he annualised trend that began in December 2008 has continued for two years up to November 2010, the data-date of CEDEX®. pitt&sherry's Principal Consultant – Energy Strategies Dr Hugh Saddler says that this long-term trend is directly attributable to the reduction in generation of electricity from black coal and a sustained increase in the amount of electricity generated by renewable technologies and from natural gas low emissions policy, as well as, increased availability of water for hydro-electricity.
˝Annualised black coal-fired generation has decreased by 12.4 terawatt hours (TWh), which represents a reduction in output of more than ten percent since October 2008,˝ Dr Saddler says.
˝This notable reduction in electricity emissions intensity is explained by the changes in electricity generation fuel type, and the contribution of renewable and gas-fired electricity generation, which has increased significantly in the past 12 months,˝ Dr Saddler added.
5 observations on trends in emissions from energy consumption:
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1. Annual emissions from electricity generation in eastern Australia are now nearly 10 million tonnes lower than their December 2008 peak. 2. Shares of generation by fuel for the year were: black coal – 54.7 per cent, brown coal – 23.7 per cent, gas – 11.6 per cent, renewable – 9.9 per cent. 3. The amount of electricity produced annually from renewable generation has increased by nearly 4 TWh (23 per cent) since November 2009. 4. If present trends continue, gas and renewable generation will soon be supplying more electricity than brown coal. 5. Annualised emissions from the consumption of petroleum fuels continue the increasing trend in evidence since August 2009. The rise in consumption is across all categories of use, which include cars and light commercial road transport, bulk sales (heavy road freight, rail, mining, agriculture) and aviation fuels. Consequently, emissions from petroleum combustion continue to increase at about 1 per cent per annum.
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