Climate change issues paper - consultation

Western Australia has enormous renewable energy potential - enough to power the whole State without carbon, with plenty left over.
The challenges -
1. The incumbent and heavily entrenched fossil fuel industry
2. Ambivalent political will - see ‘ We want to reduce our carbon emissions ‘, whilst hosting a massive LNG hub extracting masses amounts of carbon, and authorising fracking ( more carbon )
3. Storage - this one can be solved with
* pumped hydro ( Mundaring Weir Dam for starters )
* large scale batteries
* home PV systems with battery storage
* electric vehicles
* using surplus renewable energy to make hydrogen
* new technologies

1. The Federal government to introduce a carbon fee and dividend system, whereby carbon attracts a fee at the source, and this is distributed to every Australian household.
2. Cut the ties between State government and the fossil fuel industry.
3. All governments to acknowledge the urgency of the climate crisis ( Denmark, W.A. Running out of water ? ) and act accordingly.

Greater - because we have greater renewable resources in total, and per head of population.

Cannot be fast enough.

1. Higher initial cost than a comparable internal combustion, polluting vehicle. However, this is off-set by lower energy and running costs in the long term.
2. Lack of uptake by individual parliamentarians and government instrumentalities indicates a lack of confidence in them, and an abysmal lack of leadership.

1. Lower, or better still remove, the stamp duty on electric vehicles, in view of their benefits for public health.
2. Increase stamp duty on internal combustion engined vehicles, in view of their adverse affect on public health, and externalised costs of greater hospital admissions / deaths from air pollution.
3. Government should mandate an increasing percentage of their vehicle fleet to be electric, increasing year by year. As these are retired, they will increase the percentage of electric vehicles among the public.

1. Examine how much of Singapore’s brilliant system can be adapted to W.A..
2. Power Metronet and existing trains with renewable energy
3. Cancel the contract for diesel buses, and progressively introduce electric buses.
4. Introduce smaller ( about 12 seat ), more frequent electric buses to feed to train stations.
5. Who really wants to cycle or walk alongside a stream of vehicles pumping pollutants in their face ?

1. Strong government leadership.
2. Government should know what is possible and have access to experts who could facilitate the transition - they must lead.
3. Introduce incentives / benefits to those taking up cleaner transport.

1. Government departments
2. Hospitals
3. Restaurants
4. Food consumption - one third of food is wasted . . . this has to improve
5. Public education

1. The container deposit scheme is a great first step
2. Households with gardens should be encouraged to compost on site
3. In some commercial areas there is no recyclable collection - this needs to change.

1. Higher temperatures, exacerbated by urban expansion. We need to ‘green’ the city with more trees, roof top gardens and vertical gardens ( see Singapore, yet again ! )
2. Bushfire attack. Observe fuel-free area around house, roof-top sprinklers, on-site bulk water storage ( swimming pool or other ) with appropriate pump for those houses in the Bushfire prone zone.

1. Rapid transition away from burning fossil fuels which increase temperatures through climate change - if we don’t do this, we may as well forget any other mitigations as they will be ineffective.
2. Stabilise population growth and resultant urban sprawl.
3. Infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible.

1. Increasing temperatures
2. Increased unstoppable bushfires
3. Water shortages ( see Denmark, W.A. already )
4. Reduced agricultural viability / productivity

ACT ON CLIMATE NOW.
There is no good closing the gate after the horse has bolted.

1. Increase the cost per litre - it is artificially cheap due to government subsidies.
2. Initiate incentives for water storage, both domestically and industrially.
3. Incentives for grey-water system use

I applaud the ‘ three pipe ‘ system in some new subdivisions -
1. Scheme water supply for internal use
2. Grey water pipe with road storm water for use on garden
3. Sewage disposal pipe

So much road storm water goes into drains and runs out to sea. This should be intercepted ( where practicable ) and either pumped into aquifers, or be supplied as grey water.

I don’t know.
But in my perfect world -
1. Existing buildings would receive subsidies for retro-fitting rainwater storage and grey water systems.
2. It would be mandatory for new homes to be built over an underground cellar that would hold rainwater, and have a grey water system. If not practical due to terrain, then external storage.

1. Stop vegetation clearing which leads to desertification , drying and heating climate and erosion.
2. Increase tree planting, as woodlands act both as a water retention bank and a climate cooling agent.
3. Encourage ‘regenerative’ agriculture

1. Economics. The financial pressure to maximise the use of every square metre works against ‘liveability’. Consumers are cost conscious, and investor / developers build accordingly. This can result in high density that exacerbates the urban heat island effect. Councils tend to want greater density to maximise rates return. These factors can conspire against the creation of the green spaces needed to make cities people-friendly places.
2. Constrained planning. Town planning schemes, by their nature, are necessarily general and at a macro level. They cannot plan at a micro level that might be needed to improve energy efficiency.

Access to FLIR cameras.

Climate change will increase ambient temperatures. The greater amount of bitumen and concrete, and the less tree cover, the less will be the liveability of the neighbourhood.

We have to recognise their value, and incorporate them in planning policies. Find out how Singapore does it.

Yes.

Yes there are opportunities. But the landholders and communities need to understand / believe the potential benefits.

1. Politicians
2. Politicians
3. Politicians