The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand - Discussions about Energy, Transport and a Sustainable Future

The Bullroarer - Friday 3rd July 2009

aeldric — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:23:22 -0400

The Australian - New standards on energy ban inefficient options

INEFFICIENT hot water systems will be phased out and all appliances will be properly labelled under new national energy efficiency standards as part of a 10-year energy efficiency plan adopted by the Council of Australian Governments yesterday.

Scoop.co.nz - Bus and train improvements top priority for region

Improvements to Wellington region's bus and train network are a top priority for the region, according to submissions made recently on Wellington's proposed regional transport programme.

Scoop.co.nz - Dave Wolland: Wheel Of Fortune
Not a Peak Oil story - but it interested me because it is a step away from Globalization, and towards a more local trade arrangement.

A logical place to start would be to get an exchange rate parity and a real free trade deal with Australia; then (in steps), negotiate the same sort of arrangement with the U.S.A., Canada, the Euro, Stirling, the Yen etc. If a shared exchange rate became established, as it does within our domestic economy, we would know at last the real costs of goods and services.

The Age - Emergency called as California sends IOUs
Again, not a Peak Oil story, but an interesting situation and a foretaste of a path that other US states may be forced down.

AFTER weeks of trying to fix California's budget, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state legislators have fought one another to a standstill.

A day after the state Senate failed in a late-night bid to close part of a deficit now projected at $US26.3 billion ($A32.6 billion), California Controller John Chiang took steps to begin issuing IOUs to tens of thousands of companies and individuals owed millions of dollars by the state.

Stuff.co.nz - Keisha urges immediate climate action

Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes has returned from her publicised trip to the Cook Islands urging immediate action on climate change.

TV NZ - Climate change shrinks Scotland's wild sheep

Soay sheep are on average 5% smaller than 25 years ago, an indication climate change can have a rapid effect on natural populations and a sign of possible more widespread changes in future, researchers said on Thursday.

The island of Hirta's shrinking sheep are notable because classical evolutionary theory suggests they should actually get bigger over time, since larger animals tend to be more likely to survive and reproduce than smaller ones.

But now, due to climate change, grass for food is available for more of the year, making survival conditions less challenging, so even slow-growing sheep have a chance of making it and producing smaller offspring in turn.

Scoop.co.nz - Climate Policy: No Proper Cost Benefit Analysis

“While the new NZIER/Infometrics report to the government on climate change policy provides useful insights, it is not a Regulatory Impact Statement, as required by and defined in the terms of reference of the parliamentary select committee reviewing the proposed Emission Trading Scheme (ETS)”, Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, said today.

3 News NZ - Iraqi troops reclaim streets of Baghdad from US

A third of the world's oil reserves lie beneath Iraq, but there is resistance to selling it off to foreigners.

Adelaide Now - Higher energy costs necessary, says Professor Flannery

SOUTH Australians should accept higher energy costs to compensate for polluting the planet, climate change expert Professor Tim Flannery says.

ABC - ExxonMobil 'funding climate sceptics'
Worth remembering.

The world's biggest oil company, ExxonMobil, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that continue to question the cause and effects of global warming.

The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE) claims ExxonMobil has reneged on a promise to end financial support to the groups.

It also claims a conference of climate change sceptics in Washington, recently attended by Australian Family First Senator Stephen Fielding, was sponsored by one of the groups that received funding from the oil giant.

[.....]

Mr Ward says those organisations are not informing the public about climate change.

"They are trying to mislead people and frankly we have seen these sorts of tactics before, for instance in the case of the tobacco industry, who for many, many years, funded campaigns and misinformation about the adverse effects of their products," he said.

"This seems to be a similar situation in which a commercial company is funding misinformation campaigns because there is abundant evidence that their products are having an adverse effect."

ABC - Standardised transport regulations to save money, increase safety

An agreement to standardise regulation of Australia's trucking, shipping and rail sectors is expected to boost the national income by $2.5 billion a year.

The Australian - Australia and Asia and the New Order
An interesting insight. It does not, however, address the strategic question: "For this to happen, a new economy needs to be created - larger than any economy in the world. Where do the resources come from?"

This had to happen in China. Only Mao’s primitive view of Chinese society had stopped it happening earlier. But once Deng Xiaoping opened the gate to the freer rein of Chinese industriousness, China was able to leapfrog the old legacy systems of western production. Almost in an instant, the basis of Chinese production became cutting edge, while in the same instant, hundreds of millions of workers left their farms to operate the new capital intensive technologies.

International Business Times - Global Recession Hits Australian Export Business

"We are seeing better economic numbers out of our major trading partners and that's good news for exports," said Michael Blythe, chief economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "That will help mitigate the decline in export prices."

In addition, there has been an increase in interest in coal from China. Australia has historically never sold coal to China.

ABC - Coal terminal expansion ends

The expansion of a major coal export terminal in north Queensland has been completed.

SMH - Oil hovers at five-week low

Crude oil was little changed, poised for a third week of decline, on signs of reduced fuel demand as a US report showed unemployment in the world's largest energy user last month rose to the highest in almost 26 years.

SMH - Renewables may cost less than coal power

USING more renewable power in Sydney would make electricity bills more affordable, according to a study prepared for the CSIRO that challenges assumptions about cheap coal-fired energy.

The Trouble With Energy - Part 4

aeldric — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:15:09 -0400

This is part 4 of a series of posts co-authored by phoenix, who is an Engineer heavily involved in the energy sector. It will be based on a submission we made recently to the Australian Government.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Part 3 is here.

Introduction

In parts 1-3 we presented the problem. In essence, it is this:
- The migration to alternate and renewable energy sources will take a significant time to plan and implement.
- Due to the depletion of fossil fuel resources, we don’t have enough conventional energy sources to support the building of this infrastructure if we assume continuing growth and “business as usual” for this period of time.
- The expense of the anticipated infrastructure will place an almost unendurable strain on GDP.

We now turn to solutions. We have not identified any “silver bullet”, nor is our list of solutions exhaustive. In this section (part 4) we will look at the Australian situation and identify some of the types of questions that need to be asked. In part 5 we discuss some of the issues that the world in general may need to consider.

