Progress towards low carbon electricity generation: a global view

Professor Timothy Florin will present the data that maps the reality of what can be done to reduce carbon emissions
About this Event

Drew Hutton, co-founder of the Australian Greens will launch this data exploration of energy generation researched and presented by Professor Timothy Florin. How much progress are we making in the quest for Net Zero? How much progress is possible? What are the best technologies?

Australia’s electricity system has entered a period of significant change. Policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions are reshaping how electricity is generated, transmitted and consumed, with major implications for households, industry and the broader economy.

Governments, businesses and consumers are being asked to invest heavily in new infrastructure as the country simultaneously electrifies transport, industry and domestic energy use.

Current policy settings largely assume a pathway in which renewable generation, supported by expanded transmission, storage and other firming technologies, becomes the dominant source of electricity supply.

While this approach underpins Australia’s present transition strategy, the scale of the transformation and the costs involved mean that questions about alternative low-carbon pathways continue to be debated.

This talk by Emeritus Professor Timothy Florin contributes to that debate by examining current global data on electricity generation, energy consumption and carbon emissions, particularly the publicly available datasets compiled by Oxford University affiliated Our World in Data (Global Change Data Lab).

These data are current, real-world data from existing energy systems, rather than modelling of future systems.

Professor Florin has had a long career in clinical medicine, research and medical education. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Researcher Prize from the Gastroenterological Society of Australia in recognition of his contributions to the field and a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.

While his professional background is in medicine rather than energy systems, Professor Florin approaches the subject of low carbon generation of electricity from the perspective of a scientist.

The talk will encourage interrogation of what current real-world data say about the relationships between electricity consumption, economic development, carbon emissions, and the performance of different electricity generation mixes.