Australia's Renewable Energy Future

This assignment examines Australia's transition to a renewable energy future. It explores the viability of various renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower, analyzing their benefits in terms of pollution reduction, job creation, and energy security. The assignment also considers policy challenges and stakeholder perspectives surrounding the adoption of renewable energy in Australia.

Running head: RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Renewable Energy vs. Coal-fired power station
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Executive Summary
The study deals with the argumentative contexts based on the preferences for renewable energy
and coal-fired power stations. The comparisons between these two energy sources would be
presented in this study to make the insightful ideas about the future energy prospects. The
extensive research on the subject area explores the fact that in spite of few disadvantages, the
renewable energy generation is significantly sustainable. In fact, the renewable energy
generation is quite opportune for increasing the employment rate in future. Therefore, the
technological development is needed to be taken into consideration. More hands-on approaches
undertaken in the energy policy development would help in mitigating the issues created due to
the renewable sources of energy. The ideas derived from the entire study determine that the
future is quite linked with the renewable energy sources that create the opportunities for the
energy supply in future.

2
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Renewable Energy........................................................................................................3
Benefits of Selecting Renewable Energy over Coal-fired Power Stations......................................5
 Lesser level of the Global Warming.........................................................................................5
 Improvement of the Public health............................................................................................7
 In exhaustible energy................................................................................................................7
 Economic Benefits...................................................................................................................8
 Stable pricing structure of the energy resources......................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12
Appendix........................................................................................................................................14

3
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Introduction
Renewable power sources have the potentiality to augment and supply the electricity
generating systems based on the nuclear power and fossil fuels. According to Martin and Rice
(2015), renewable energy is generally associated with the technologies that are designed to
acquire the required energy from the different source. These sources are inexhaustible on the
human timescales, such as solar energy, hydro energy, bio-energy, and geothermal energy. It is
evident that electricity accounts for almost 40% of the total primary sources of energy. The
annual growth rate is up to 2.7%, which indicates that the demands for electricity grow faster
than any other energy sources (Aph.gov.au, 2017). The debate regarding the demands of
renewable energy is never ending. However, the study would develop the argumentative contexts
based on the preferences for renewable energy and coal-fired power stations. The comparisons
between these two energy sources would be presented in this study to make the insightful ideas
about the future energy prospects.
Analysis of Renewable Energy
Countries like Australia is well endowed with the various ranges of the renewable energy
resources, especially tidal in the north, wind in the south, solar system, and the geothermal in the
centre. The report obtained from Energy Strategies for the Clean Energy Future Groups study
highlights that the renewable energies collected from the various sources could supply over half
of the Australian electricity by 2040 (Lenzen et al., 2016). In fact, it reduces almost 80% of the
CO2 emissions from the generation of electricity. If it is calculated for the long term basis, it is
notable that the renewable energy could supply almost 100% of the entire grid electricity. The
use of the renewable energy is one of the hottest debates in Australian parliament. It is stated that

4
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
the technological improvement in current era helped in generating more energy sources to
produce the renewable energy and prevent the waste (Warren, Christoff & Green, 2016). The
renewable energy is sustainable and it accelerates development for future. On the other hand, in
Australia, the rapid growth in the wind power electricity. The following graph would show the
growth of the wind power electricity worldwide.
Graph 1: Growth of Wind Power Electricity
(Source: Science.org.au. 2009)
The above graph is providing the insights about the considerable growth in wind power
electricity generation. It is noticeable that the wind turbine market in Australia derives more
benefits from the new push for sustainable energy. Therefore, it can be expected that such wind

5
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
energy would provide the largest share of the targeted 20% of the entire renewable energy by the
year of 2020.
Benefits of Selecting Renewable Energy over Coal-fired Power Stations
The extensive research on the renewable energy sources reflects that it has many positive
impacts on the humans. The technological advancements have improved the environmental,
economic, and health aspects by producing more energy resources. This section of the study
would out forward the ideas of the considerable benefits derived from solar, wind, hydroelectric,
geothermal, and biomass energy.
 Lesser level of the Global Warming
It has been observed that the environment or the atmosphere is highly affected by the huge
emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. As a result, the global warming is considerably
increasing day by day. It is reported that about 29% of the global warming emission caused from
the electricity centre in US (Parvareh et al., 2014). This emission was produced mostly from the
natural gas and coals. On the contrary, renewable energies do not produce the global warming
gas. In fact, it is even reported that the during the “life cycle” emissions of clean energy, for
instance during the manufacturing, decommissioning, installation, and operation, renewable
energy create the minimal emission of global warming gas. However, Hosseini and Wahid
(2016) argued that renewable electricity generated from biomass can have the higher level of
global warming emissions if the resources are not sustainably sourced or harvested (Su, Wang &
Roh, 2014). The following chart highlights the various sources of the energy can produce the
global warming gases.