Exploring Solutions

Energy scarcity is a crisis that will unfold over an extended period of time. In order to deal effectively with this crisis the government needs to take strong decisive actions on a number of fronts encompassing:
- our energy reserves
- our energy supply
- our energy consumption.
The effort required to retool our economy to run on renewables is an exercise that will take decades. Conversely, the impact from an imbalance in energy supply and demand can have serious effects on economies within a matter of months. This was demonstrated by the oil shock in 2008.

Although market forces will certainly sort this problem out, we have seen in recent months that the market can be brutal. The government simply cannot stand back and allow market forces to operate to solve this problem.

The authors recognise that some of the following suggestions will present difficult political hurdles. It must also be acknowledged that, even with the following actions being rapidly implemented, Australia will still have severe difficulties in making the timeframe for transition and timeframe for depletion match.

General

From the analysis in this paper it is clear that the most effective government action that can be taken is to limit growth in the export of fossil fuels. If, in fact, we froze energy exports at their current levels while allowing domestic consumption to increase at 2.5% p.a. then we would have enough reserves to last till 2082 and thus allow a reasonable time frame for the economy to transition to a fully renewable base.

Implementing such restrictions to exports is politically very difficult. It has implications for our international reputation, creation and the maintenance of jobs, and ultimately for national security. On the other hand, allowing exports to grow unchecked and then attempting to restrict them when a crisis is imminent has even greater implications with regard to these considerations.

Defining Resource Quality

Resource quality is a sliding scale, but is rarely referred to in this fashion. Rather, assumptions are made about price-points and resources are quoted in solid-sounding numbers, based on those assumptions.

It is currently not possible, for example, to get a clear answer to the question “How much oil is left in reserves worldwide?” The answer ranges from 650 Billion barrels to untold trillions, depending on the assumptions made by the estimator.

Given enough energy input, it is possible to turn even the lowest-quality oil shale into synthetic oil, so this range of answers is understandable, but the assumption that future energy infrastructure will be provided to support this conversion is never articulated, and thus is invisible to decision makers.

This lack of detail makes it very difficult for decision makers to generate decisions. Decision makers need reports that incorporate quality as part of the report.

Public Awareness

Because of the lack of public awareness in relation to energy matters many of the actions necessary to be taken by government will be highly unpalatable to the general public and thus political suicide for any government attempting to do the right thing for Australia’s long term security.

Action : The federal government to commence a widespread media campaign to educate the public with respect to energy matters and the need for conservation. This campaign must extend beyond environmental impacts and address the significance of energy security.

Maximising the public wealth

While we have indicated above the pending energy shortages for Australia looming over the next 50 years, it is clear that the international community will experience these shortages sooner and more severely. This implies that there will be very large increases in the value of all fossil fuels.

Other nations have demonstrated that building a Sovereign Wealth Fund based on windfall resource income can avoid the problems associated with “The Dutch Curse” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ). This would ensure that the value of natural resources are returned to the Australian public purse to help fund the huge expenditure required in building renewable infrastructure.

Action : All Australian states to implement a sliding scale for the application of resource royalties. Under the sliding scale 80% of the change in the international traded price for fossil fuels is taken up by increases in royalty levied on the respective resource.

This one action is probably the most significant, as the single measure will provide public finance for the transition costs, incentive for domestic transition and limitation of the rate of resource exploitation. Of course it must be implemented cautiously in order to avoid serious damage to Australia’s good reputation for sovereign risk.

Australian Ownership of Resources

While the exact dates relating to energy depletion are unsure, two factors are certain. As depletion occurs, the value of energy resources will escalate dramatically and energy resources will become a major source of international disputes. Given that we are not a major world power Australia must take a strategic view and not allow a circumstance to be created that might cause us to be engulfed in a dispute over the development and allocation of our own resources. The first defense against such disputes is to limit, as far as possible, foreign ownership of in situ resources.

Action : All future development applications for extraction rights of fossil fuel resources to require a minimum 80% Australian ownership.

Population

New situations require rethinking of previous paradigms. If unlimited growth is the dominant paradigm then force-growing Australia’s population is arguably a good thing. However if resources are constrained then expanding the population can conceivably lead to social issues. Some current policies may need to be reconsidered. Some suggestions for discussion:
- Stop all but skill shortage based immigration. Or all net immigration.
- Drop the unmarried mother benefit.
- Stop the baby bonus.
Many recent studies have shown that if the entire world lived our first-world lifestyle, the resources required would equate to the resources of several planets.

The current population of Earth cannot live the way the first world lives, so we have three choices:
1. Reduce our standard of living.
2. Reduce the population of Earth.
3. Continue an inequitable system in which the first world lives well, at the expense of the rest of the population.
Ultimately, the rest of the world will want a lifestyle comparable with the lifestyle enjoyed by developed nations, continued inequality is not an option. If we do not want to compromise on standard of living, then we have to look at ways to address our population.

Preservation of Gas Reserves

While our gas reserves are ultimately limited, they are abundant in comparison to our domestic demand. Gas is the only readily exchangeable substitute for oil in many transport and industry applications. A plethora of both domestic and international energy companies are generating proposals for the explosive expansion of Australian LNG exports. While it is unpalatable for Australian governments to limit this industry, the alternative of later having to curtail exports after the infrastructure is built would be devastating to the country’s sovereign risk profile.

Action : The federal government to set in place a moratorium over the development of any new export contracts or facilities for the export of LNG.

Oil Excise

The most immediate effects of energy depletion will be experienced in shortages and resultant price hikes of oil-based fuels. This was demonstrated in 2008 and will be repeated again as soon as growth from China and India outstrips the drop in demand resulting from the global economic crisis. The International Energy Agency has warned that a decrease in investment combined with economic recovery, particularly in China, is likely to create a “Supply Crunch” within 3-4 years (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=abnkGOUOzC3w ).

The approach by government to the issue of excise and tax on oil based fuels will be the most powerful message they can send to the general public concerning the gravity and impact of oil depletion. The general public do not have the knowledge or skills necessary to interpret the likely price effect of the future oil demand/supply imbalance. They will need simple guidelines concerning future price in order to make sensible personal decisions.

