February 14, 2007
From Sydney Mornign Hearald (Aust)
Australian of the Year and leading scientist Dr Tim Flannery has questioned the viability of clean coal technology, saying it may be made redundant by cheaper and greener energy resources.
Dr Flannery told the Australian Workers Union (AWU) biannual meeting on the Gold Coast there was a need to switch to low emission energy sources.
He was greeted with hearty applause from the 200 delegates - something which surprised the scientist who has been accused in the media of wanting to shut down the nation's coal industry.
He dismissed the claims as entirely untrue but admitted he had some reservations about the viability of clean coal technology, which is Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's preferred option to reduce gas emissions.
He said Australia did not possess the right geological conditions to support the clean coal process, which injected carbon dioxide emissions into the ground rather than releasing them into the atmosphere.
"Globally there has got to be some areas where clean coal will work out, so I think there will always be a coal export industry (for Australia)," he said.
"Locally in Australia because of particular geological issues and because of the competition from cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives, I'm not 100 per cent sure clean coal is going to work out for our domestic market."
Australian of the Year and leading scientist Dr Tim Flannery has questioned the viability of clean coal technology, saying it may be made redundant by cheaper and greener energy resources.
Dr Flannery told the Australian Workers Union (AWU) biannual meeting on the Gold Coast there was a need to switch to low emission energy sources.
He was greeted with hearty applause from the 200 delegates - something which surprised the scientist who has been accused in the media of wanting to shut down the nation's coal industry.
He dismissed the claims as entirely untrue but admitted he had some reservations about the viability of clean coal technology, which is Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's preferred option to reduce gas emissions.
He said Australia did not possess the right geological conditions to support the clean coal process, which injected carbon dioxide emissions into the ground rather than releasing them into the atmosphere.
"Globally there has got to be some areas where clean coal will work out, so I think there will always be a coal export industry (for Australia)," he said.
"Locally in Australia because of particular geological issues and because of the competition from cleaner and cheaper energy alternatives, I'm not 100 per cent sure clean coal is going to work out for our domestic market."
However, Dr Flannery said Australia possessed the right conditions to make geothermal technology, using underground energy to produce electricity, while solar power was becoming increasingly viable.
The cost of geothermal-produced electricity would be similar to that of electricity produced by coal-fired power stations, Dr Flannery said, but he dismissed claims of a cost blow-out linked to alternative energy.
Dr Flannery agreed with the sentiments of British scientist Dr David King that climate change was a bigger global threat than terrorism and called on the Australian government to act immediately.
"They need to be getting a war footing using some of the budget surplus to start the building infrastructure to get on the transition path to lower emissions energy as soon as possible," Dr Flannery said.
"Economists may tell you that it will take 20 years but when there is a war on you get it done in a few years so we need to act quickly."
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