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| Malcolm Turnbull inspects a coastguard boat in Brisbane yesterday. ‘My approach to energy is absolutely pragmatic’. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen |
Australia
should be a world leader in demonstrating that carbon emissions can be
lowered by replacing ageing electricity generators with new and emerging
technologies to produce cleaner coal, Malcolm Turnbull has declared.
The
Prime Minister also hit back at Tony Abbott days after he called on Mr
Turnbull to dump the renewable energy target, saying renewables had a
“role” to play in reaching the government’s carbon reduction target of
up to 28 per cent by 2030.
As revealed in The Australian yesterday,
research commissioned by the Turnbull government has estimated the
country’s emissions would be cut by up to 27 per cent if coal-based
power generation ran on “ultra-super-critical-technology” used in other
parts of the world.
Carried out by the
Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, the research showed
emissions would be reduced even further — by up to 34 per cent — if the
technology now in development was adopted across Australia.
Mr
Turnbull acknowledged coal would be part of the world’s energy mix “for
a very, very long time” as he attacked the Labor state of South
Australia, which generates 40 per cent of its energy through wind, for
having the “most expensive and the least reliable electricity” in the
country.
“We are the biggest coal
exporter in the world. If anybody, if any country has a vested interest
in demonstrating that clean coal and cleaner coal with new technologies
can make a big contribution to our energy mix and at the same time
reduce our emissions in net terms — it’s us,” Mr Turnbull said.
“Our
approach, and my approach, to energy is absolutely pragmatic and
practical ... Renewables have a role. Fossil fuels have a role. Every
type of energy — storage, all of it — has an important role to play.”
Mr Turnbull said it was “wrong” to be ideological about the nation’s energy mix after Mr Abbott wrote in The Weekend Australian that the government should urgently scrap the mandatory RET, insisting the focus should be on what is most affordable.
The
Minerals Council of Australia said the Department of Industry’s
projections showing new coal generation technologies could reduce
emissions “sharply” were consistent with emissions savings being
achieved around the world.
“With high
efficiency low emissions (HELE) coal technologies as clean as gas
plants, countries accounting for nearly half of global CO2 emissions are
deploying these technologies to meet their emissions targets under the
2015 Paris Agreement,” the council’s chief executive Brendan Pearson
said.
“These HELE plants deliver
secure, affordable energy while lowering CO2 emissions by as much as 50
per cent compared with existing plants. As the adoption of carbon
capture and storage technologies increases, these emissions savings will
increase to 90 per cent.”
Resources
Minister Matt Canavan said Asian countries were not only reducing carbon
emissions by installing supercritical coal-fired power but they were
doing so “at a cost cheaper than many other emissions reducing options”.
“When reducing the carbon emissions of our power stations we should seek to do so at the lowest cost,” he told The Australian.
Replacing
sub-critical technology with super-critical technology saves CO2 at a
cost of between US$15 to US$25 a tonne in Southeast Asia, according to
the World Coal Association.
Links
- Climate change a significant, growing threat to health, says US report
- Burden of Disease from Rising Coal-Fired Power Plant Emissions in Southeast Asia
- The Silent Epidemic: Coal and the Hidden Threat to Health
- Acclaimed Canadian author lays out dirty back story of fossil fuel industry and government
- British doctors and health professionals call for rapid coal phase-out
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