Traditional Power Production

Mains power production in Australia is primarily from burning coal and huge volumes of greenhouse gases result. Along with the compounding effects of mining this non-renewable fossil fuel and the full range of environmental impacts of mining operations and transportation of the raw materials.

At coal fired power stations, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the most famous of the greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted, and is a major player in the energy production controversy.

CO2 is naturally found in the earth’s atmosphere in small amounts. One of its jobs is to act as an insulator for the earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to keep the heat from the sun at a temperature we’ve become accustomed to – the Greenhouse Effect.

Because of human activity the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere has risen dramatically since the beginning of the industrial age. It’s now reaching artificially high levels because of the burning of fossil fuels needed to power all the stuff we are building and producing.

These artificially high levels of CO2 consequently produce the even more famous effects of Global Warming and Climate Change. The Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in early 2007 announced irrefutable evidence exists that human activity is the main driver behind the big G W.

The alternative is nice clean green renewable and non-polluting energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. Which makes sense to you?

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Climate Change 2007:Synthesis Report - www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf


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