Josh Frydenberg warns states against going it alone on clean energy target

The Turnbull government has warned the states their threat to "go it alone" on a clean energy target will only create chaos and inefficiency in the nation's electricity system.

Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg leads
 a COAG energy council meeting in October. 

Energy ministers will clash on Friday as the states seek to pressure the Turnbull government to decide whether it will adopt a clean energy target - the key recommendation of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's review of Australia's energy security - despite ongoing internal divisions over the policy proposal.

Led by South Australian Treasurer Tim Koutsantonis, the Labor states on Thursday threatened to bypass the federal government altogether. Without swift progress on Friday they would ask the Australian Energy Market Commission to model how a state-based target would work, Mr Koutsantonis said.

Read Adam Gartrell’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Josh Frydenberg warns states against going it alone on clean energy target.”

Most energy is wasted through inefficiency - report

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 new report indicates 98% of all energy produced globally is wasted through inefficiency.

Addressing this issue, boosting energy production would greatly increase the economy and create millions of new jobs.

To visualize this number, the authors explain, consider that when boiling an egg only 2% of the energy consumed goes into actually producing the boiled egg: the rest is wasted in heating the pan, the kitchen air and the water around the egg.

The 2015 Energy Productivity and Economic Prosperity Index, authored by The Lisbon Council, Ecofys and Quintel Intelligence and commissioned by Philips, shows doubling energy productivity improvement to just 3% would reduce the global fossil fuel bill by more than €2 trillion (US$2.28 trillion) by 2030 and could create more than 6 million jobs in the next five years.

Read The Climate Group story - “Report shows how to turn energy waste into economic growth” – says we don’t have to wait for any ‘magic bullet’ to implement these solutions.