Economics for Business: Analysis of Australia's Energy Policy Issues

This report analyzes the economic aspects of Australia's energy policy, drawing from an article discussing the hijacking of the policy by the far right. It explores key concepts like energy efficiency, affordability, and the impact of technological advancements and the importance of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. The report highlights concerns about high energy prices, the lack of reliable electricity, and environmental issues related to carbon emissions. It recommends incorporating renewable energy sources to reduce pollution and lower prices, improving energy supply reliability, implementing strong energy sector policies, and establishing accessible regulatory bodies. The report emphasizes the need for modern policies that align with climate goals and promote environmental friendliness and technological advancements, advocating for government intervention in regulating energy prices and promoting cleaner energy alternatives.

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Article Used: How the Far Right have Hijacked Australia s Energy Policy. Available at
http://reneweconomy.com.au/far-right-hijacked-australias-energy-policy-11836/
Essence of The story
The article addresses energy based issues such as reliability and efficiency, climate
change and renewable forms of energy. Also, technological advancement in the field of the
Australian energy sector has been touched on .Specifically, the article briefly recognizes the
importance of renewable sources of energy ,mainly, solar and wind sources of energy(Parkinson
2017)Through the article, it is proposed that renewable forms of energy be adopted due to their
cheap nature and ready availability. Noteworthy, the article is based on the speech of an energy
minister for New South Wales .Majorly, the article stipulates what Australia s energy policy
ought to embrace .There’s need to make energy more reliable ,affordable and up to date with the
technological advancements for the benefit of the Australian people.
Also, the article explores the importance of storing energy embraced through use of
renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind
Economic Concepts Based on the Article.
Energy efficiency can be achieved through incorporation of reliable, renewable and
environmental friendly sources and generation of energy .Energy efficiency. In addition, the
affordability of energy sources is vital for all economies and its consumers. Noteworthy, the
Australian government is yet to deliver affordable energy to its citizens(Wood 2016)Notably,

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South Australia s energy prices is considered the highest globally(Dayman,2017)Specifically,
Consumers will experience price rises between 19.9 -16.1percent increment of prices from
Energy Australia and Origin Energy thus the need for regulatory energy policy. High prices of
energy will be burdensome and exploitative to consumers. Further, poverty will ensue from high
power prices (Dayman 2017)
Undoubtedly, technological advancements have made life much easier and efficient
thus the need to embrace modern ways of electricity generation. Further, the Australian
government is yet to afford reliable electricity for its citizens (Wood 2016) .Ideally, sources of
energy ought to be reliable and sustainable. Usually, renewable sources of energy such as wind
and solar are considered ideal for energy generation due to their sustainability and cheap cost.
However, the Australian economy is yet to fully and exclusively embrace renewable sources of
energy thus the costly prices. Coal isn’t a reliable source of energy (Parkinson 2017).There’s
need to device ways of storing energy through modern technology to ensure back to back supply
of energy year in ,year out.
Environmental friendliness is a concern for most energy generation players in the sense
that nonrenewable energy sources such as coal are pollutants to the
environment .Essentially ,there’s need to reduce carbon emissions in relation to climate policy
targets and environmental policies. Currently, the Australian energy policy has inadequate
climatic policies thus the need to harmonize energy policies with climatic goals for an
environment-friendly energy efficient forms of energy (Wood 2016)According to the
article ,there’s need to enact modern energy policy in harmony with climatic policies in order to
protect the environment from carbon emissions which are harmful to the environment. Through

