95 % of residents want more action on Renewable Energy
Posted on 12 August 2010 by e-news
Naomi, Ian, Barbara and Dean have interviewed over 200 Castlemaine residents over the past few weeks to put renewable energy on the agenda in the lead up to the federal election.
Armed with a survey and clipboards we asked local residents what they’d like to see candidates do about renewable energy in the lead up to the federal election.
Survey results showed that 95% of residents said that they didn’t think that Australia was currently doing enough to promote the development of clean renewable energy like wind and solar.
96% said that creating clean energy jobs should be a priority for the government this year.
Over 86% of survey respondents also said Australia should develop a plan to move to 100% renewable energy.
MASG volunteer Naomi Raftery said “At first I was a little nervous at the thought of approaching people in the street, but I think this issue is so important that I just had to do it. People were very grateful and supportive of what we are doing so that made it all worthwhile.”
MASG also made available information from a Melbourne University and Beyond Zero Emissions report that shows that it is technically possible and financially affordable to make Australia wholly powered by the sun, wind and waves within a decade at a cost of $8 per household per week.
Armed with that information and the support of the community the Mount Alexander Sustainability Group is calling on all levels of Government to do more on renewable energy.
The recent Victorian State Government announcement to have 5% of our power derived from solar power by 2020 is a small but important step in the right direction, but it is not enough.
Governments in Australia spend more than $9 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money each year subsidizing fossil fuels and that they continue to grant licences for new coal power stations when the people want renewable energy. MASG calls on Governments to switch those subsidies over to support the generation of solar, wind, wave, geothermal and biomass power.
A feed in tariff in Germany created over 280,000 jobs . That could happen here with government support and our survey proves that people would love it.
We have given an update of the results of the Castlemaine survey to the election candidates and will take the full results with all the comments to the candidate who wins the August 21st poll.
Survey results (from total sample of 208)
• 95% of residents said that the Australian Government is not doing enough to promote the development of renewable energy in Australia
•96% of people believe the government should significantly boost investment in renewable energy and create clean energy jobs
•86% of respondents said they think creating clean energy jobs should be a priority for the Australian Government this year
•83% of residents said they thought Australia should develop a plan to move to 100% renewable energy
LINK
Click on link to see the Australian Sustainable Energy Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan
produced by Melbourne based group Beyond Zero Emissions and the University of Melbourne.
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