Action : Federal government to set up an Oil Excise Commission whose specific task is to maintain a forecast of future oil prices for a period of 20 years out. The oil excise will be set at a level that produces a linear increase in prices up to the forecast. The commission will act independent of the government and be charged with decreasing excise in the event of spikes in the international oil price and increase it when the international price falls. In order for this to be acceptable to the public the net tax take over time could be maintained at current levels.
Action : All fuel excise rebates including the Queensland government general rebate to be repealed immediately.

Biofuel Excise

The government currently imposes an excise on the production of biofuels equivalent to 50% of the tax on oil based products. This tax is therefore imposes a 19c/L impost on the adoption of biofuels as an alternative to oil. It is totally illogical to be imposing special taxes on an industry where growth is critical to the national interest.

Action : Repeal all excise on domestically produced biofuels.
Mandated Renewable Energy Target

Through the existing MRET scheme all of the required legislation and systems are in place for the government to encourage a progressive uptake of renewable energy. The problems that the generation industry have in delivering higher levels of renewables all relate to confidence in the consistency of government policy. This is understandable given the plant and equipment associated with generation has a useable life of 30 years or more.

Action : The MRET scheme to be modified to incorporate the following
- The target to be based on a percentage of electricity consumption and not on a set number of GWHrs
- The target implementation schedule to be extended by an increase of 2% per year from 2020 all the way out to 2050
- Removal of the penalty cap to the tradable value of the RECs. The RECs should be allowed to trade for there full value and the target should be truly mandated.

Conversion to Plug-in Electric Vehicles

The government should facilitate the current trends towards hybrid and electric vehicles, thus encouraging a conversion of oil based energy demand to an electricity base. With future increases in the oil price there will inevitably be a transfer of energy demand on to the electricity generation system.

In the initial phase this will consist of increased load from public transport systems. Increases in load will result from electrification of rail and increased use of conveyor systems in lieu of haul trucks in mining. The major change however will be as a result of the take up by the public of plug-in electric vehicles for commuter transport. Plug-in vehicles should not present severe difficulty for the electricity system to manage if they are confined to drawing power in off-peak times. However, the large uptake of off peak power will necessitate a rapid roll out of timed metering.

Action : State governments to legislate that distributors are to provide access to timed metering to all consumers upon request.

Gas Network System Management

At present power station developers are progressing with a major switch to gas fired generation based on the lower carbon emissions of this fuel. The aggression with which this switch is pursued will depend on the treatment of existing coal fired generators under the new CPRS regime. This switch to gas however is being considered in isolation of the requirement of gas to provide an interim substitute for oil. In combination with proposed LNG export facilities the gas industry is in real danger of an over commitment, resulting in a price hike and disruption to the market.

Action : Federal government to immediately establish a national body for the management of the eastern seaboard gas network. The body will be responsible for forecasting and managing future gas demand in a way similar to the way NEM (National Electricity Market) is used to manage the eastern states electricity market. This body should also oversee the effective roll out of an eastern states gas pipeline network so that this fuel can be used as an interim energy source to cushion the effects of oil depletion.

Vehicle Efficiency
While there is little that governments can do directly to effect the efficiency of motor vehicles there is significant measures that can be taken to influence the acceptance and take-up of high efficiency vehicles.

Action: Increase tariffs imposed on all imported vehicles using a sliding scale based purely on fuel consumption levels.

Action : Impose increased sales tax on all locally manufactured vehicles based purely on fuel consumption levels.

Conversion to Gas

The above mentioned action to restrict export of LNG will be extremely unpopular with gas resource developers. The industry may have already progressed on some facilities to the point where companies would expect financial redress from the state for their expenses.

One possible carrot that could be enacted by the government, is to encourage the expansion of the domestic gas market and therefore provide developers with an equivalent outcome. The development of a domestic market could also be deployed to mitigate disruption from oil supply issues which will take effect much earlier than other energy restrictions.

Action : Government rebates for the conversion of industrial vehicles to CNG.

Support for Australian Industry

The investment of $50 - $100 billion (depending upon which path we take) per year for 40 years represents a sizable portion of the national economy. Typically 20% of the cost of a new power plant is expended on technology and design, 60% on the supply of equipment and 20% on construction.
As a nation we cannot afford for half of this monetary investment to be siphoned off to foreign suppliers of equipment and technology. The government is currently making efforts to support local technology developers and this will be beneficial. There is also a roll for support of local suppliers/builders of the equipment associated with the plants concerned.

Conclusion

We are faced with a number of energy problems. These problems are associated with exponential declines in the amount of energy available for productivity. These declines are additive, which is likely to lead to very sudden, unpredictable outcomes. The timeline for these problems is not known with any certainty, but the oil and gas price spike of 2008 and subsequent price volatility indicates that the market anticipates that a crisis is near.

In this series we have demonstrated that:
1. Our economic productivity is linked to energy availability.
2. Future supplies of energy may be subject to sudden curtailment
3. In Australia, we have the capacity to become Energy Independent, utilizing purely renewable resources.
4. The transition to infrastructure that utilizes renewable energy will itself require time, energy and resources. We will require most of our available resources to make this transition.

The clear conclusion is that if we export significant quantities of our energy resources we risk not having enough to make the transition. Part of our future export strategy should be to estimate how much of our energy bounty can be safely exported without jeopardizing a future transition strategy.

In this, section we have looked at solutions specific to the Australian situation. None are Silver Bullets.

If we want our grandchildren to enjoy a sustainable lifestyle, then it appears that we may need to go through a bit of pain. This period of pain is likely to happen whether we want it to or not...our choice is to manage it, or not.

The Bullroarer - Friday 26th June 2009

aeldric — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:04:20 -0400

The Australian - PM talks climate with Bill Clinton

KEVIN Rudd has sought to put the OzCar affair behind him and turn his attention to wider issues such as climate change today as MPs left Canberra for the long winter break.

Scoop.co.nz - NZ scientists: warm-climate animals evolve faster

Auckland 26 June 2009: Unexpected findings by a team of New Zealand researchers that mammals evolve faster in warmer temperatures have been hailed by international commentators as confounding previous views on how species evolve.

TVNZ - Smith hints at changes to ETS timetable

Climate Change Minister Nick Smith has hinted that there may be quick changes to the timetable for bringing different sectors into the government's amended emissions trading scheme (ETS) once a parliamentary select committee reports back.

