too much hot air about gases

Too much hot air about gases
From: The Australian December 11, 2012 12:00AM

TECHNOLOGY is the key to cutting emissions.

SINCE Greens leader Christine Milne has declared a climate change "emergency", you might think she would be desperate to consider every available option to save us from the impending disaster. Natural gas, for instance. Not a bit of it. Senator Milne used an appearance on ABC radio yesterday to berate Barack Obama for his pursuit of energy security, but failed to mention that by accelerating the extraction of shale gas the US has strengthened its economy and geo-political position while cutting emissions by 14 per cent since 2007 to their lowest level for 20 years.

Senator Milne's criticism of Australia's coal-seam gas industry was disingenuous. At this stage, the Greens' faith in the potential for wind and solar power to generate the baseload power to run a modern society is vastly optimistic and likely to remain so for decades. In the meantime, if nations are to do more than implement the feeble outcome of the Doha talks -- the new Kyoto agreement covers just 15 per cent of global emissions -- they will be looking to the gradual replacement of coal with natural gas. On current technology, such gases emit 45 per cent less carbon per energy unit.

This will be important for Australia with our vast coal-seam, shale and liquefied natural gas reserves and the absence of a nuclear energy alternative. The International Energy Agency has noted that Australia's natural gas supply is set to increase by 700 per cent from 1990 to 2035.

No developed or developing nation will put living standards and jobs at stake by signing on to cut emissions by scaling down economic activity. That reality seems to escape the Greens in their demands for a 40 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on 1990 levels by 2020. To the contrary, the growth of shale gas exploration, capture and usage in the US resulting from technological innovation exemplifies why the profitable application of technology is the most viable means of achieving significant reductions in carbon pollution. Per capita, emissions in the US have fallen to 1961 levels.
The EU, in contrast, which has relied on heavily subsidised solar and wind power, has achieved per capita CO2 emissions cuts of less than half those of the US. The Greens must grasp the basic science and economics of the issue if they are to make a worthwhile contribution to the debate.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/editorials/too-much-hot-air-about-gases/story-e6frg71x-1226534038579