Australia has spoken, we want the renewable energy target to remain  

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A report from the Guardian claims that Australia is overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the renewable energy target with figures from the Climate Institute showing 72% of Australians want the target expanded or retained in its current form.

A poll conducted last year showed support for the scheme at 69%, proving that efforts to mislead the public about the cost/benefit of the RET are falling on deaf ears.

Respondents were even given outlines of the arguments for and against, “opponents of the scheme say the RET is a subsidy that drives up electricity bills, while supporters say it has helped create jobs and has tripled Australia’s wind and solar energy since 2009”. Interestingly only 7% of all women surveyed thought the target should be reduced or abolished.

Interestingly, the survey of 1,145 respondents agreed that the state governments should provide more incentives for individuals to take up renewable energy. Although the survey has a 2.9% margin for error, this would suggest even some people who disagree that the RET should remain believe that the states should take action to improve energy efficiency.

Under the scheme 20% of our energy requirements need to be supplied from renewable sources. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has cited falling electricity demand as a furphy to justify a review of the scheme.

It’s widely believed that the government would like to scrap the target altogether, but a number of alternatives are being considered. Sources told the Guardian that following the current review, the government will move to “grandfather” funds only for existing renewable energy projects. This would represent roughly one third of existing renewable funding.

Alternatives include repealing the scheme altogether and reducing the target to an “actual” 20% reduction.

With the downturn of the economy hitting manufacturing and the very success of the renewable energy target, Australia’s energy usage profile was reduced. As a result, the current 41,000 MWh (20% of our projected energy usage in 2020) will overshoot the mark.