News.com.au - Queensland petrol prices to rise by 10c a litre

MOTORISTS can expect to pay an extra 10 cents a litre at the pump next week when the scrapped fuel tax subsidy and school holidays deliver a double blow to hip pockets in Queensland.

ABC - Fuel price drop likely

The RAA says the price of petrol will fall in coming days, after seven consecutive weeks of rises.

Brisbane Times - Oil price turns higher in Asia

"It's really the currency movement that continues to be a driver of oil prices in the near term," said Victor Shum, a senior principal at energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

Conflicting signals about the strength of a recovery for the global economy have led to volatile swings in oil prices recently, with some analysts saying they were recovering too fast despite weak demand.

Business Day - Solar power scheme expands

A CONTROVERSIAL scheme that will pay a premium for rooftop solar power has been expanded to include small businesses, schools and community buildings.

The State Government's solar bill — which will pay 60 cents per kilowatt hour of solar energy generated at home and fed into the electricity grid — previously applied only to homes.

Sail World - World's first totally green superyacht
Ah, yes.... the joy of sailing the ocean blue in that symbol of your dedication to sustainability - your own super-yacht

Solar Sailor created its first solar vessel in time for the Sydney Olympics and it has been in use since by Australian tourist company, Captain Cook Cruises, as well as acting as its research and development vessel. In November the company will launch the first of four vessels being built in China for the Hong Kong ferry authority, and it is helping design drone vessels for the US military that will use a combination of solar, wind and wave power.

The attraction of the super yacht market, says Dane, is that about 600 super yachts of 30m or more are built each year and a green yacht could be the ultimate statement of sustain ability for the rich.

Mining Australia - Nuclear cleanest option, study

A new study commissioned by the Australian Uranium Association (AUA) has found that nuclear energy is the world's only currently available ‘clean’ power capable of producing base-load electricity.

On Line Opinion - Hasten slowly into renewable energy

It took the Earth millions of years to develop those stores of high energy density fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). In the last 150 years, big holes have been made in those fuel stores. For oil, at least, production may soon peak and start to fall. Gas may be in short supply this century and, eventually, coal will meet the same fate. All this at a time of growing energy demand from countries like China and India.

As if this were not concern enough, we are now told that these high carbon fuels are damaging the atmosphere and warming the planet and we need to quickly replace them with other forms of energy. Further, to avoid the same problem happening again, we need these energy sources to be low-carbon and sustainable. This is a Herculean task. We are trying to do in a few decades what the earth took millions of years to do.

The Australian - Climate ball up in the air
Doesn't really add anything to the argument ( see: http://www.skepticalscience.com/argument.php ) but worth reading the comments.

IT is surprising to see the slow response of Climate Change Minister Penny Wong in fielding a team to counter the arguments assembled by Family First senator Steve Fielding's team of experts and presented on this page last week. At this stage we don't know whether the questions are too hard or she has opted for the regal approach of lofty silence. As a mere scientist, I'll join my colleague Neville Nicholls, whose letter was published in The Australian on Saturday, and step in where others have declined to tread.

The Bullroarer - Friday 19th June 2009

aeldric — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:16:56 -0400

ABC - Climate report stresses urgent action

A new report says greenhouse gas emissions and other indicators are closing in on the upper limits forecast by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change two years ago.

Stuff.co.nz - Will fertiliser scarcity harm farm economy?

Wills won't fertilise his fields this year. At $392 a tonne for superphosphate, it's unaffordable. To put that in perspective, in April last year it was $261 a tonne. For Wills, it's uneconomic to fertilise until superphosphate drops below $300.

ABC - Coast residents warned to brace for climate change

Dr John Hunter from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre says it has designed a new web-based program that can predict the risk of flooding in Cairns and other regions based on sea level rises.

North Queensland Register - Mixed future for sugar ethanol

SUGARCANE has been recognised as the cheapest renewable crop from which to produce ethanol but waiting for technology to catch up in order to make it viable could be the hardest thing for growers.

National Business Review NZ - Kiwi climate change software in $1 million New York deal

The city of New York has chosen software from New Zealand’s CLIMSystems to help it manage the impact of climate change on its water supply, storm and waste water systems.

Beyond Zero Emmissions - Graham Ford, CEO of Heliodynamics, maker of Combined Heat and Power for urban and industrial environments
Not strictly speaking an Australian link, but they have a company here and an idea that may have a place here.

Graham: Yes, well we’ve set out to target solutions on a range of scales from what might be called ‘facility scale’ which might be like a school, a hospital, a factory or a shopping mall, upwards. So, a typical smaller-scale installation would be where you need to provide some power and air-conditioning and maybe some heat in winter to a building, and so with our technology you can shade the car-park and use the sun which would usually beat down uselessly on the cars in the carpark, capture that, and convert some of that energy directly into electricity and then the rest of the energy would be collected as heat. Normally that heat is near the boiling point of water. And then we use that heat either to drive a kind of air-conditioning unit called an absorption chiller or it can provide heat for the central heating system in the winter.

NZ Herald - Transport spending policy 'stuck in 50s time warp'

Heftier spending on state highways and less for public transport risked damaging economic development, Auckland transport politicians warned a senior government funding official yesterday.

National Business Review NZ - Sustainability not on hold despite downturn

Sustainability is not about sustainability – it’s about the incremental reduction of unsustainability, according to Al Gore Climate Change Ambassador Simon Carter.

Courier Mail - It's climate versus the economy

NEXT week Parliament is almost certainly going to decide the first-time fate of the Federal Government's emissions trading scheme.

Here's an informed tip – the Coalition will vote it down, mainly because the internal debate demands it. While the Liberals can live with the Nationals voting against an ETS they have to make sure their own numbers do not fracture, despite the divide of opinion within the Liberal Party.

Radio Australia - Fuel costs blamed for Pacific patrol shortfall

Air Commodore Tony Jones says fuel cost is one factor limited the use of the boats.

"They are large vessels, they have a long range, which means they carry a lot of fuel, and fuel is becoming more and more expensive," he said.

"So one of the key drivers for the lack of patrol days that we're seeing from these nations is that they simply can't afford to pay for the fuel."

National Business REview NZ - Renewable energy sources power NZ

Nearly three quarters of New Zealand's electricity was generated from renewable sources in March, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Economic Development.

