Hunt to Designate Coal as Renewable
In a move that has stunned energy pundits and economists alike, the federal government has proposed a bold expansion of Australia’s renewable energy target.
The approved list of renewable energy sources, hitherto restricted to energy sources that are … ummm … renewable, has been amended by Environment Minister Greg Hunt to include Coal.
“The term renewable is a relative concept”, a defiant Hunt told reporters yesterday. “What is renewable is a matter of time scale, and that should be a matter for the Australian Coal Association … umm I mean the Australian people to decide.”
The UNFCCC considers a source to be renewable if it is replenished within human time scales. And that, claims Hunt, is arbitrary. “This restrictive definition is biased towards earth-mother sissy energy sources like wave, tidal, ocean, wind and solar, just because the source does not diminish within a human lifetime. Well that is just too short. We think the time scale for renewability ought to be developed on a time scale more consistent with policy development. Specifically, Liberal Party policy development.”
As coal is formed within about 200 million years (give or take) Mr Hunt’s proposed time scale easily brings Coal within the scope of a “renewable” energy. However Mr Hunt would not comment on whether his proposal may also include background radiation from the big bang.
MRET endorsed wind turbine.