| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Down Under | ||
| Australia 'must ban' fuel imports | ||
| 2007-04-18 | ||
| Australia must ban fossil fuel imports by 2020 if it hopes to cut greenhouse gas emissions, scientist and Australian of the Year Tim Flannery says. Commenting ahead of a speech at an ethanol industry conference in Melbourne, Dr Flannery said the Stern report into the world's environmental state identified biofuel use as one of the cheapest methods to halt global warming. But while other nations forged ahead to cut their use of fossil fuels, Australia was well behind, he said. “Places like Sweden have set targets now to eliminate petrol imports by 2020, so they are weaning themselves off fossil fuels,” he said. “Brazil is obviously doing a great job and there is lots happening in the US and Canada, but Australia is sitting on its hands a bit. We need targets in this country. A good aspirational goal would be to stop importing fossil fuels by 2020. If Sweden can do it, I think there is a very good chance that we can do it, and then work out what the particular strategy is to do that.” The target could be achieved with increased fuel efficiency and the use of biofuels such as ethanol, he said. But vested interests were hampering the biofuel push, Dr Flannery said.
The Government also needed to set a target for how much Australia must reduce carbon dioxide emissions, he said. “What needs to be done is for the Government to set some target,” he said.“If anyone in business went into their board meeting and said 'Don't ask me about what we are going to produce next year or what the target will be', they would be out of a job very, very quickly.”
| ||
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #9 Sounds more like a self defense issue. Rightly so. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-04-18 23:40 |
| #8 He can't drive a horse and buggy. Horse gives off CO2 and methane. And if I rode my bike to work instead, my perspiration would be my excess contribution to the global warming plague. If I have to piss afterwards, all the worse. I suppose I'll just quit my job and preserve my environment... |
| Posted by: Raj 2007-04-18 20:17 |
| #7 ...and there is lots happening in the US and Canada... Which means what, exactly? Aren't there a lot of cars on our roads? Are we suddenly converting to telecommuting or some such horsepuckey? I suppose our reverting to employ carrier pigeons would further reduce our 'carbon footprint', right? I can't wait until I read Tim Blair's take on this. Flannerty seems like a watered down version of Al Bore. Ever wonder why global warming types like this don't discuss alternatives to the energy generation capability they'd like to eliminate? |
| Posted by: Raj 2007-04-18 20:09 |
| #6 “Australia lags behind in a lot of things. We're a little bit isolated. Hahahahahahhahahahahaha! Ima sorry. thatn was sweet. Hahahahahahahah! oppps, damn Ima noseDrown. Lordy gimme a kleeeeenex. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-04-18 18:27 |
| #5 He can't drive a horse and buggy. Horse gives off CO2 and methane. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-04-18 17:05 |
| #4 So...what do you drive, doc? Horse and buggy? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-04-18 16:42 |
| #3 How bout you drink that shit instead! |
| Posted by: Crolugum Ghibelline5943 2007-04-18 16:07 |
| #2 Biofuels (plants) take carbon out of the atmosphere. Burning it then returns carbon. Net zero. Mining carbon sources reintroduces carbon that was taken out of the atmosphere millions of years ago. The catch is that biofuels are low yield and produced with mined fuels as inputs. Oil and gas production has an energy yield of 10-15 while grain ethanol has a yield of 1.3 or lower. In other worlds, to put a gallon of fuel into your tank, it takes 1.1 gallons of oil while it takes 4 gallons of ethanol (if ethanol was the only fuel used in production). A huge effort to go nowhere and a point environmentalists studiously ignore. |
| Posted by: ed 2007-04-18 15:07 |
| #1 Dr Flannery said the Stern report into the world's environmental state identified biofuel use as one of the cheapest methods to halt global warming. What the?????? This person just identified himself as an idiot. Biofuels produce carbon dioxide when burned, just the same as gasoline or diesel. Carbon dioxide and methane, two of the most talked-about "greenhouse gasses", are also given off during processing. If there were ever any doubt that "global warming" is a contrived "catastrophe", this eliminated it. What a doofus! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2007-04-18 14:14 |