A new geothermal power station for Birdsville

Big Gav — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:03:09 -0400

Australia.to has a report on an upgrade to the low temperature geothermal power plant at Birdsville in Queensland - Bligh invests up to $4.3 million in new geothermal power station for Birdsville.

Birdsville's landmark geothermal power station will be upgraded to produce more clean energy for the remote south western Queensland community.

Mines and Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said today the Bligh Government is investing up to $4.3 million to help replace ageing equipment at the Ergon Energy-owned and operated plant. The funding will provide a 50 per cent subsidy for the project which will invest in new, leading edge geothermal technology.

"The Birdsville geothermal power station is the only one of its kind in Australia to tap into this clean renewable energy source to provide emission-free power," Mr Robertson said. "The plant draws its energy from near-boiling water taken deep from within the Great Artesian Basin that supplies water for the town. The power station currently generates about 30 per cent of Birdsville's energy supplies. It's also helping the local environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 400 tonnes a year and diesel fuel consumption by approximately 160,000 litres." ...

[break]

The Birdsville power station was first commissioned in 1992 and remains Australia's only operational geothermal power station capable of electricity generation 24 hours a day. The energy source comes from hot water taken from the Great Artesian Basin at a depth of 1,280 metres. This hot bore water provides a 'free' energy resource, which would otherwise be wasted when water is cooled before use.

The ABC reports the local mayor is very enthusiastic about the plant - More backing sought for outback geothermal power.

he Diamantina Mayor says he would like to see more Government support for the geothermal sector, because he says it is the most sustainable power source. The Queensland Government has committed $9 million for a new geothermal plant to be built at Birdsville in the state's far west.

Mayor Robbie Dare says a large portion of the town's electricity is already provided by geothermal sources, using water taken from the Great Artesian Basin.

"It's been successfully running there for 20 years and it runs 24-hours-a-day, unlike wind or solar," he said. "It's so cheap. Fuel is one of the dearest commodities to run a generator right out here in the outback."

"This just runs off the heat of the water, once it's up and running it's just virtually maintenance. It should be put in all over Australia. This new plant will almost run the town again, or will run the town again."

Cross-posted from Peak Energy.

The Bullroarer - Thursday 18th June 2009

Big Gav — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:20:57 -0400

Public Opinion - a national energy policy?

The sentiments in the cartoon [below] are understandable. The horizon of politics in liberal democracy is short term not long term. For instance, how often do we hear Canberra discussing the energy implications of peak oil (resource depletion) and the trend toward higher prices for Australia?

There is a culture of institutionalised denial in both government and the energy industry on this, in spite of the discourse of shifting to a low carbon economy around the emissions trading scheme. Peak oil is still ritually dismissed as being only a “theory” and not as something happening now. The assumption is that there is enough oil for the long term. Canberra believes in fairy tales.

[break]
Business Spectator - A green signal for Santos

The high-stakes scramble for advantage in the fast-emerging Queensland export LNG sector is reaching a definitive stage, with Santos doing an in-house deal with its partner, Petronas, that will underwrite the economics of the first train for their proposed export LNG plant at Gladstone.

In signing a binding heads of agreement to sell 2 million tonnes a year of LNG to Petronas, which has a 40 per cent stake in the project, Santos has joined BG Group is securing a foundation customer for its project. BG last month signed up China National Offshore Oil Corporation as its first customer, with CNOOC committing to buying 3.6 million tonnes a year for 20 years.

The Santos deal with Petronas is also a 20-year agreement. While smaller than the BG contract, Santos’ 'GLNG' project has the ability to supply an additional 1 million tonnes a year to Petronas if it so chooses. The LNG is destined for Petronas’ home market of Malaysia.

Queensland Country life - Farm family wrestles energy giant

Ms Skerman must somehow find that middle ground by taking into account how energy companies will contribute to ramping up the infrastructure of local townships against the likely impact on farm land stemming from Arrow Energy's burgeoning coal seam gas developments. ...

"We still don't know whether we will have eight, or 10 or 25 wells on our farm – even though Arrow keeps saying it is trying to communicate with landowners," Ms Skerman said. And a rescheduled Arrow Energy visit to discuss where pipelines should run – initially postponed due to harvest commitments – later eventuated with the bulldozers already lined up ready for work.

"But our main concern is the environmental impact because no matter what they (Arrow Energy) do, they are going to bring up water and the issue is the salt," Ms Skerman said.

The Age - Two favourites to merge with Shell on gas projects

EARLY bets on which of Queensland's coal seam gas (CSG) players will be the first to consolidate their projects equally favour Santos/Petronas and Origin Energy/ConocoPhillips to tie up operations with Shell.

Deutsche Bank analysts say Shell's announcement last week that it planned to produce 16 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) a year — equal to four production lines or "trains" — from Curtis Island off Gladstone, could be a move to accelerate mergers in the crowded Queensland market.

Crikey - Wong’s cynical renewable energy play

Penny Wong’s pathetic stunt of linking the Renewable Energy Target legislation to the passage of its ETS bill has been rendered moot by Steve Fielding getting support from the Coalition and Nick Xenophon to refer the bills to a Senate inquiry even before they’ve been introduced into the Senate. ...

The Government is happy to sacrifice its Renewable Energy Target for political expediency.

Crikey - Who cooked up this ELF hobgoblin?

There ain’t nothing like a homegrown terror scare to get the juices flowing, and yesterday’s “Earth Liberation Front” extortion threat had everything you could ask for — shadowy groups, sinister warnings, police mobilisation. Even better it was locally produced and carbon neutral.

The only trouble was it was ninety per cent recyclable male cow gardening product.

SMH - Toxic metals threat

HEAVY metals and poisons such as arsenic, copper and boron are leaching out of a coal-fired power station near Lithgow, wiping out marine life in a river that feeds Sydney's drinking water supply.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change has known about the discharge from Wallerawang power station since last year, but has done nothing to stop it, although it said last night that it was reviewing the evidence.

The Trouble With Energy - Part 3.

aeldric — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:04:35 -0400

This is part 3 of a series of posts co-authored by phoenix, who is an Engineer heavily involved in the energy sector. It will be based on a submission we made recently to the Australian Government.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

Introduction

In part 2 we introduced a model for looking at energy use over the next few decades and applied it to the Australian situation. This model:

Estimates how much time will be needed to achieve a transition to alternate and renewable energy sources.
Estimates how much energy will be needed to achieve this.
Estimates the cost of this transition.
Calculates (based on industry figures) how much energy we have left in our remaining energy reserves and how long this will last.

