From The Age
Australias energy future is likely to include a wider variety of energy sources, especially if a carbon trading scheme is to go ahead. Australia is one of the best positioned countries for a stable energy future, with a mixture of energy options, including 600 years of brown coal reserves. Although sustainable sources such as hot rocks geothermal, wind and solar energy are significantly more expensive per kilowatt hour and don't supply a base load, they are increasingly likely to be a larger part of the mix, with operating costs likely to dramatically reduce in the next two decades.
There seems to be an assumption from the generators that nuclear power will be part of the mix, with the assertion by the power generators that all their modelled options were cheaper with an element of nuclear power generation capacity, although most Australians are strongly opposed.
All the modelled scenarios suggest energy is going to cost a lot more in the coming decades.
2 comments:
I would have thought given Austrlia's size the empty spaces nuclear powere could be built more safely and remotely there than virtually anywhere else!
This is true, but one of the requirements is that it be close to centres of population and water supply, yet be far enough away to assuage a suspicious public. Almost all of the Australian population live near the coast. It is a tricky one, but I think some level of nuclear power will happen in the longer term.
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