BZE Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan launch: 100% renewable energy by 2020 for A$370 billion

Wednesday 14 July 2010: Launch of Beyond Zero Emission’s Australian Sustainable Energy Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan for 100% renewable energy by 2020 for A$370 billion.

50 volunteer engineers and other experts of the Australian NGO Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) and the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Energy Institute (MEI) have developed a plan to provide 100% renewable energy for Australia within 10 years.

Wednesday 14 July 2010 saw the launch at the University of Melbourne of the Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) Australian Sustainable Energy Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan aka ZCA2020 (Zero Carbon Australia 2020). A synopsis of this detailed report is available on-line (see Beyond Zero Emissions, “Australian Sustainable Energy. Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan Synopsis”: http://media.beyondzeroemissions.or... ).

The ZCA2020 proposal involves Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) power with molten salts energy storage (60%) plus Wind power (40%) to provide 100% renewable energy for industry, transport and domestic power by 2020 for an investment of A$370 billion.

In the words of BZE: “This cutting-edge plan, the culmination of over 12 months and thousands of hours of pro bono work by engineers, scientists and postgraduate students, is a collaboration between the climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions, and the University of Melbourne Energy Institute. This plan is unique in Australia. It is a detailed and costed blueprint for transitioning our stationary energy sector to 100% renewable energy in ten years. The technologies utilised in this plan are commercially available now. It has been put together in a collaborative way involving over 50 technical experts” (see: http://webcache.googleusercontent.c... ).

To a packed, circa 1,000 person audience at the Basement Theatre, University of Melbourne, the Director of BZE, Matthew Wright, outlined the genesis, rationale and details of the ZCA2020 Plan. He began with the alarming US Navy prediction of zero summer sea ice in the Arctic by 2013 as a dire example of the acute threat of man-made global warming due to greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution (see Robin McKie, “Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up”, UK Guardian, 10 August 2008: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environme... ) .

While fossil fuel corporations and their lobbyists have mounted a very effective “Can’t Do” campaign denying that 100% renewable energy is possible, BZE has tackled the careful research to show that we “Can Do” 100% renewable energy within 10 years using existing, commercially applied technology.

In short, the ZCA2020 Plan for 100% renewable energy for Australia (electricity supply plus replacement of oil with electricity for cars, freight rail and passenger rail transport) is costed at $370 billion. The breakdown of the overall $370 billion cost is $175 billion (concentrated solar thermal, CST), $8 billion (back-up heaters), $6 billion (bioenergy supply from crop waste for back-up heaters), $72 billion (wind power), $92 billion (High Voltage Direct Current, HVDC, and High Voltage Alternating Current, HVAC, electricity grid for transmission), and $17 billion (off-grid CST plus backup).

Key additional features were that the ZCA2020 Plan was consonant with Australian labor supply and concrete and steel production capacity. Matthew Wright’s presentation concluded with the image of a potent “Our choice” comparison: 20 tonnes of coal or a 1 square metre mirror.

Other speakers included Professor Mike Sandiford (chair of the proceedings and head of the Melbourne Energy Institute), John Daley (CEO, Grattan Institute), Professor Keith Lovegrove (Solar Thermal Group Leader, Australian National University, Canberra), Lane Crockett (General Manager, Pacific Hydro), Andrew Dyer (Director, BrightSource Energy). and Professor Peter Seligman, author of “Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers” (an ambitious plan for 100% renewable and geothermal energy for Australia in 25 years and costing $253 billion: http://energy.unimelb.edu.au/upload...).

Professor Seligman estimated that for his 100% renewable and geothermal stationary energy in 25 years “including the cost of the pipes and turbines , to convert our existing electrical power system to completely renewable sources, we will need … $253 billion … over say 25 years. That’s about $10 billion per year or about $500 per person per year or $1.40 per person per day”. The breakdown is $198 billion (wind, solar and geothermal power stations), $20 billion (high voltage DC power lines), $33 billion (for turbines and pipes associates with hydrological storage of power by pumping sea water to Nullabor Desert storage ponds) and $2 billion (construction of coastal Nullabor Desert storage pond dams).

Professor Sandiford praised these 2 reports emanating from the Melbourne Energy Institute, the BZE ZCA2020 Plan and Dr Peter Seligman’s “Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers”.

Lawyer and economist John Daley (CEO, Grattan Institute) spoke of the importance of these reports in establishing that renewable was do-able and for providing ball park cost estimates. Crucially, he stated that there was no point in building gas plants on the pathway from a coal economy to a 100% renewable economy if they were only to be eventually turned off . (However one notes that because of methane leakage and methane being 72 times worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas on a 20 year time scale, using gas for power can be as bad in relation to GHG pollution as burning coal: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?ar... ). A key cost reservation was the possibility of supply- and demand-related construction component price increases associated with rapid implementation of the massive 100% renewable energy infrastructure. However Dr Peter Seligman pointed out the huge efficiencies associated with the US economic mobilization in World War 2, notably in the construction of Liberty ships.

Question time elicited many useful comments e.g. what price the extinction of a species? How can we overcome the lobbyist-driven political resistance? How can these plans be effectively disseminated? Matt Wright indicated that speakers are being trained to address community groups (à la Al Gore’s volunteer speakers) and that a big venue Sydney launch is planned.

One person commented that stationary energy is just one part of the GHG problem (e.g. World bank analysts have recently estimated that GHG pollution from livestock production may be over 51% of the total GHG pollution:
http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf... ) and BZE pointed out that further such studies on buildings, industry, transport and agriculture are in the pipeline.

Following on the plan for 100% renewable energy for the World by Mark Z. Jacobson and Mark A. Delucchi (“A plan to power 100 percent of the planet with renewables”, Scientific American, November 2009: http://www.scientificamerican.com/a... ) and Cambridge UK Professor David J.C. MacKay’s UK-specific “Sustainable energy - without the hot air” (see: http://www.withouthotair.com/ ), the detailed and costed proposals of BZE’s “Australian Sustainable Energy Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan” and Professor Peter Seligman’s “Australian Sustainable Energy – by the numbers” are major contributions to how we can – and indeed must – rapidly achieve 100% renewable energy in high polluting countries like Australia and indeed in all countries around the world.

We must of course remember that Zero Emissions is just the first step to save the Biosphere. Top climate scientists say that there must be a safe and sustainable existence for all peoples and all species on our warming-threatened Planet and this requires a rapid reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to about 300 parts per million (ppm) from the present dangerous and damaging 390 ppm (see “300.org – return atmosphere CO2 to 300 ppm”, 300.org: http://sites.google.com/site/300org... ).

Australia is the world’s biggest coal exporter and has a world leading annual per capita GHG pollution – but unlike the relatively small, densely populated UK is lavishly endowed with solar, wind, wave and geothermal energy resources. The launch of Beyond Zero Emissions’ “Australian Sustainable Energy Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan” marks a major step forward in the transition to a 100% renewable energy Australia and has major global implications - scientists and engineers in other countries must follow suit with similar country-specific plans for 100% renewable energy by 2020 (see "100% renewable energy by 2020": http://sites.google.com/site/100ren...).