand of Australia."

Especially noteworthy in this report are the contentions that "Among the solar electric technologies, concentrating solar power (CSP) [also known as solar thermal power] is the cheapest and the largest bulk producer of solar electricity in the world" and that "costs are expected to drop closer to 7-8 US cents [kw/h] in the future."

Meanwhile, "A new report into the Australian Defence Force's budget says Australia's overseas commitments are unsustainable. The report by the partly Defence-funded think-tank, the Kokoda Foundation, calls for an extra $1 billion on top of the current $18 billion allocated by the Federal Government."

So terminate Australia's 'overseas commitments', ie Afghanistan and Iraq, immediately, and invest in solar energy instead. What on earth has Australia ever been doing in those disastrous colonial and imperial wars in the first place? But no, "Australia must prepare for a major conflict in Asia within the next 15 years", says the report. Why in God's name would Australia want to be involved in a major conflict in Asia or anywhere? Is it that, historically, if a major war breaks out anywhere, diggers gotta get into it? Bring the troops home and keep them home, except for a limited role in operations approved by UN and international law.

9 comments:

Borborygme said...

"So terminate Australia's 'overseas commitments'... and invest in solar energy instead."

Why not just give the money back to the taxpayers instead of using it to subsidize companies who build solar energy equipment?

Borborygme said...

The link says "look how much sun there is. Based on the quantity of sun we could have X megawatts of solar power if we just covered the earth with solar cells."

But...at what cost?

I love how 'nonprofit groups' like greenpeace just love to imagine how wonderful the world could be if there was no such thing as cost benefit tradeoffs.

Borborygme said...

Instead of doing actual work to develop a product so good that people choose to buy it on their own, Greenpeace is trying to get a small number of people (so-called activists) to persuade a smaller number of people (a majority of elected government) to force everyone to pay (via taxing and spending) for what Greenpeace wants (a product that is not cost-effective on its own merit).

They are the worst kind of parasite.

Bernard said...

gurgle, re costs, I have updated the item to show the costs, ie 7-8 US cents kw/h. Good, no?

re tax cuts, I dont buy the neo-liberal ideology that what we have to do all the time is make tax cuts. There is a role for the public sector. For example, infrastructure including public transport. The heavy and light rail system urgently need to be extended and upgraded. Use money that is saved or otherwise available to do this, rather than tax cuts which go to wealthy corporations and individuals.

Big Gav said...

If externalities like greenhouse gas emissions are factored in solar and wind power are competitive with coal as the cheapest forms of energy.

No subsidy required - just apply carbon taxes to pay for the cleanup costs associated with fossil fuels. Libertarians and greens can both be happy...

And I agree about public funding for public transport - some services are best provided by government (natural monopolies like transit systems in particular) while other ones are best provided by the private sector. there is no single solution that fits all cases, something that ideologues of the far left and right always seem to overlook.

I might add that this is ignoring the scary part of your post though "the major land war in Asia within 15 years" - are we going as crazy as the yanks ? I assume they mean a war with China - surely thats the last thing Australia needs - we've already got a massive trade deficit so going to war with our major trading partners would seem to be problematical. So I second your sentiments purely on neoliberal grounds :-)

Of course, the world seems determined to self destruct so maybe I should just run off to Tassie or NZ and ignore the whole slow train wreck taking place...

Borborygme said...

I believe the 7-8 cents was "in the future". The solar cells cannot be purchased now at a cost that would yield 7-8 cents electricity. Hence my complaint about subsidy. And the comment about raising taxes on carbon sources to make them equal is also missing the point.
I'm talking about true cost/effectiveness.

Borborygme said...

Big gav: you make me laugh.

"no subsidy required...just add taxes". What, pray tell, is that? It is a subsidy. You are artificially making one product more attractive than another.

Bernard said...

gurgle, if someone dumped trash or pollution on your farm or property, possibly poisoning your crops or sickening your livestock, would you be happy with that? Of course not. Either they can't dump anything at all or what they drop is what you have agreed to at prices you set. So it is with the public and public property such as the atmosphere. Carbon taxes are an excellent idea, and have the advantage of using the 'market' to signal true costs and incentives.

gav, by Asian war, I think the militarists indeed have in mind a war with China over Taiwan, or over North Korea, possibly other conflicts that come to the mind of crazed US administrations. Whatever the US says, for the sake of the 'alliance', we must be involved, no matter how unwise. Make sure we have modern tanks, ships and airplanes, plus plenty of old fashioned cannon fodder, it'll all be fun.

Big Gav said...

loadest gurgle - you don't understand how the system works - its already distorted. Carbon taxes (even if you ignore the inherent rightness of them as compensation for the cleanup costs involved in dealing with carbon emissions) just level the playing fields for renewables.

Fair. Better. Sustainable. The future.

Forget about the dirty past and embrace tomorrow buddy...