The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP, today launched the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) report Energy Technology for Climate Change: Accelerating the Technology Response.
The aim of the report is to identify technologies that can most efficiently and effectively reduce Australia's carbon emissions for stationary power generation in both technical and financial terms.
Minister Ferguson noted the Australian Government is already implementing almost all of the Academy's recommendations such as supporting programs like the Renewable Energy Fund, carbon capture and storage, and the development and deployment of new energy technologies.
Minister Ferguson said: "The Australian Government has made massive investments in the renewable energy field - notably, the $435 million Renewable Energy Demonstration Program intended to establish a portfolio of large scale projects demonstrating new renewable energy technologies and the $50 million for geothermal drilling and pilot projects.
"These investments are intended to create new, clean energy sources. However as coal-fired electricity is likely to remain in our energy mix for decades to come, the Australian Government is also driving the $500 million Low Emissions Coal Initiative and the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, to which we will contribute $100 million annually, to help make our most common energy source cleaner.
"Measures such as the Renewable Energy Demonstration Program will help drive renewable energy supply. Policies such as increasing the Renewable Energy target to 20 per cent by 2020 will increase demand and ensure Australian renewable energy producers have a market."
Minister Ferguson did note that one stark difference between the Academy's recommendations and Government policy was in the field of nuclear energy.
Nuclear power is one of the power generation options put forward for Australia in the ATSE report, however it is the Government's view that nuclear power is not needed as part of Australia's energy mix given our country's abundance and diversity of low cost and reliable energy sources, both fossil fuel and renewable," Minister Ferguson said.
"The Government has a clear policy of prohibiting the development of an Australian nuclear power industry, but the Government also understands that nuclear power is an important part of the energy mix in some countries where energy demand is growing strongly but which lack the abundant and diverse energy resources available to Australians."
For a copy of the ATSE report, visit www.atse.org.au.