Observation

COM318: Public Affairs

Assessment Two

Observation Report – House of Representatives, Standing committee on Industry and Resources

Reference: Development of the non-fossil fuel industry in Australia: case study into selected renewable energy sectors.

Thursday, August 9 2007

Canberra

The Committee undertook a comparative study of different renewable energy sectors. For the purpose of time constraints, the majority of the hearing focused on solar energy and its benefit to Australia.

This was a very interesting and in-depth look at how an idea is put forward to the government. Two leading experts on Solar Energy, Executive Director of Cynergy Pty Ltd Mr Bruce Higgs, and CEO of Lloyd Energy Systems Mr Steve Hollis succinctly gave the Committee an outline of the two main solar energy systems available in Australia. It was fascinating to hear about how there is the potential to manufacture and implement an energy system that does not harm the environment, is economically satisfactory and can produce power for millions from a resource that Australia has in abundance; the sun.

The whole point of the committee hearing became apparent in question time, when the majority of questions where about the cost of producing solar power, and whether Australia could package the design and sell it to other countries. It annoyed me that the benefits to the environment where scarcely mentioned, whereas they spent an hour talking about the cost per unit of producing the energy.

I especially enjoyed being able to witness the progress of non-fossil fuel energy resources into parliamentary procedure. Hollis and Higgs where able to present their data to the government and receive feedback, or at least the peace of mind that they were being listened to and hopefully taken seriously.

It was difficult for me to understand the detail of the two different solar energy systems, because the discussion incorporated a knowledge of energy systems that I did not have. I did deign that one was a large 'power tower' with mirrors, suited to a farmer's paddock or remote area, whilst the other spanned a large area, and was made up of a series of troughs. The Power Tower model was more suited to the Australian climate, and could be installed in a larger number of areas because it took up less space.

The focus on solar energy and lack of detail on the other mentioned energy systems, such as wave, tidal, geothermal and hydrogen power gave the impression of a monopolization on the choices. It seemed that Higgs and Hollis were there to speak only about solar power, because it was the most economical and also the most popular alternative. I would have liked to hear more about the other options. Even so, I was glad to see a proactive discussion on non fossil-fuel energy resources, because up until that point it seemed that nuclear energy was all the government were interested in.

I believe public committee hearings are crucial to the democratic procedure. Although this particular hearing did not open for public questions because of time constraints, it was still important because society is able to gain knowledge and understanding of what was going on in relevant areas of their lives. The recent issues with global warming and climate change have certainly spurred this search for more environmentally friendly power sources, yet the decision as to which way Australia will head with energy obtainment will still come down to the bottom line: what's it going to cost?