The model shows that:

If Business As Usual is the assumed paradigm, the energy required may exceed the energy available.
If Business As Usual is the assumed paradigm, the cost of the transition is likely to place an untenable strain on GDP.

The market can be counted on to deal with this problem, but over the last few months we have seen that the market can be brutal. BAU is not an option. Our choice is to manage the problem, or let the market manage it for us.

There is a gap between our current expectations and the reality we will experience over the next few decades. In developing this model we are quantifying that gap. This allows decisions to be made based on hard numbers.

In this post we apply the model to the larger picture.

World Situation

Following on from the analysis of Australia’s energy security the following broad analysis has been performed to ascertain the relationship between remaining fossil fuel energy and the capacity to put in place an equivalent economy based of renewable energy.

The basis for this analysis is the presumption of a Business As Usual (BAU) transition from an economy based on fossil fuels to an economy based on renewable energy. Although we assume BAU for the purposes of vthis post, the authors are not advocating BAU. This analysis clearly demonstrates that a BAU future is simple not possible. Although we demonstrate that BAU is not possible, this does not indicate that we believe that an alternate infrastructure cannot be achieved. It merely shows that the requirements associated with a building an alternate energy structure are not compatible with the profligate lifestyle associated with BAU.

How Much Time Do We Have?

As discussed in the previous post, most production vs. resource figures are established by assuming a continuation of the current demand or extraction rate. While this may be a reasonable methodology for determination of the life of a mine or the value of the resource it is patently false for determination of our overall resource security. Demand rates for all of our energy resources are climbing year by year.

The paradigm of continually increasing growth driven by an increasing population and an expectation of improving standards of living demands a continuing increase in production of our natural resources. The following table shows the World’s major non renewable energy resources together with their expected life calculated on this basis.

	Coal	Oil(inc all liquids)	Gas	Uranium
Unit	Billion Tonnes	Billion Barrels	Trillion M3	ThousandTonnes
Base Year	2007	2007	2007	2007
Resource	847	1,238	177	5,469
Consumption	6.4	27	2.3	65
Growth Rate	2.95%	1.39%	2.1%	1.2%
Life Expected	63 years	32 years	41 years	59 years
Resource Exhausted	2070	2039	2048	2066

Sources: BP World Energy

Note 1: All of the above numbers including growth rates have been established from the industry-recognised source listed above. Long term growth rates have been used based on growth from 1998 to 2007.

Note 2: This is a simplistic analysis, assuming an exponential increase up to a precipitous fall. Of course this will not occur. Each of the fuels will undergo their own peaking curve. In order to generate the most conservative possible result, we have not taken this into account, nor have we considered the resulting cost increases that will occur when the supply and demand curves separate for these basics energy commodities.

Of course there will be continual additions to the current proven reserves that will have the potential to extend the above calculated life expectancies. On the other hand there are a number of factors that will tend to decrease available life expectancies:

The exponential effects of EROEI will dramatically increase energy demand as we approach exhaustion of the energy resources.
Higher energy demands will also result from higher extraction (or recycling) costs associated with the whole range of other economy related resources.
The figures quoted above do not take into account any restriction in fuel availability as a result of greenhouse gas limitations.
As depletion occurs in some of the above resources it is likely that alternative fossil fuels will be transmuted to fill the required shortfall eg. coal to oil, gas to oil, etc. These transfers of energy almost always result in lower overall energy efficiencies.

On balance then the above figures represent a reasonable view of the expected life of our non-renewable energy resources in a business as usual scenario. The above life expectancies can then be averaged based on energy values.

We have until around 2052 to put in place renewable technologies to provide for our energy needs.

The size of the task

In order to establish the time required to put in place renewable sources for energy supply, it is necessary to make assumptions with regard to the infrastructure that needs to be constructed. This is a very difficult task given that much of the technology is in a developmental phase. Picking winners is not easy and frequently not wise. However by taking an average developmental cost for a range of possible technologies,we can be fairly confident about the expected implementation effort and time required.

The following table represents one possible scenario in respect of the conversion of demand from fossil based energy to renewables. The table indicates both a growth in demand up to the year 2050 and the effects in energy efficiency terms of conversion from one form of energy base to an alternate renewable source.

Energy Source Conversion

Energy uses	Current				Renewable Conversion
	Source	Usage EJ/y	Growth Rate	Usage 2050	Source	Efficiency Gain	Usage 2050
(Non- electricity based)
Agriculture	Oil	7	1.2%	11	Biofuels	-33%	15
Industry/Commerce	Oil	18	2.5%	50	Electricity	10%	45
	Gas	34	2.5%	94	Electricity	10%	85
Road Transport Personal	Oil	58	0.0%	58	Electricity	70%	17
Freight (Road/Rail/Sea)	Oil	39	2.5%	107	Biofuels	-33%	71
					Electricity	60%	21
Public Transport	Oil	7	7.0%	110	Electricity	70%	33
Air Transport	Oil	15	0.0%	15	Biofuels	-33%	20
Products	Oil	24	2.5%	65	Biofuels	-33%	86
Heating	Oil	14	1.2%	22	Electricity	60%	9
	Gas	26	1.2%	43	Electricity	60%	17
Metal smelting	Coal	19	2.5%	53	Electricity	20%	43

Electrical demand		72	2.5%	198	Electricity	0%	198

Sub-total Electricity							270
Sub-total Biofuels							192
Total		333		827			661

Notes

1/ The basis of GDP growth has been assumed be a 2.5% p.a.. This value is in line with the relatively modest world GDP growth posted in 2008 - lower than 2007, but higher than the projected figure for 2009. The authors believe that even this low level of growth will be difficult to achieve, given the energy constraints that will be place on the world economies.

2/ In line with other analysis described in this paper the energy demand forecast has been kept in direct proportion to the projected GDP figures for all industry and commercial based energy uses.

3/ Population related energy uses have been kept in line with the world’s current 1.2% p.a. population increase rate.

