Most Australians want green power
MELBOURNE, Victoria, AU, September 26, 2007. Nine out of ten Australians believe one quarter of their electricity should come from renewables by 2020.
The Australian Conservation Foundation commissioned Newspoll to survey 1,200 adults by telephone in early September. The results indicate that close to 90% agreed that Australia should produce 25% of the country's electricity from renewables by 2020.
Strongest support for that target was 94% from people in the 35-to-49 age group. Another 93% of respondents living outside major cities agreed that Australia should aim to become a world leader in renewable energy.
“Australia is well endowed with renewable energy resources like sun, wind and geothermal hot rocks,” says Don Henry of ACF. “An overwhelming majority of Australians want our political leaders to do more to get our electricity from renewable energy so we get on with the job of cutting greenhouse pollution and tackling climate change.”
The recent meeting in Sydney of APEC leaders “wasted a great opportunity for Australia to provide a leadership role in the region on renewable energy and to set a strong target that would drive immediate large scale public and private investment in renewables,” he adds. “Australians want to green-up our energy. With a federal election looming, it’s now up to the major Australian political parties to show they are committed to a strong mandatory renewable energy target.”
A recent report by ACF, Greenpeace and the Climate Action Network found a 25% renewable energy target, combined with energy efficiency measures, would generate Aus$33 billion in new investment and create 16,600 new jobs, many of which would be in rural and regional Australia.
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