6
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Graph 2: Various Energy Sources producing global warming gases
(Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, 2017)
The obtained ideas from the above graph indicate that the various sources of the
renewable energy create pollution and increasing the level of global warming to some extent.
However, the effect is comparatively lower than the other sources of energy, such as fossil fuel.

7
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
The increasing supply of the renewable energy enables the replacement of the carbon-intensive
energy sources that helps in reducing US global warming emissions.
 Improvement of the Public health
It is noticed that the emissions of the natural gas and coals pollute the air and water and lead
to several medical issues, such as heart attack, breathing problem, premature death, cancer, and
so on. The research conducted by Harvard University reported that the pollutants like coals and
life cycle costs affected the human health in a significant way. It was estimated that almost $74.6
billion lives have been affected by the emissions of huge amount of natural gas and coals every
year (Buonocore et al., 2016). This amount is equivalent to 4.36 cents per kilowatt-hour of
produced electricity (Butterworth, Subramaniam & Phang, 2015). This amount is enough for
causing health damage. In fact, it is exclaimed that most of the negative health impacts are
sourced from the water and air pollution. On the contrary, the electricity produced from the
hydroelectric system, thermal power, wind and solar system are pollution free and do not create
damage to human health in compare to other resources. It is notable that the solar and wind
energy do not require any water to operate due to which it is free from the pollution. It is
anticipated that with the use of the biomass and geothermal sources, the withdrawal and water
consumptions would decrease much significantly in future.
 In exhaustible energy
Ellabban, Abu-Rub and Blaabjerg (2014) explained that sunny skies, strong winds, heat from
the earth, abundant plant matter, and fast-moving water can supply the constant and vast
replenished energy resources. Therefore, it can be predicted that the appropriate use of these
resources would supply the required electricity and energy services in future whenever in crisis.

8
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
It can even provide the significant electricity needs in spite of accounting some of the potential
constraints.
 Economic Benefits
As far as the comparison between the fossil fuel and renewable energy is concerned, the
latter accounts for more labor intensive approach. On the other hand, it is also recognizable that
producing the fossil fuel technologies is more capital and mechanized intensive than the
renewable sources. The solar panel installation depends on the efforts of human whereas the
wind farms need skilled technicians for the maintenance purposes. Hence, it depicts the idea that
individuals have more job opportunities by generating renewable sources than the production of
fossil fuels. In countries like United States, Australia, and UK, the jobs related to the renewable
energy extraction are much significant (Newell, Sandström & Söderholm, 2017). In addition to
this, renewable energy contributes commendably in increasing rate of the employment
opportunities. It is assumed that generation of the renewable energy can contribute a significant
rise to the employment opportunities as well as equivalent amount of electricity by the year of
2025. On the contrary, the entire coal industry hired almost 160,000 people in the year of 2016
(Union of Concerned Scientists, 2017).
 Stable pricing structure of the energy resources
Renewable energy has been remarkably offering the affordable electricity all across the
country. This affordability is quite beneficial in stabilizing the energy prices in future.
Weitemeyer et al., (2015) mentioned that in spite of the higher upfront investment in building the
renewable facilities, it can be operated at very lower costs. Therefore, it is predicted that the

9
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
prices of the renewable energy would be stable in the upcoming future. On the other hand, it is
noticed that the costs of the technologies used for producing renewable energy have declined in a
steady way and projected to drop more as well. For instance, between the years of 2010 to 2017,
the average price of the solar installation technology dropped more than 70% whereas the costs
of generating the electricity from wind dropped almost 66% between the years of 2009 to 2016
(Union of Concerned Scientists, 2017). It is anticipated that the costs would even decline more in
future and the companies would take the considerable advantages of economies of scale.
However, on the contrary, it is even noticed that the price of the fossil fuels can vary in
diverse ways. The substantial price swings are expected in this aspect. The following graph
would highlight the rapid increase and rapid fall of the coal prices.
Graph 3: Rise and fall of Coal Prices
(Source: Union of Concerned Scientists, 2017)

10
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
The above graph clearly portrays that due to the increasing global demand in the year of
2008, the coal prices in US experienced a rapid increase. Even shortly after 2008, this increased
coal price faced the rapid fall after the declines in the global demands. Similarly, the prices of the
natural gas also fluctuated in a significant way. Therefore, it can be stated that the renewable
energy is quite significant for the future prospects even more than the energy produced from the
fossil fuels or coals.
Conclusion
The study generates provides the insights of the effectiveness of using renewable energy.
The extensive research on the subject area highlights that the coal-fired power station is one of
the major sources for energy generation, but the availability is uncertain. On the other hand,
despite of few disadvantages, the renewable energy generation is significantly sustainable. In
fact, the renewable energy generation is quite opportune for increasing the employment rate in
future. On the contrary, the coal-fired power station creates more pollution that affects the
environment, human health, and economic growth as well. Hence, it is predicted that the future
should be linked to renewable energy.
Recommendation
In spite of benefits derived from the renewable energy generation, it has been observed
that some of the risks are also signified as the major area of concerns. Therefore, the following
recommendations can be taken into consideration to ensure more productive approach for the
future.

