The 2011 North Coast Energy Forum will be held in Mullumbimby Civic Hall on Friday 3 June – with solar and natural gas being tabled.

According to Mark Byrne, from the Environmental Defenders Office and one of the forum organisers, ‘Over 90 per cent of our electricity comes from outside the region, and about 90 per cent of that is coal-fired.

‘The coal-seam gas industry has pitched itself as a greener alternative that will be good for the local economy, but there has been widespread community concern about the potential impacts on farming land and the environment.

‘And recent reports from the US have cast doubt on just how much cleaner gas is than coal.’

‘But what about renewables?

‘Figures released by the Clean Energy Council reveal that the north coast has the highest uptake of rooftop solar systems in the country.

‘But the new state government’s changes to the solar feed-in tariff are the latest in a long line of policy reversals that have made life difficult for the solar industry.

‘This is despite the scheme originally being pitched by the government as providing certainty and long-term stability to the industry and homeowners.’

Mark also notes that rooftop solar is unlikely to ever generate enough energy to power households, businesses and industry on its own.

‘Because conditions aren’t right here for large-scale solar or wind farms, we face a challenge in order to avoid becoming a brown-energy backwater as the rest of the country and the world move to a low-carbon economy.’

Potential bio-energy for the region

‘The north coast may, however, have lots of potential for bio-energy, wave energy and small-scale wind and solar to create a greener economy.

‘In a recent Climate Spectator, for instance, it was noted that, “Australia, by using current technology and off-the-shelf equipment, could by 2040 be producing 20 per cent of current base-load electricity and a significant fraction of heat and transport fuels,” using bio-mass residues and waste alone.’

Mark added, ‘The north coast looks well placed to play a leading role in bio-energy generation in particular.

‘But it’s going to take a lot of ingenuity, hard work and co-operation to make it happen.’

Registrations can be made via the website, www.ncenergyforum.org.