In the world of the Mad Hatter, up is down, green is grey, logic is silly and absurdity is profound … But even the Mad Hatter could never have imagined a world in which fossil fuels are actually renewable energy sources.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” Alice in Wonderland
This is the Brave New World of the Coalition’s climate strategy and their contribution to ‘intelligent’ debate on the Renewable Energy Bill.
While the Rudd government’s approach to climate has been a sham, scam, hoax – it has been an astute political display of the con man’s art. The Coalition in their proposed amendments to the Renewable Energy Amendment Bill on the other hand has lowered the bar to new depths. You will need a shovel to find it.
In the climate debate, the Renewable Energy Amendment Bill has been the one small light on the climate change horizon. When the ALP, in a crass political move, linked it to the CPRS, there were fears that the renewable energy sector would be killed off before the bill passed.
The Bill at its heart is intended to increase the renewable energy target to 20%. While not perfect by any stretch, it is a necessary step in giving the kind of support that the renewables sector needs in order to compete on level terms with the fossil fuel industry.
The Coalition says they want to pass the Bill. The ALP has announced that it is ready to negotiate with the Coalition. Now it gets scary.
The first step in undermining the Renewable Energy Bill – and perhaps the entire concept of renewables – is to make sure that we have a new understanding of renewable energy sources. In the Coalition’s world, coal seam methane, a fossil fuel gas found in coal seams, is no longer a fossil fuel. And coal fired power stations using integrated gasification combined cycle technology is now a renewable technology.
The twilight zone just gets stranger. Methane from anaerobic digestion is also an emerging renewable technology. Ruminant farts and burps, if only we can figure out how to capture them, will qualify as a renewable too. The mind boggles. I have images of farmers dressed as Heidi chasing their cows with butterfly nets.
If methane from cows and sheep is renewable, why not methene from soils or deep sea crystalline structures? In fact, why don’t we simply recognise that in the fullness of geological time, coal, oil, shale are all renewables, if we’re just willing to wait long enough. Or bury enough dinosaurs.
Jeremy Tager
