REPORT: Ian Lowe's talk "Energy for a Sustainable Future"

Climate Action Newcastle hosted an inspiring talk last night by Emeritus Professor Ian Lowe AO, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation entitled "Energy for a Sustainable Future".

Prof.Lowe opened with the notion of planning for the future- for a sustainable future. Using the example of taking a family holiday, he explained how we don't usually pack our family and camping gear into the car and drive randomly on the road system until we run out of fuel, set up camp for 2 weeks, then hitch home.
We spend time planning our lives, so why not spend some time planning for the future of humanity, and chose the path to sustainability.
Our lives are full of choices, said the professor, so each time we have a choice, we can take the most sustainable one, which will lead us all to a sustainable future, to reduce climate change.

Presenting us with graphs and maps showing the effect of climate change on different regions of Australia, he showed that climate change is indeed occurring, at a rapid pace, with temperatures having increased by several degrees in some areas, and fallen in others. The intensity of rainfall has decreased all around our most populated areas, and increased in the uninhabited areas.
Reminding us of current climate related disasters, hurricanes, tsunami, bushfires etc, Prof.Lowe did use a bit of the old scare tactic to keep us listening.
Maybe we need the old scare once in a while. As the professor pointed out, scientists have been warning of Climate Change have been largely unheeded. Similar warnings from an economist however about the effect of climate change on the economy, media attention is gained, eg. The Stern report.
Different projections were shown for the future if we were to continue producing carbon emissions at our current level. In order to return CO2 emissions to a manageable level, the professor showed that we would have to make a reduction of 60%-90% by 2050 of our current emissions. This seemed extreme, but he went on to show how this is not a far-fetched notion.

The main way to reduce CO2 is through alternative energy systems. Prof.Lowe showed figures demonstrating attainableness of sustainable energy compared to alternative energy notions from the government and industry such as "clean" coal and nuclear. Government studies into Nuclear showed that 25 new nuclear reactors would take over 12 years to build, and only then reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 18%, producing expensive power and still no way to deal with that 760 million year radioactive waste disposal issue.
Compatively he showed renewable energy as cheaper than nuclear, faster to produce, greater greenhouse gas reductions, and reliable.
It was good to hear the facts from a scientific viewpoint. According to Ian Lowe we are running out of oil, and we will be paying over $3/L by 2010 (only 3 years away!)

So what did the learned professor suggest we do? The biggest impact on reducing climate change is to reduce CO2 emissions.
Transport is almost a third of CO2 release so we should be walking and riding our bikes and horses.
We should use public transport as much as possible, and encouraging sustainably fuelled (eg hydrogen) public transport.
repeatedly he discussed the importance to people/government/business/industry of finances. We need to understand how much we are spending every time we use power. How much does it cost us to turn on a light, watch the TV, get a cold beer out of the fridge? Receiving a bill every three months keeps us very separate from the actual impact of our actions.

The ACF has been meeting with the 6 largest companies in Australia to determine the effect of climate change on business. The "business leaders round table" found that climate change will significantly interrupt business in the future, and to undertake sustainability measures as part of regular business practice would only minimally interrupt business output for a short while. With immediate, significant change to CO2 emissions, (ie reducing CO2 emissions by 60-90% by 2050) we would have a higher GDP, higher employment, cheaper electricity, lower costs for energy and infrastructure than if we continue with our existing CO2 emission practices.

Other countries efforts to reduce climate change were explored. Iceland aims to be oil and gas free by 2010. Already 76% of that countries power is wind generated. Some of the reasons Iceland can achieve this are that they are an island nation , so they don't need to interface their alternative energy systems with other nations, they are a country with emphasis on scientific knowledge and recognised for their rigorous research and intellectual community, and they have a large land mass compared to population...sound familiarly like another country we know well?

The figures for other nations' uptake and targets of PhotoVoltaic cells on residential roofs were displayed. Compared to 1 million for the USA, Australia has a target of .... zero. The professors humorous approach throughout the talk made it very entertaining. How we laughed at the silliness of our ways! He reminded us about how we look back upon our past and can't believe the ways we did things in the olden days, how 200 years ago the abolition of slavery seemed ridiculous, how allowing all members of society to vote would cause chaos, how could coffee be anything but instant. He dared us to be visionary, utopian thinkers, so that in the future, our descendants would look back at our use over natural resources and titter at our foolish naivete.

Well done, Professor Ian Lowe. I was very inspired.