Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I wish to speak about energy efficiency—a topic of great importance. I want to make particular reference to the Australian Alliance to Save Energy, or A2SE, which is an independent and not-for-profit coalition of environmental, business, government and community leaders that seeks to inform, influence and promote the consideration of energy efficiency in Australia.

When it comes to key energy policy issues—that is: how much do we need; how are we going to produce it; how much will it cost; and what are the implications when it comes to climate change—there does not seem to be enough focus, at least in the public mind, on the potential contribution of energy efficiency measures. That is not to say that this potential is unrecognised. Indeed, in the 2007 Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics report on technology and low emissions, it was estimated that energy efficiency measures would account for something like 55 per cent of projected Australian emissions abatement at 2050. While much of the buzz in the area of emissions reductions focuses on renewable energy generation and the possibility of things like hydrogen cell vehicles, there is the tendency to forget that some of the greatest gains, or the lowest fruit, exist in available efficiency measures and demand management.

Last year, in the context of the debate about fuel prices, there was little acknowledgment of the fact that the wider use of vehicles with above-average fuel efficiency offered perhaps the straightest path towards easing the fuel cost burden on Australian families, and there was even less acknowledgment of the failure to make technological and behavioural progress in that regard. We know, for example, that there has been virtually no change in the average fuel efficiency of Australian passenger cars between 1965 and 2005. That is 40 years of massive scientific and technological change, yet there has been no significant improvement in the fuel use or cost efficiency of standard petrol cars. But of course energy efficiency is not just about technology; it is also about behavioural change. The average passenger car may use something like 10 or 11 litres per 100 kilometres, but there are vehicles that easily use a third to half less fuel, and that kind of efficiency is not confined to newfangled, electric hybrid vehicles. Smaller cars with smaller engines offer a huge jump in efficiency and, therefore, in both cost savings and emission reductions, but only if people make that choice.

It is not as though there are no price incentives. The Western Australian Sustainable Energy Association has suggested that people who shift from a large six- or eight-cylinder car to a smaller, fuel-efficient four-cylinder vehicle can effectively save around 45 cents a litre. That makes the 5c a litre excise issue seem ridiculous by comparison. Yet there is still no overwhelming trend towards greater efficiency in motor vehicles, nor any indication that we will see a radical shift in car consumer sentiment.

On this point I note the recent work by my predecessor in the electorate of Fremantle, Dr Carmen Lawrence, whose paper titled ‘Changing your behaviour to save the planet’ examines the behavioural aspect of the climate change task. In relation to the necessary economic reforms, Dr Lawrence writes:

Fundamental to the success of any of these strategies is social change, including people’s willingness to accept the seriousness of the situation, to support the necessary government intervention and change their own behaviour.

The car efficiency price incentive example appears to bear out Dr Lawrence’s observation that ‘in reality, limited information, high transaction costs and a variety of cognitive and behavioural tendencies limit the extent to which price alone affects behaviour’. So when it comes to the pursuit of energy efficiency, we need to accept that improvements are going to be dependent on greater behavioural understanding as much as technological change—and, of course, government has a role to play in supporting both.

As announced this week, the Prime Minister will establish a task force on energy efficiency next year. Such government initiatives, together with actions by independent groups such as A2SE, will assist in creating the momentum for change in our community. I am very pleased to be a member of the A2SE Formation Advisory Group, and I also note the keen participation of the member for La Trobe. This represents bipartisan support for A2SE’s work to make both efficiency and demand-side issues a prominent part of the energy policy debate in Australia.

The impetus for the creation of A2SE has to a significant degree come from the success of its equivalent in the United States, the Alliance to Save Energy, which has been a policy leader in this area for over 30 years. One of its programs, Green Schools, helped introduce operational, maintenance and behavioural changes that have achieved energy use reductions of between five and 15 per cent at participating schools. A school in my electorate, South Fremantle Senior High School, has become carbon neutral and, through its use of solar-PV power and allied efficiency measures, has greatly reduced its use of electricity. I hope that is the future for all of our schools.

Energy efficiency is a critical part of the policy equation when it comes to Australia’s energy profile and climate change response. I welcome the creation of the Australian Alliance to Save Energy as a participant in the policy debate.