Australia Renewable Energy Essay

Australia’s eastern states possess one of the largest energy systems in the world, with 51,000 kilometres of transmission lines and cables working to meet Australia’s electricity needs (Figure 1) (AEMO 2017). Australians consume over 1 619.75 terawatt hours (tWh) annually with Australian homes accounting for 19.1 tWh and 18.81 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions (Table 1) (Department of Environment and Energy 2014; Department of Industry and Science 2015). Alarmingly, 85.4% of the Australia’s energy production results from processing polluting fossil fuels rather than renewable energy sources (Department of Environment and Energy 2014). Analysing the energy consumption of a Brisbane family of four in a four-bedroom home reveals excessive consumption compared with analogous homes on Australia’s east coast. Changing occupant behaviour and introducing energy saving mechanisms would eliminate the

NEM power stations generate electricity by burning coal/gas, powering photovoltaic cells with the sun, turning turbines with wind or water, or using the heat generated by natural biological processes (Department of Environment and Energy 2014). However, Queensland derives over 95% of its energy from fossil fuels, demonstrating the lowest penetration of renewable energy in Australia (Figure 2) (Clean Energy Australia 2015). Once generated, the power enters a substation transformer that increases the voltage to efficiently transport the electricity over long distances (Figure 3) (DEWS 2016). As the electricity passes through the distribution network, a series of substations progressively lower the voltage until the low voltage lines transfer the 240 volts to individual residences (DEWS 2016). The house’s meter measures electricity consumption and uses a switchboard to deliver the electricity to the circuits that provides the power for each area of the