On this day, December 16 in 2002, the knee-capping of energy that isn’t fossil-based continued
“The director of the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy, Frank Reid, says the organisation may have to abandon plans for a $60 million renewables venture capital fund if the Federal Government goes ahead with its decision to withdraw financial support from the organisation.”
Myer, R. (2002) Business – Energy research loses pivotal funding The Age 16th December
[The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 373ppm. At time of writing it was 419ishppm- but for what it is now,well, see here for the latest.]
The context was this –
John Howard had won the 2001 election and set about further undermining renewable energy. The historical hatred of renewables among policy elites in Australia is fascinating – one speculation on it, by a devastatingly brilliant and handsome academic – is here.
Why this matters
If we had taken this seriously when the warnings started coming through, we would have
- Knocked the whole “consumption for consumptiton’s sake/as a replacement for meaning” thing on the head
- Done something about serious energy efficiency
- Done something about accelerating the research, development and deployment of renewables.
“We” (rich technocrats, mostly white, mostly male) didn’t think it mattered. We thought our technology would save that subset of the species we call “us”.
What happened next?
Howard kept killing off renewables, every chance he got. Renewables have finally taken hold, but a) the delay, oh my the delay and b) they are additional to other energy demand, rather than replacing it. We’re so toast.