Whether one believes in the new religion of global warming caused mainly by coal fired power stations, the internal combustion engine and the flatulence of cattle etc. or you may appear to be a heretic who believes among other things that it is the sun and its ever-changing cyclical moods over the millenia along with a myriad of other factors that cannot be measured that are the cause of global warming and cooling, you would agree that there are issues that have to be faced as a matter of urgency.
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One clear fact is that China, the USA and India are the main culprits in the emission of green house gases with a combined estimate of 49.73 per cent of the worlds' total, with China contributing 29.34 per cent, the USA 13.77 per cent, and India 6.62 per cent. Australia produces 1.08 per cent.
Coal still dominates China's energy mix with about 59 per cent of generation, with renewables accounting for just six per cent of supply.
The demand for coal in India, China and South east Asia is increasing with the construction of 'new generation' coal fired power stations being a major part of the mix.
Despite pulling out of the Kyoto agreement the USA's emissions are being reduced by the greater use of natural gas and other evolving sciences. Still a long way to go.
For those who believe that greenhouse gases are the cause of global warming I would suggest that in Australia's interests and indeed as a contribution to the rest of the world we should in the short to medium term be selling as much clean Australian coal to China, India and other nations as is practicable.
This will reduce the amount of 'unclean' coal they burn from their own and other sources as they try to catch up with renewables which in China's case won't be for a number of years.
Let's get real. China in the short to medium term despite its rhetoric, will not, indeed cannot reduce its reliance on an assured power supply if it is to meet the aspirations of its' 1.4 billion population. This is even with an iron-fisted communist government.
India has a similar problem with its divided ethnic background of 1.27 billion people. This unrest in the long run could produce a major headache for the rest of the world.
The second thing we could do for Australia and the globe is to make better use of our vast natural gas reserves in lieu of coal.
Natural gas has a much lower emission rate and the banning of exploration and use of these reserves by state governments in order to appease the green lobby and others is obscene and working against Australia's best interests.
It is time for the scare campaigns about Nuclear Power were ended. It continues to be, according to Lancet Medical Journal, the safest way in terms of death of workers in generating power.
Fukishima did nothing to change that. Nuclear is also the only non-hydro power generation source capable of producing zero emission power 24/7 which is the type of electricity needed by all modern economies and the environment.
One modern Nuclear power plant in Germany produces the equivalent of 83 per cent of all the power generated by Denmarks' 6100 wind turbines. There is a nuclear building boom at present around the globe, with 55 plants under construction and a further 440 planned or proposed.
We should be part of that boom. It is to be hoped that the nuclear inquiry announced by the federal government is the first move toward an overdue conversation Australia needs to have about nuclear power.
If the climate alarmists are correct we don't have time for a long conversation.
Noel Hicks, Griffith
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