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November 27, 2008
Over in a little corner of the public sphere we have this kind of debate amongst the Quadrant conservatives. Climate change denialism has a life all of its own; one that has yet to come to terms with market failure of greenhouse pollution or the need for a more sustainable mode of life.
In the world of public policy the debate is concerned with a different set of issues---finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. There are multiple pathways to achieving decarbonisation or a lower carbon economy. They include reducing energy use, increasing energy efficiency, switching to low carbon energy sources and capturing carbon emissions for long term storage. However Australia's energy systems are characterised by lock-in, with coal fired technologies remaining dominant despite the existence of others that could meet current and future needs more effective and the slow rates of change in the physical structure of the built environment.
One pathway to help meet the targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions is through increased energy efficiency. That means improving the energy performance of the existing building stock by retrofitting older homes to make them energy efficient. Building insurance would be dependent on reaching a certain energy efficiency standard.
One way to address the historical dominance of producing electricity through coal -fired power stations is though decentralising energy systems, so as to help smaller-scale technologies get a foothold. This includes solar hot water panels on homes, a combined heat and power system for a block of flats, or a larger renewable power plant in a city centre or a rural area.
The argument here is that Australia is entering a period of energy transition. The main forces driving change are a growing consensus about the scale and importance of climate change, the need to ensure secure energy supplies for Australia in the face of rising global demand and the urgent imperative to re-shape policy in order to decarbonise the energy we use and to secure sustainable supplies for the long term. Achieving these goals requires that policy makers focus their attention on the relationships between energy systems, the built environment and the human activities within it. A lot of Australia's carbon emissions come from energy used in buildings.
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The Quadrant crew have locked themselves into a corner of their own making. Thus Bob Carter in The Futile Quest for Climate Control reduced the world of public policy to propaganda:
Public policy is based on a politically tainted science in Australia---science corrupted by politics. Scientists have become advocates for action to address global warming.