14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers working with the University of Melbourne and the collaborative Zero Carbon Australia Project released a report stating that Australia has the potential to switch from being powered by so-called dirty energy sources to being powered by renewables in just ten years' time.
This is because, courtesy of its location and its landscape, Australia has great solar and wind power potential.
As the specialists who looked into this issue explains, this means that, should the country's high officials agree to invest in harvesting these environmentally-friendly energy sources, Australia could significantly cut down on its ecological footprint in a relatively short time span.
After analyzing this country's solar and wind power potential, the researchers concluded that wind farms could meet roughly 40% of Australia's energy demands, whereas the remainder 60% could easily be provided for by solar thermal plants.
“The plan shows that it is technically possible to reach 100% renewable energy for Australia within a decade and the technology to achieve this transition is commercially available now,” reads the report's overview.
Furthermore, “Solar thermal power in the ZCA plan will supply 60% of Australia's electricity. Wind will supply 40% of Australia's electricity in the ZCA plan.”
According to Inhabitat, the report also stipulates that crop-waste biomass and hydroelectricity could be used as back ups for these solar and wind farms.
Thus, should whether conditions keep the latter from functioning at their full capacity, biomass and hydroelectricity would supply whatever power input is lacking.
Interestingly enough, The Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan maintains that such major investments in harvesting said green energy would also translate into Australia's job market and economy experiencing a rather impressive boost:
“A transition to 100% renewable energy will create around four times more permanent jobs than currently exist in the domestic fossil fuel sector. The ZCA Plan will generate an investment of $370 billion (roughly €277 billion) over ten years – a stimulus to the Australian economy that is equivalent to 3% of our GDP over ten years.”