The solution to Australia's greenhouse gas-belching coal-fired power industry is a long way off, the author of the national Climate Change Review said yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Economist Ross Garnaut told more than 1200 people at a Brisbane address it was yet to be proven whether the nation could find a way to make so-called "clean coal" technology a reality.
"We don't know for sure that we can," Professor Garnaut said.
"Certainly the technology is available but we don't yet have it operating at a commercial scale, we don't know what the cost of it will turn out to be."
Stationary power generation - or the use of coal- and gas-fired stations - is responsible for about half of the country's carbon dioxide emissions.
Queensland is Australia's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
The Queensland Government and the private sector are investing billions of dollars in developing technologies to capture and store the carbon dioxide produced when coal and gas are burned in power stations.
But Professor Garnaut said governments must plough significant research and development dollars into renewable energy sources, including geothermal and solar energy, as well as carbon capture and storage.
"We're advocating a very large increase in commitments to research and development and commercialisation across the range of low emissions technologies that are important for Australia - not excluding coal but certainly giving priority to other things as well," Professor Garnaut said.
The State Government has developed the $1.4 billion Climate Smart 2050 strategy, which includes an investment of at least $115 million in renewable energy initiatives.
But with the state's vast reserves of coal and an export industry worth about $16 billion per year, the state government is standing firm on coal production.
Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said at least two separate clean coal projects were showing promising results.
"Our ZeroGen project could become the first in the world to combine coal gasification with carbon capture and storage, to produce electriciy with low carbon dioxide emissions," Mr Wilson said.
ZeroGen, still in the feasibility study phase, proposes building an electricity plant next to Stanwell Power Station near Rockhampton in Central Queensland.
Mr Wilson said an oxy-fuel project near Biloela was also progressing, which would retro-fit power plants to slash emissions.
"It involves using a conventional power station, burning the coal in pure oxygen, making it easier to capture the carbon dioxide," he said.
