TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP
ANGUS TAYLOR’S TECH ROADMAP IS FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED – RENEWABLES ARE DOABLE ALMOST EVERYWHERE By Mark Diesendorf
Renewables are versatile
THE MORRISON GOVERNMENT has revealed the
The graph below, based on official data,
five low-emissions technologies it will prioritise for investment. The so called ‘technology roadmap’ offers scant support for renewable energy, for reasons that do not stand up to scrutiny.
shows the sources of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. It reveals 82% of the national total stems from energy emissions. This does not just include electricity generation, but non-electrical heating,
The technologies at the centre of the roadmap
transport, and emissions from extracting,
are:
moving and using fossil fuels (or fugitive
• clean hydrogen
emissions).
• energy storage
Almost all these emissions can be avoided by
• low-carbon steel and aluminium
renewable energy, such as by:
• carbon capture and storage, and
• using electric heat pumps (such as reverse
• soil carbon. Federal energy minister Angus Taylor said proven technologies such as solar and wind “are not the focus of the roadmap”. Taylor has sought to justify the government’s lack of support for renewable energy. This includes saying two-thirds of Australia’s emissions now are produced “outside the electricity grid” – implying renewable energy has little role to play beyond the power sector. But I believe that claim is misleading.
cycle air conditioners), solar hot water, and geothermal and solar thermal for heating • replacing gas and coal with renewable energy for heating in industrial processes, and • a transition to electric vehicles plus cycling and walking. Technologies to support these uses are already commercially available. Renewable electricity cannot directly replace fossil fuel use in activities such as air and sea
IMAGE BY BARNEY ELO FROM PIXABAY
* Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF). Overall emission figures given, less LULUCF, total 99.9% due to rounding Source: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
