Canberra’s zero emissions target brought forward 10 years to 2020, by Kirsten Lawson.
The ACT’s move to 100 per cent renewable energy will cost taxpayers an extra $117 million a year at its peak in 2020, the government says, moving this week to bring forward its zero-emissions target by a decade.
Environment Minister Simon Corbell announced recently that the ACT would pay for sufficient renewable energy to meet the city’s entire energy needs by 2020.
The move is estimated to cost the average household — spending about $1500 a year on electricity at the moment — an extra $290 a year. …
The 100 per cent renewables target could easily be achieved by 2020 through the large-scale wind and solar projects being funded by contracts with the ACT government, he said.
“Zero Emissions” will Test the Convictions of Canberrans, by Viv Forbes.
Canberra, with its “zero emissions” target, yearns to be Australia’s greenest address.
Good. Let’s use them as a full-blown test of “zero emissions” before we all jump over that cliff.
Canberra passes thousands of laws for us. If their zero emissions dream is fair dinkum, they need to pass just three laws for themselves.
First, ban all petrol, diesel and gas-powered trucks, cars, boats, generators and aeroplanes from Canberra. That should remove emissions from their atmosphere, food from their supermarkets, and leave their roads free for pedestrians and bicycles. Idle airport runways would be ideal sites for solar panels and wind turbines.
Second, prohibit the importation electricity generated by coal or gas — they can demonstrate how to survive on wind, solar, hydro, batteries and fire-wood. They should work at home by candle-light on cloudy windless days.
Third, introduce a CCT (Canberra-carbon-tax) whereby all carbon dioxide emitted elsewhere in the production and transport of imported cement, steel, aluminium, bitumen, timber, vehicles, bicycles, solar panels, wind turbines, fire wood and food is charged to ACT end users.
If people flock into emissions-free Canberra we know that this is the way for Australia. But if there is a mass exodus, it will signal that the policy is a failure.
