Cleaning up Carbon
Voting For Higher Energy Prices
by Geoff Cutmore
The new series of QFTF debates started in Perth, Australia. This is an economy facing important changes to its energy future. Historically it has ranked as one of the worlds largest emitters of carbon gases per capita. At a global level its contribution to greenhouse gases is small, but as a developed nation its reliance on coal fired power stations to generate electricity is a challenge.
When in power Prime Minister John Howard always refused to sign up to Kyoto and the notion of a carbon trading scheme, without significant commitments from developing world emmitters. The new PM Kevin Rudd has turned this policy approach on its head, making signatory of Kyoto one of his first tasks once in power. This now means the country will at some point take up the idea of pricing carbon, and introduce a cap and trade scheme. The hot debate within industry in Australia is whether the government will hand out carbon credits, or seek to auction them to help the formation of a stable secondary value and marketplace.
Australia currently has cheap and abundant coal resources and a growing supply of natural gas. A carbon trading program will have very serious implications for the way power generators invest and make profits. We took these issues at the heart of the Australian energy dilemma to our QFTF audience in Perth.
Are Australian’s willing to switch from dirty coal to clean coal or even natural gas to reduce emissions ? Are they prepared to pay the higher costs associated with cleaner energy generation ? These are the questions that framed the two motions we put to our audience.
The audience was made up of energy industry workers, students, business people and politicians. The debate was spirited, and the arguments put by both sides in each motion compelling.
In the end there has to be a winner, and we asked our audience to vote on each of the motions.
The results? Well you might be surprised by the direction in which our audience want the country to go....but of course you will have to watch the show for that on the 6th May.
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