Future Energy Solutions: Grant King

Grant King serves up a near sermon on going gas, he writes off or ignores all the other solutions.

On energy efficiency, and behaviour change, he confuses the two very distinct and difference sciences. Does he do this deliberately we do not know?

On Wind Power he claims it doesn't really work, despite Denmark going to 50% wind power by 2025 and Spain going to 25% Wind Power by 2020. Then he offers open cycle gas as a solution to backing them up, while pushing inflexible CCGT plants that do not like to be ramped up and down.

He fails to admit that "natural gas" is the same dirty dangerous gas that is part of the Oil and Gas flowing from the BP Gulf Of Mexico Oil and Gas well disaster.

He plugs Geothermal which is the most unlikely alternative technology (not renewable of course) and says that although they're sinking dollars in it they will not know if it works until 5 years time. Most people in the industry know that it will not work now. But it suits Origin to have a solution that may or may not be working in 5 years so they can sell a lot of gas in the mean time.

He claims not to support "picking winners" picking technologies however he wants a low carbon price and a low target which means gas. Which sits perfectly with the business direction of Origin one of the biggest gas companies (formerly Boral Gas)

And finally he is either unaware/ignorant of Baseload Solar Thermal or he is deliberately misleading the audience on the fact that it exists right now and is commercially available right now off the shelf from massive companies in the USA,, Spain and Germany.

and yet, matthew, Origin sinks huge dollars into developing renewable technolgies, including geothermal (last time i checked it was renewable) wind and solar.

Over the next two decades Australia will be able to reduce its carbon footprint 5 to 10 times faster for the same $$ spent - if it invests those $$ in gas fired generation rather wind or solar. In other words every dollar spent on wind and solar right now could have much better directed if your aim is to reduce carbon and save the planet. Let the other countries who don't have better options drive the cost of wind and solar down and we can move onto that technology when it provides us the best reduction for the carbon dollar invested.