The Clean Industrial Revolution

Adelaide’s daily newspaper (The Advertiser) has run an opinion piece of mine today where I talk about the immense economic opportunity for South Australia – particularly following Premier Rann’s 33% Clean energy target by 2020. Perfect timing given I will be speaking at an afternoon PB/CEDA forum from 3pm as part of the PB national tour and then Premier Rann will be launching the book at 5:30pm at an informal venue in the city.

See text below:

SA Poised for Clean Energy Boom

Being from New South Wales, I am very jealous of South Australia for two things: amazing wine and its immense clean energy opportunity.  In his budget, Premier Rann announced a renewable energy target of 33% by 2020 for South Australia.  Aside from South Australians feeling good that they are leading Australia in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, this measure will also position the state for the huge economic and job growing potential in the global emerging low carbon economy.

Despite the lack of a coherent international political agreement on the level of carbon emissions cuts, a momentous global shift is underway towards renewable energy resources.  The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released a report this month that showed in 2008, for the first time ever, new investment in renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels) reached US$140 billion – far exceeding investment in old fossil-fuels (coal and gas) at US$110.

The global shift to a low carbon future is happening, and by South Australia taking on world-leading renewable energy targets, is positioning itself to maximise the economic opportunities that will flow from this.

The first way South Australia will benefit economically is through direct green jobs through the production and manufacturing of the new capacity in wind, solar and geothermal energy over the coming decades.  In Levittown for example, a small town in Pennsylvania in the United States, an old steel plant has recently been renewed into a wind turbine factory from Spanish wind producer Gamesa, employing 300.  Vestas, a leading Danish wind manufacturer opened its first US manufacturing plant in Colorado last year because of the local demand for wind power.

Suntech, the worlds largest solar manufacturer based in China is now expanding its manufacturing operations, not into China, but deep into the United States.   The company cited the increasing number of state-based renewable energy incentives and the federal government’s recent ‘green’ stimulus package important in making the decision.

The new South Australian renewable energy targets will drive similar potential for low carbon manufacturing growth whether in Whyalla, Port Augusta or Adelaide.

But arguably the largest potential economic windfall for South Australia will come from commercialising geothermal energy, whereby energy is generated from tapping into the ‘hot rocks’ from the earths interior.  The Australian Geothermal Energy Association estimate that tapping into just 1% of the easily accessible geothermal energy would  provide more than 26,000 times Australia’s annual energy consumption.

Globally the geothermal resource is just as immense, with every continent from Asia to Africa having enormous potential to tap into this baseload, carbon-neutral power supply. According to the UNEP report, investment in geothermal energy was the fastest growing global renewable technology in 2008.

Geothermal resources in South Australia are enormous and with 90% of Australian investment concentrated within the state, the government has also funded a Centre of Excellence for Geothermal Research at the University of Adelaide.  These measures could forseeably make South Australia the Saudia Arabia of geothermal energy – developing and ultimately exporting this technology to a world that will crave it.

South Australia is in a wonderful position since it has all of the renewable options available to tap into, from wind to solar to geothermal.  The new low carbon incentives are good for the planet, but even better in positioning the state for the new emerging global low carbon economy.

Dr Ben McNeil is a climate scientist and economist from the University of NSW and author of “The Clean Industrial Revolution: Growing Australian Prosperity in a Greenhouse Age”, to be launched by Premier Mike Rann on Wednesday.