Victoria not the green electricity state

Published: January 12, 2009 - 08:26 PM

Victoria leads emissions

The Age has reported that Victoria is making the biggest contribution to the pollution emissions on the east coast.

In 2008, Victoria's emissions from electricity supply increased including those from the dirtiest sources. In contrast, NSW reduced its greenhouse indicators compared to 2007.

The Age reported that in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, emissions from electricity supply rose 2% whilst emissions measured over all outputs rose only 1.3%. This means that a higher percentage of Australia's electricity supply needs are being produced from coal-fired power stations and less from natural gas sources or renewable green energy sources.

Climate Group director Rupert Posner said ultimately emissions were rising at a time when Australia needed to be reducing its carbon footprint.

"Victoria has to take responsibility for the emissions it created in this state. Even if it exports the electricity, Victoria is getting an economic benefit for that," he said. "You can come up with all sorts of excuses or reasons to justify why … but the reality is emissions need to go down and they didn't."

Alison Walter of ShopAround.com.au said that "Victorian consumers need to start considering their electricity supply choices. Many retailers, including Origin Energy, AGL, Red Energy, Click Energy and Country Energy offer green renewable energy alternatives. By making the choice to switch to a green electricity product in Victoria or NSW or Queensland householders can have a direct impact on how much of their state's power is supplied from green sources. And these days, the electricity rates are great. A lot of the time consumers will find they get to go green and get cheaper electricity at the same time."

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