The Hobart launch of the Beyond Zero Emissions energy plan last night got many more people than organisers had bargained for. If only the interest could extend to State Parliament. [12 November 2010 | Peter Boyer]
On a humid Thursday evening (11 November) in Hobart, Climate Action Hobart hosted two key people behind the much-talked-about Beyond Zero Emissions plan to provide Australia with 100 percent renewable energy by 2020.
CAH had expected a moderate-sized audience, so the Bowen Room in Hadleys Hotel was considered a big enough venue. What they got was enough people not just to fill the seats plus the extra chairs hurriedly brought in at the last minute, but standing along the walls and out through the doorways.
BZE executive director Matthew Wright spoke to a highly-energised audience about the Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, a blueprint for the replacement within a decade of all our fossil-fuel electricity generators with large-scale solar, wind and hydro energy. Another of the plan’s lead authors, Patrick Hearps, outlined how the plan could be applied in Tasmania using existing wind and hydro technology, where large 7.5Gw wind turbines were deployed and hydro served as storage, with water pumped to higher dams when winds were strong. Peter Rae, chairman of the International Renewable Energy Alliance and chairman of the Tasmanian Renewable Anergy Development Board, congratulated BZE on its foresight and further detailed how Tasmania can move itself to a fully-renewable energy supply by 2020.
Senator-elect Lisa Singh (Labor), Deputy Mayor of Hobart, Ald. Helen Burnett (Greens) and Greens Alderman Bill Harvey spoke from the floor.
Photos below are by Lorraine Perrins. Click here for a YouTube video of the presentation.
Audience for the launch at Hadleys Hotel, Hobart
Beyond Zero Emissions executive director Matthew Wright outlined the Zero Carbon Stationary Energy Plan for Australia, using wind, solar and solar storage, and hydro and hydro storage
Patrick Hearps, lead author for the BZE plan, discussed zero-carbon options for Tasmania
Peter Rae, former Hydro Tasmania chairman, currently chair of international and Tasmanian renewable energy groups, outlined possibilities for Tasmanian zero-carbon stationary energy
Executive officer for Sustainable Living Tasmania, Todd Houstein, talked about the role of energy conservation measures in lowering Tasmania’s emissions
Simon Boughey of the Alcorso Foundation, which sponsored the BZE launch
Question time with MC Hannah Aulby of Climate Action Hobart
BZE launch presenters