End of the Coal Era

Around the coffee shops and dinner tables of Australia, using coal to generate power is becoming a talking point, second only to the recession. So Australia's plans to double the export capacity of our major coal exporting port is a hot topic. Spending is one way to stimulate the economy, but is this the type of infrastructure spending we need? According to today's SMH newspaper, Professor Peter Newman, a member of Infrastucture Australia says that these new coal loading facilities "should be stopped". He added that "coal will be a declining export for Australia".

He is not alone in this view. In his latest work "Quarry Vision, Coal, Climate Change and the end of the Resources Boom" , environmental strategist Guy Pearse comments on the volume of coal laden trains headed for our ports - "we understand that for every large bite taken from the earth to fill those trains, a very harmful belch occurs somewhere else in the world".

Around the world, development of new coal fired power plants are being blocked or delayed in lengthy court processes. Let's rethink - let's spend our limited infrastructure spending on new ways to generate energy, such as renewable power, bio-energy and energy efficiency. And let's find new ways to export sunshine!