Is a ‘gas-led recovery’ a road to nowhere?
Location: Zoom + Facebook Live
Join us on Wednesday 31st March 2021 to hear from two excellent Speakers – Tony Wood and Bruce Mountain – on where gas fits into the picture for the Australian and Victorian energy mixes. So where to now ? What does moving away from gas look like?
'Tony Wood will outline how Gas used to be cheap, but is not now. Gas is a fossil fuel - so we need to be moving away from gas. There are key three sectors or uses for Gas here in Australia. Tony will look at how we make the big shift in these 3 key areas. (20 minutes). 'Bruce Mountain will be discussing work that the Victorian Energy Policy Centre has done to understand the greenhouse gas, investment and energy price implications of replacing gas with electricity in Victoria's households, with various target completion dates.' (20 minutes) Q&A (20 minutes).
Tony Wood is at the Grattan Institute. Tony has been Director of the Energy Program since 2011 after 14 years working at Origin Energy in senior executive roles. From 2009 to 2014 he was also Program Director of Clean Energy Projects at the Clinton Foundation, advising governments in the Asia-Pacific region on effective deployment of large-scale, low-emission energy technologies. In 2008, he was seconded to provide an industry perspective to the first Garnaut climate change review.
Tony will look at the broader regional factors and how gas used to be cheap but is not cheap any longer. And prices are set to remain that way. Gas is a fossil fuel along with coal and oil – and we need to move away from gas too. He will point to the low emissions future for Power generation, manufacturing and homes & small business.
How should Governments be approaching the situation, at Federal and State level? What should Lighter Footprints be advocating?
Bruce Mountain is the inaugural Director of the Victoria Energy Policy Centre. He is a well-known Australian energy economist whose research and advisory work has focused on the economic regulation of network monopolies, the analysis of retail energy markets, and the design of emission reduction and renewable energy policies. Bruce has been a long-standing advisor to governments, regulators, market participants and interest groups in Australia and internationally.
Bruce will be discussing work that the Victorian Energy Policy Centre has done recently to understand the implications of replacing gas with electricity (greenhouse gas, investments , and energy price). What is the most sensible path that reduces emissions in line with Victorian legislation and the Paris Agreement, while achieving least cost for households?
How should a Victorian Government implement this? How can Lighter Footprints support and advocate?
Join us at 7.30pm, Wednesday 31 March on Zoom and Facebook Live.