Principal speaker
Dr Mark Diesendorf
Along with many long-standing problems of poverty, social injustice and environmental destruction, planet Earth and its inhabitants face three great acute threats in the 21st century linked to the energy sector: human-induced climate change; insecurity of energy supply; and nuclear war. Fortunately, we now have a solution to the first two of these joint threats that will not increase the risk of the third: namely sustainable energy, which is the efficient use of renewable energy. Recent research, involving the development of scenarios and hourly computer simulations, finds that Australia; several other countries and possibly the whole world; could transition to electricity systems that are entirely renewable and are based on commercially available technologies. Most urban transport and heat could also be supplied by renewable electricity. For Australia, our UNSW research group finds that the transition is affordable and is likely to be the least expensive of future low carbon scenarios. Myths, that are being disseminated by sustainable energy deniers, have been busted.
Dr Mark Diesendorf is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Previously, at various times, he was a Principal Research Scientist in CSIRO, Professor of Environmental Science and Founding Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at University of Technology Sydney, and Director of Sustainability Centre Pty Ltd. Currently his principal research is on rapid mitigation of global climate change and, in particular, integrating renewable energy on a large scale into electricity supply-demand systems. His most recent book, Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change (UNSWPress and Earthscan, 2014), will be on sale at the seminar.