11
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
 The policy makers need to develop more sound approaches to generate the renewable
energy from the wind power.
 It is anticipated that taking a long-term approach to the technological development would
facilitate more solar electric generation within a shorter time.
 The use of the photovoltaic (PV) facilities is much significant in terms of generating most
of the solar energy. Therefore, it is essential to prepare for much greater penetration of
generating PV facilities.
 The establishment of the efficient subsidies for the solar deployment is also
recommended.

12
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
References
Aph.gov.au, (2017). [online] Available at:
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/Browse_by_Topic/ClimateChangeold/responses/mitigation/
emissions/renewable [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].
Buonocore, J. J., Luckow, P., Norris, G., Spengler, J. D., Biewald, B., Fisher, J., & Levy, J. I.
(2016). Health and climate benefits of different energy-efficiency and renewable energy
choices. Nature Climate Change, 6(1), 100-105.
Butterworth, S., Subramaniam, N., & Phang, M. M. (2015). Carbon Risk Management: A
Comparative Case Study of Two Companies within the Australian Energy
Sector. Journal of Applied Management Accounting Research, 13(1), 9.
Ellabban, O., Abu-Rub, H., & Blaabjerg, F. (2014). Renewable energy resources: Current status,
future prospects and their enabling technology. Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Reviews, 39, 748-764.
Hosseini, S. E., & Wahid, M. A. (2016). Hydrogen production from renewable and sustainable
energy resources: Promising green energy carrier for clean development. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 57, 850-866.
Lenzen, M., McBain, B., Trainer, T., Jütte, S., Rey-Lescure, O., & Huang, J. (2016). Simulating
low-carbon electricity supply for Australia. Applied Energy, 179, 553-564.

13
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Martin, N., & Rice, J. (2015). Improving Australia's renewable energy project policy and
planning: A multiple stakeholder analysis. Energy Policy, 84, 128-141.
Newell, D., Sandström, A., & Söderholm, P. (2017). Network management and renewable
energy development: an analytical framework with empirical illustrations. Energy
Research & Social Science, 23, 199-210.
Parvareh, F., Sharma, M., Qadir, A., Milani, D., Khalilpour, R., Chiesa, M., & Abbas, A. (2014).
Integration of solar energy in coal-fired power plants retrofitted with carbon capture: a
review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 38, 1029-1044.
Science.org.au. (2009). Australia’s renewable energy future [online] Available at:
https://www.science.org.au/files/userfiles/support/reports-and-plans/2015/renewable-
energy-future.pdf [Accessed 23 Jan. 2018].
Su, W., Wang, J., & Roh, J. (2014). Stochastic energy scheduling in microgrids with intermittent
renewable energy resources. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 5(4), 1876-1883
Union of Concerned Scientists. (2017). Benefits of Renewable Energy Use. [online] Available at:
https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-energy/renewable-energy/public-benefits-of-renewable-
power#.WmYlk6iWbIU [Accessed 22 Jan. 2018].
Warren, B., Christoff, P., & Green, D. (2016). Australia’s sustainable energy transition: The
disjointed politics of decarbonisation. Environmental Innovation and Societal
Transitions, 21, 1-12.
Weitemeyer, S., Kleinhans, D., Vogt, T., & Agert, C. (2015). Integration of Renewable Energy
Sources in future power systems: The role of storage. Renewable Energy, 75, 14-20.

14
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION

15
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
Appendix
Survey Questionnaire
1) Which of the following sources is the most usable for generating renewable energy?
 Biomass
 Turbine wind
 Geothermal
 Solar
 Hydropower
2) How far do you agree that the renewable energy creates minimal pollution?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
3) How far do you agree that the renewable energy creates the job opportunities more than the
coal-fired power stations?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree

16
RENEWABLE ENERGY VS. COAL-FIRED POWER STATION
 Strongly Disagree
4) How far do you agree that the generation of renewable energy from different sources would
secure the future needs of the energy services?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
5) Which of the following benefits that renewable energy facilitate for the future prospects?
 Need for electricity in future
 Stable pricing structure
 Growing economy
 Job opportunities
 Less pollution