Synergy pushes for green power

Western Power’s new retail arm has been pushed by a growing worldwide consumer and business conscience to release a tender for a source of renewable energy to power 70,000 homes.
The environmentally friendly move by Synergy is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions equal to that produced by 80,000 cars on the road each year and the construction of a major new energy facility could be a boon for the jobs market.
Synergy managing director Jim Mitchell said the tender was now open for any source of renewable energy source, including wind and biomass, to provide 50MW of capacity to feed back into the grid.
Mr Mitchell said the move was partly in response to a growing corporate conscience about pollution and widespread calls to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
He said there was increasing interest from the business community amid growing evidence green alternatives were cost effective.
“I think the whole world is seeking to look at approaches of sustainable development,” he said.
Australia — one of the two only industrialised countries refusing to sign the Kyoto agreement — is set to come under pressure from British businessman Richard Branson, who claimed the Government was dragging the chain on global warming.
Mr Branson said future dividends and proceeds from the sale of assets, including shares from Virgin’s airline and train operations, would be put into renewable energy programs, totalling $3 billion over 10 years. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch recently issued his companies, including those in Australia, with an edict to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within a year.
In a sign of changing values, one of the world’s biggest investment banks, Goldman Sachs, said it would pressure the US Government for a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions because investors were concerned about the economic risks of global warming.
Chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, John Langoulant, said it was not feasible to limit greenhouse gas emissions at a State level.
“The problems of greenhouse emissions will not be solved at the State legislative level,” he said.
“Mandatory requirements at the local level are likely to be ineffective and potentially counter-productive.
“Emissions do not respect borders. National and international strategies are required which do not risk distorting comparative economic competitiveness.”
Kim MacDonald