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the article, it is proposed that the Australian government adopt cleaner energy sources of energy
production instead of sole reliance on non renewable energy sources.
Arguably, there exists urgent need for government intervention in regulation of energy
sector prices and formulation of modern energy based policies. To reduce environmental
pollution and promote affordability of electricity, there’s urgent need to generate energy using
renewable sources of energy, Notably wind and solar energy. Typically, solar and wind energy
are readily available and cheap too .Renewable energy sources require less cost in generation of
power which translates into lower energy prices for electricity and other energy sources. In
addition, there’s need for formulation and incorporation of environment friendly policies on
energy generation and distribution .Predominantly, generation of energy through no renewable
sources transfers the relatively high costs to consumers in the form of tariffs.
Also ,there’s need to adopt technologically advanced sources of energy such as nuclear
energy to substitute the use of fossil fuels such as coal. Mainly because, fossil fuels are
expensive and non-renewable thus raising concerns of pollution and unreliability hence the need
to adopt safer, readily available and cheaper energy generation sources. Fossil fuels are non-
renewable and pollutants of the environment due to the large quantities of carbon emissions
generated during energy production. In my opinion ,cleaner and renewable energy should be
adopted because they are generated through environment-friendly technologically advanced
processes and equipment which reduce and eliminate carbon emissions from the
atmosphere .Further ,renewable energy tariffs are cheaper thus affordable for the Australian
population.

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Recommendations.
By and large, it's vital to incorporate renewable sources of energy into energy sector
generation to reduce pollution and make the prices affordable (Pears,2017)Further, there’s need
to make energy supply reliable to the Australian population through incorporated various sources
of energy production as opposed to reliance on rnon renewable energy sources .In addition
there’s need to implement strong and achievable energy sector policies and regulation.
Moreover, the energy sector policies and measures ought to conform to overall climatic policies.
Regarding high cost of electricity, there is need to have accessible energy regulatory bodies in
each of the Australian states to monitor the electricity tariffs (Frydenberg 2016)Also, adoption
of cheaper technological generation options will make the prices of electricity less costly for the
Australian population.
To ensure reliability of energy, renewable and non-renewable sources of energy ought to
be available always (Mcleish 2017)There’s need for cleaner and renewable energy and practices
for an efficient energy sector in Australia. Also ,in regulating price of electricity, mandatory
rates of comparison and transparency in energy prices will keep prices in check and consumers
enlightened(Clure 2017)Typically, every sector of the economy requires constant reforms due to
the changing nature of technology and environmental factors (Zappa 2014) and energy sector is
no exception. There’s need to formulate modern policies and measures to curb the existing
energy challenges for an efficient energy sector in Australia. Further, there’s need to use
renewable energy for environmental friendliness purposes and affordable cost of generated
energy through this easily available sources .

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References
Parkinson, G. (2017) How the Far Right Have Hijacked Australia’s Energy policy.RE New
Economy. Available at http://reneweconomy.com.au/far-right-hijacked-australias-energy-
policy-11836/[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]
Dayman, I. (2017) South Australia power Prices to Rise to highest in the world on Saturday,
Energy Experts warn .ABC News. Available at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-28/sa-has-most-expensive-power-prices-in-the-
world/8658434[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]
Wood, T. (2016) Australia s energy Sector is in critical need of Reform. The Conversation. Available at
http://theconversation.com/australias-energy-sector-is-in-critical-need-of-reform-61802[Accessed
23 Aug 2017]
Clure, E. (2017) Power Prices: 13 ways government could Bring down Electricity costs .ABC .Net.
Available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-11/what-could-the-government-do-to-reduce-
power-prices/8790952[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]
Pears , A.(2017)2017 Will be a Big Year for Australia s Energy System: Here’s What to LOOK Out For
.The Conversation .Available at https://theconversation.com/2017-will-be-a-big-year-for-
australias-energy-system-heres-what-to-look-out-for-71703[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]
Frydenberg, F. (2016) The future of Australia Energy sector.[Opinion]Australian Mining. Available at
https://www.australianmining.com.au/features/the-future-of-australias-energy-sector-opinion/
[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]

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McLeish, R. (2017) Elon Musk Resumes Twitter Campaign for Australian Energy Reform with Mike
Cannon-Brookes. The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/elon-musk-resumes-twitter-campaign-for-
australian-energy-reform-with-Mike-cannonbrookes-20170313-guwr8g.html[Accessed 23 Aug
2017]
Zappa, M.(2014)17 Emerging Energy Technologies that will change the world .Business
Insider .Available at http://www.businessinsider.com/17-emerging-energy-technologies-2014-4?
IR=T[Accessed 23 Aug 2017]