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December 20, 2004
You could say that Australia's energy policy is a black hole.
Leahy
It is a bit of a stalemate in terms of energy independence, security and sustainability. For the right, writing in The Australian Financial Review, energy policy is all about the coal industry and protecting the energy intensive industries. It claims that limiting greenhouse gas emissions is so costly that it will wreck the economy; that wind power is a confidence trick; and that renewable energy is an industry that loses millions of dollars.
Meanwhile, the aspirational suburban project homes---McMansions--- continue to be built on little blocks of land in suburban wastelands with little public amenities and a reliance on private transport. The McMansions have little energy or water efficiency, have little insulation and rely on airconditioners in the winter and summer that depend on the electricity generated by coal-fired power stations. The environmental impact of fossil fuels is ignored.
The right in the media thunders that urban design and planning strangles the market, threatens jobs, and takes away people's choice. And the green activists, nay, zealots go round threatening other people's livelihoods in order to make themselves feel good or enhance their social lives.
The failure to align the market with environmental policy is the reason why Australia's energy policy is a blackhole.
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I think you are being way too kind.