4/ The classification of energy use into sectors has been a very difficult exercise and represents an amalgam of numerous published data sets. If readers have any better definitive data that provides energy use by source and sector the authors would appreciate any input.

4/ In anticipation of a dramatic
increases in energy pricing, the growth figures for personal transport have been forecast at 0%. As a complimentary allowance the growth in public transport has been increased to 7%. The balance between these growth numbers represents a reasonable transference of energy use between these two categories.

5/ Again in anticipation of the effects of high energy costs the level of air transport growth has been limited to 0%.

6/ The efficiency gain nominated for all conversions from oil based fuel to biofuels is a loss of 33%. This represents a nominal loss due to EROEI effects. It assumes an EROEI for future biofuels of around 3. Given the current analysis from the USA on ethanol based biofuels this is very optimistic assumption.

7/ The conversion efficiency for most oil to electricity conversions has been assumed to be 70%. This figure represents a combination of a number of factors including:

Change in mechanical efficiency between electric and internal combustion engine drives
Losses due to transmission and storage of electricity
Reduction in vehicle weights due to energy cost drivers

8/ No currently viable technology exists for large scale smelting of iron ore using renewable energy sources. The figures for energy efficiency therefore represent a nominal allowance that this technology when developed will be based on electrically derived heat.

Therefore under this scenario to completely replace the world's energy sources with renewables will require the construction of the appropriate infrastructure to produce:

270 EJ or 75,092 TWHr of electricity and
192 EJ or approximately 5,800 gigalitres of biodiesel

The cost of the task

With respect to the electrical demand, our future energy requirements will undoubtedly come from a range of renewable sources. These will include hydro, wind, biomass, solar thermal and solar PV and geothermal. The table below indicates a possible mix of sources and their respective capital construction costs.

Renewable Electricity Generation

Source	Proportion	Generation	Utilisation	Capacity	Capital Cost
		TWhr/y		GW	USD$/kW	US$Billion
Hydro	15%	10,716	70%	1,748	2500	4,369
Wind	30%	21,433	25%	9,787	1600	15,658
Biomass	15%	10,716	70%	1,748	2000	3,495
Solar Thermal	20%	14,288	20%	8,155	2400	19,573
Solar PV	10%	7,144	20%	4,078	5000	20,389
Geothermal	10%	7,144	70%	1,165	2500	2,913

Plus already built		3,650
Total	100%	75,092		26,680		66,397

Notes

1/ Utilisation factors indicated above reflect the relationship between the average working generation capacity and that needed to provide a consistent reliable grid supply.

2/ Utilisation factors for Solar Thermal and Solar PV are indicative of current technologies in these respective fields with an overlay of system reliability. A number of proposals exist for extending the daily range of solar thermal. While these heat storage technologies may enhance the application of solar thermal they will not significantly alter the capital cost per MW delivered.

3/ The utilisation factor attributed to Wind is probably low by current wind farm development standards, which aim for an availability of between 30% and 35%. This number has been reduced to reflect actual return figures for installed wind generation and to reflect the fact that, in order to achieve the overall output required, wind-farms will need to be developed at locations not currently considered viable.

4/ Utilisation of Hydro, Biomass and Geothermal have been kept low to recognise that these technologies will probably fulfil the role of peaking power plant.

The infrastructure required for provision of biofuels will be a significant challenge, hence the limitation of this fuel source for all uses except where it is irreplaceable because of energy density. The production of biofuels on the scale required is unprecedented. Production of sugar or grain based ethanol for this volume could not be contemplated. It appears that the only viable biofuel at this level of production will be production of algal based biodiesel. Research has indicated that this form of biodiesel production will involve plant capital costs in the region of US$6.5 Million per megalitre of production capacity. The capital cost of the infrastructure to produce 5,800 GL per year will therefore be approximately US$37,900 Billion.

The total direct cost of revamping the world’s energy production infrastructure will be in the order of US$104 Trillion.

Some points to note in respect to this number.

Although the cost has been based on a range of assumptions concerning energy technologies, it is unlikely that a different mix of conversions or replacement technologies would greatly affect the bottom line price.
The figure quoted only represents the major energy production plant required. In parallel with this will be a similar cost associated with the changes made by energy users (i.e. electric vehicles, mining and manufacturing equipment, rail lines, power transmission, metal smelters etc. etc....)
The cost assumes a single transition from the current energy production infrastructure to the final renewable infrastructure. This won’t happen. As successive governments are driven by the need to maintain the power on and the fuel tanks full there will be a staged series of interim technologies implemented. Depending on the quality of vision of political and industry leaders these interim technologies could consume as much or more than the cost indicated for the final conversion.

Given the above considerations it is likely that the total costs associated with transitioning the world to the fully renewable economy will be in the order of US$ 150 Trillion.

What can we afford to spend?

Total world GDP is currently around US$ 70 Trillion per year. This GDP is growing in real terms at a long term average rate of around 3.5%. A growth rate of 1.2% is required to maintain a stable GDP per capita.

Looking at the US$150 Trillion required expenditure this represents an expenditure of US$3.5 Trillion per year over the period up to 2052. This figure is in turn represents 5% of world GDP for the period. Now, there are a few savings along the way:

The expenditure that would normally be required for the replacement and building of new conventional power plant under a BAU future. Based on current capacity per capita this works out to be about US$250 Billion per year.
There would be a progressive saving on fossil fuel extraction and supply costs. This would average out at approximately $US700 Billion per year.

The economic drag imposed by the required investment would therefore amount to about US$ 2.5 Trillion per year on the world economy. This continuous drag will occur over a period where we also experience the peaking of not only the fossil fuels being replaced but also the common construction materials such as copper, nickel etc. It is difficult to see how the world economy could cope with such a demand.

Is the world capacity associated with this investment possible ? The only way we can get a perspective on this is by looking at the construction requirements. The different power plant types listed in the table above will have a differing construction components ranging from hydro plant involving perhaps 90% construction to solar PV where the construction component may drop as low as 20%.. On average we will assume a construction component of 40% of the investment cost. This then amounts to US$1.4 Trillion per year. Over recent years the world has undertaken approximately US$5.5 Trillion in construction work per year. Of this less than 25% or US$ 1.4 Trillion is attributed to industrial construction of the type used on power plant or petrochemical plant. So in order to make the transition the entire world capacity for industrial construction would need to be dedicated to the task. This means no construction of new mines or manufacturing plants or materials processing lants. This does not seem at all feasible.

