Advantages of Renewable Energy
Renewable energy is a vital tool in our efforts to combat climate change.
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Once infrastructure is built, renewable energy does not produce greenhouse gases such as methane or carbon dioxide. This means that it does not contribute to exacerbating the problems of climate change.
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The other great advantage of renewable energy is that this type of energy is, as the name suggests, renewable. This means that there is an unlimited supply of inputs, such as sun, wind, waves, tides, and other natural elements, which can be harnessed for energy production.
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With the increasing cost of fossil fuels and other forms of unsustainable energy production, investing in renewable energy research and production will have many long-term benefits, as the cost of renewable energy is falling as technology and efficiency is improving.
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The likely future introduction of a price on carbon will also mean that the cost of renewable energy will be more or less on par with traditional energy costs such as coal. Moreover, renewable energy facilities tend to require less maintenance and upkeep than traditional energy generators.
- Renewable energy production also has the potential to create many new jobs and industries in Australia. These industries have a much largerpotential for job creation compared with coal. Moreover, these jobs will be spread across the state in both rural and suburban areas. In addition to this, if wind generators and panels and other materials used are produced here in Australia, this will have the added benefit of supporting our manufacturing sector.
- Lastly, we have recently experienced many years of drought, and climate science tells us that there will be even greater water stress in coming decades. Given this, it is vital that we invest in renewable energy which is very low water consuming compared with coal production.
wind farm near Albany, WA
Taken together these advantages show why we need to expand our investment dramatically in this area.
We certainly accept that production of renewable energy may come with some social and environmental cost. We support development of this industry in appropriate areas and with careful attention to community concerns and commitment to transparent consultation processes.
