Here’s how Australia is substituting coal with wind and solar power

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Perhaps one of the most pressing needs and a common topic around the world has been: renewable energy. How can countries revert to renewable energy productions, and what repercussions would the switch have? Let’s take Australia as an example. Deemed as being in the top 20 water-stressed countries, Australia found itself facing a mandatory change of ways. Whereas before Australia’s coal was the main energy producer, now the country has to start looking elsewhere.

Fortunately enough, Australia’s land make up is very well suited for renewable energy production. Thanks to the long, sunny coastlines where plenty of wind blows as well, producing energy through solar and wind facilities is not too difficult. In fact The Sydney Morning Herald sustains that a solar panel farm to suffice the whole country’s energy needs would cover around 6,270 sq kilometers, which equals to just a small 0.1% of the overall Australian land mass. Seeing how 73% of Australia’s energy is produced by coal, the potential to changing the energy production process is definitely doable. Furthermore, the switch to renewable energy would also mean that all the water currently used to power the coal energy production would be completely saved; which is definitely an important amount for a water-stressed country. The analysis was announced in a blog post released by the non-profit organization World Resources Institute, located in Washington D.C.

With such positive numbers, the government has also committed to the upcoming change. In fact, one initiative is that of presenting financial incentives in order to inspire future installments of renewable energy sources. The options range from solar farms, hydro-electric stations, and/or wind farms. The goal is to produce 33,000 gigawatt-hours by the year 2020 with the hope of producing 24% of Australia’s electricity. And as far as it goes, the incentives are also available to smaller businesses and households to install renewable energy producers like: solar panels, heat pumps, solar water heaters, and others. According to the Clean Energy Council the incentives have already started working. In fact “unprecedented activity” has been recorded throughout the industry, and a minimum of at least 58 projects are already in the works. Not only will all this change bring new energy sources, but it has been calculated that the projects are also looking at bringing in $10 billion in investments; not to mention, also creating 6,141 direct jobs.

Although the change cannot be immediate, Australia has got it under control. In fact, the country has been positively growing (no technical recessions either) since 1991, and has equally seen a population growth by 50%. Both episodes may have influenced the water demand, which is reason to why Australia must now cater to their current situation. Nevertheless, with all the incoming solar panels, the future is looking bright!

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