Conclusion

It appears that a conventional BAU transition to a completely renewable energy economy is just not possible or at the very least there are serious concerns over the capacity of the world economy to facilitate this transition over the remaining life of our fossil fuel reserves.

In order to make the transition possible we face a range of possible compromises to BAU:

Reduction in energy demand through conservation
reduction in energy demand growth through population limitation/reduction
continuing the limited access to energy to large portions of the world population
breakthroughs in energy conversion efficiency
large new resource identification
the roll out of renewable energy generation raised to a war footing for all industrialised countries

In part 4 we look at some possible solutions.

Peak Oil In The Australian, Once Again

Big Gav — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:20:49 -0400

The Australian's business editor has another skeptical article about peak oil out - Oil Age still has some time to run.

Its interesting that the term is starting to get a regular run in the mainstream media once again, now the oil price has more than doubled since its lows earlier in the year. We may be in for a busy spring again...

[break]

IF you think the running battle over climate change has been a long one, it's a pup compared with the peak oil debate.

Essentially, the question with oil is whether it's going to run out before our need to use it does.

The peak oil brigade say all the big and easy oilfields around the world have been discovered and global oil discovery has therefore peaked, while at the same time oil demand is showing no serious sign of dropping.

They started their campaign, albeit quietly, in the late 1970s, with the debate over the Hubbert curve -- the claim that oil discovery and production had moved in a curve rather than a straight line. Following on from that they posited that what went up must come down, in the form of a normal distribution curve.

BP's new annual tome on the state of the oil industry, the "BP Statistical Review of World Energy for 2009", sits on the fence on that one. It quotes chief executive Tony Hayward saying "the world has enough proved reserves of oil, natural gas and coal to meet the world's needs for decades to come".

The document, published last week and freely available on the BP website, has him then say that "the challenges the world faces in growing supplies to meet future demand are not below ground; they are above ground. They are human, not geological."

Well, thanks. We're left with two almost unrelated statements that don't take us very far at all. One is that oil reserves will expire at some indeterminate point in the future, which even the optimists would agree with, and the other is that supply will have to grow to meet future demand. ...

Floating Offshore Wind Power Update

Big Gav — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:59:21 -0400

I did a post last year on the potential for floating offshore wind power, which looked at a number of different prototypes at various stages of development.

StatoilHydro and Siemens have made some progress on their pilot project, installing the world's first large-scale floating offshore wind turbine off the coast of Karmøy, Norway. The 2.3 MW Hywind (see the link for a set of videos on the turbine being deployed) was built at a depth of 722 feet and will be tested over the next two years.

StatoilHydro is investing around NOK 400 million (US$62 million) in the pilot and related research and development. Enova SF, a company whose aim is to promote the transition to environmentally friendly energy use and energy production in Norway, has contributed NOK 59 million (US$9 million) in support for the project.

[break]
The New York Times has a brief report on this - Wind Farming in Deep Waters.

Most existing offshore wind turbines are mounted firmly to the seabed. Now StatoilHydro of Norway and Siemens of Germany are installing what they say is the world’s first large-scale floating turbine to exploit the potential of the technology in deep waters.

Building foundations to attach turbines to the seabed becomes expensive at water depths of more than about 50 meters (164 feet), according to the companies. That has limited large-scale exploitation of offshore wind power, particularly in countries with little or no shallow water near the coast line, they said.

Expansion near coastlines can also be difficult because of restrictions on construction in fishing grounds and bird migration zones. And an advantage of building on the high seas is that winds are stronger and more consistent than near the coast. ...

The new turbine is designed to be suitable for installation in water depths between 120 and 700 meters (394-2,297 feet), allowing them to be “placed much more freely than before,” said Henrik Stiesdal of the wind power unit at Siemens. ...

Siemens is supplying the turbine, which will start delivering electricity in mid-July. StatoilHydro is providing the floating structure with a center of gravity deep below the water surface to reduce bobbing. That structure would then be fastened to the seabed by three anchor wires. Even so, the companies have developed an “advanced control system” to take “advantage of the turbine’s ability to dampen out part of the wave-induced motions of the floating system.”

Aleklett: Australia highly vulnerable to oil shortages

Big Gav — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:08:12 -0400

ASPO International president, Professor Kjell Aleklett of the Global Energy Systems group at Uppsala University has been in Australia over the past week, presenting lectures in Adelaide and Sydney on peak oil.

ASPO Australia has copies of 2 presentations done in Adelaide - "Energy: The Challenge To Sustainability" (ppt) and "Peak oil, peak gas and peak coal: Setting the scene for future supply problems" (ppt).

[break]
The Sydney Morning Herald has a report on the visit - Highly vulnerable to oil shortages.

ONE of the world's leading energy experts has warned that Australia will be one of the first countries hit hard by oil shortages as oil production peaks within the next three years.

Kjell Aleklett, a physicist from Uppsala University in Sweden, says Australia's relatively underdeveloped public transport system leaves the country more vulnerable to a downturn in energy production. "Australia is very sensitive to such developments," Professor Aleklett told the Herald. "Much of your industry and transit is dependent on oil, and supplies will decline."

Professor Aleklett addressed the NSW electric car task force and the Federal Government's Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics yesterday. He had earlier warned a Senate committee that the International Energy Agency had wildly overestimated oil production, lulling nations such as Australia into a false sense of security. Rather than oil production rising by 20 per cent to 101.5 million barrels a day in 2030, he says production is likely to fall 11 per cent, to just 76 million barrels a day.

Last week the chairman of Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Eric Streitberg, predicted peak oil - the maximum rate of global oil extraction before decline - was just three years away, and forecast prices of up to $200 a barrel.

Professor Aleklett said the global financial crisis had reduced opportunities for new oil exploration, meaning that the world was missing out on an extra two to three million barrels. Australia needed more investment in public transport to reduce its dependency on oil, with up to 20 per cent of all journeys, not merely commuting to and from work, occurring by bus and train.

He also said Sweden and other European countries were developing a network of recharging stations to handle the growth of electric cars, although Australia, with its vast distances, posed a greater challenge for electric vehicle manufacturers.