Renewables will give more people access to electricity than coal, says IEA

Around the world, more than a billion people still lack access to electricity.

This number is shrinking, down by one third since 2000, despite rising population levels, according to an International Energy Agency (IEA) special report on energy access, published today.

The report says that while coal has supplied nearly half of the progress from 2000 to date, its role is set to decline “dramatically”. This is because renewables are becoming cheaper and because the hardest-to-reach people are in remote, rural areas where off-grid solutions offer the lowest cost.

The report shows the number of people without access to electricity will shrink by another third by 2030, with 60% of these gains supplied by renewables. Furthermore, if the world commits to providing universal access by 2030, then renewables would bridge 90% of the remaining gap, the IEA says.

Read the CarbonBrief story - “Renewables will give more people access to electricity than coal, says IEA.”

Australian household electricity prices may be 25% higher than official report

The International Energy Agency (IEA) may be underestimating Australian household energy bills by 25% because of a lack of accurate data from the federal government.

Power price pain is worse than we thought. 

The Paris-based IEA produces official quarterly energy statistics for the 30 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on which policymakers and researchers rely heavily. But to provide this service, the IEA relies on member countries to provide it with good-quality data.

Last month, the agency published its annual summary report, Key World Statistics, which reported that Australian households have the 11th most expensive electricity prices in the OECD.

Read the piece by the Director, Carbon and Energy Markets at the Victoria University, Bruce Mountain, on The Conversation - “Australian household electricity prices may be 25% higher than official report.”

Do we 'bury our heads in the sand' or bury our CO2?

Dr Linda Stalker.

The scientist in charge of the geo-sequestration research arm of the CSIRO says the world can't "bury its head in the sand" over carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Dr Linda Stalker says both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) state large scale deployment of CCS is one of the measures needed to keep global temperatures down.

In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) form of CCS, carbon dioxide emissions are removed from industrial processes, oil and gas and buried.

Read the ABC Rural story - “CSIRO scientist says world is burying its "head in the sand" over the need for more carbon capture and storage.”