TERRITORY 2030
A plan for Territorians
Energy, urban design & transport ideas
FAQ Consulting March 2009

SUBMISSION TO TERRITORY 2030

INTRODUCTION

A blueprint for development of the Northern Territory over the next 21 years has to take account of worldwide knowledge and concern about climate change, global warming, and use of fossil fuels that produce CO2 emissions and the build up of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The Territory cannot ignore international undertakings, such as the Kyoto Agreement, to reduce greenhouse emissions, especially by 2030, the time frame of this project.

In the US, President, Barack Obama has stated:
The energy challenge we face is so great and the consequences of inaction are so dangerous. We must act quickly and we must act boldly to transform our whole economy from our cars and our fuels, to our factories and our buildings.

Obama has challenged the US to face:
…one of the great challenges of our time: confronting our dependence on foreign oil, addressing the moral, economic and environmental challenge of global climate change, and building a clean energy future that benefits all…

Obama has set a number of targets to meet these challenges, including ensuring that 10% of US energy comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2025.*

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies, in particular solar energy, is a very important step for all governments to progress. We are destroying the climate that we live in and we are running out of fossil fuels. Unless we take concerted action to replace our fossil fuel consumption with renewable energy our civilisation will collapse. The advantage of solar power is that once the initial capital cost has been made the energy produced is clean and free.

While there is increasing information and concern about the urgency to remedy these impacts individuals are largely powerless in controlling their use of fossil based energy. Territory citizens can and are making adjustments at the margins, for example, through recycling, installing solar water heaters and photovoltaic cells. But when they leave home and go to the cinema or supermarket and buy and consume manufactured goods they realise they are still unwittingly contributing to global warming.

While in the Territory we have access to large offshore and onshore gas fields that provide a cheap fuel for electricity generation, this advantage may only be short term as the Australian Government moves to regulate emissions. By using renewable energy the Territory can help preserve valuable gas resources, making them more available for the future and for export, and thus improving our balance of payments.

Strategic planning and systematic government action can address the real change that is necessary, can help absolve the individual of guilt and responsibility and can engage citizens to work together to reduce their carbon footprints. The Territory 2030 project is an ideal means to design a viable future direction and to build confidence and support to achieve it.

NORTHERN TERRITORY ENERGY FOR 2030

The cost of producing large—scale solar power is now competitive with coal and nuclear electricity generation. Solar thermal generation is becoming one of the cheapest sources of electricity in the USA and Europe, and the investment costs are falling. Solar thermal plants burn no fuel, use minimal water, have no air or water emissions and create jobs.

Renewables are now capable of providing the base load through the grid network. California* aims to have 20% renewable power by 2010, and 30% by 2020. Germany* currently produces over 13% of its electrical power from renewable sources; Spain produces 7% from renewable sources. We are seeing enormous changes worldwide.

Demand for electricity in the Territory will rise with increasing use of electric cars; with new urban development where housing is built to cyclone standards and with new medium and high—rise developments – all of these will need to install air conditioning.

The most economical way of producing renewable power is for Governments to be proactive, to make the move to efficient large—scale solar units that feed low cost electricity into the grid, rather than relying on pockets of individual goodwill. It is cheaper and more effective to have a large-scale solar generator than it is for individuals to install domestic photovoltaic units that produce small quantities of electricity for their household consumption and feed excess production back into the grid. individual installations are expensive and are ineffective in terms of achieving national carbon reduction goals.

In some Australian States consumers have the option of paying an extra amount i.e. a higher tariff for electricity consumption, in order to support alternative energy production. These initiatives have not been well supported, only a small percentage of consumers have taken up the offer.

For the future growth of the Territory, in order to get new jobs and industries, the Government will have to offer incentives to industry to relocate or to set up operations here. Possibly the most effective incentive would be access to clean solar power. This would be most attractive to new industry as it would mean they would not have to meet the impost of caps and carbon emission targets, and they could market their products as eco friendly.

Recommendation 1

We recommend that Territory 2030 sets ambitious and realisable targets for production of electricity from clean energy for the Territory grid, using large scale solar generation, as fast as practicable in the next 21 years.

NORTHERN TERRITORY URBAN DESIGN FOR 2030

At the heart of urban design for 2030 must be efficient use of energy. The current blueprint for the urban conurbation of Darwin in 2030 is three separate cities: Darwin, Palmerston and Weddell. Palmerston and Weddell will remain satellite cities, reliant on higher order facilities, and on employment and public infrastructure in Darwin. To avail themselves of these facilities the residents of the satellites will have to overcome the tyranny of distance and meet high and increasing costs of private transport.

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[the full submission is in this PDF]