The EFF brought together Australia's energy and transport stakeholders to identify plausible scenarios and their implications for the Nation's energy future.
Final report - The heat is on
After two years in the making the Energy Futures Forum released its final report in December 2006: The heat is on: the future of energy in Australia [external link].
About the Energy Futures Forum
The Energy Futures Forum brought together industry and community groups in a scenario planning exercise exploring potential futures of the Australian stationary energy (static energy generation facilities) and transport industries.
The Energy Futures Forum ran over a two-year period and used modelling to develop future energy scenarios. These scenarios helped identify potential energy industry and technology pathways and highlighted potential impacts to society, the environment and the economy.
The Forum undertook a new approach to energy industry modelling by combining technology and economic models into one single, integrated analysis tool.
The new models incorporated economic, technological, social and environmental knowledge from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), CSIRO and leading Australian and international sociological and environmental studies.
Objectives
The objectives of the Forum were to:
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promote constructive dialogue between a diverse range of stakeholders in the Australian energy industry on its long-term future
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identify a range of plausible scenarios available to Australian society for future energy options by bringing together views from industry and the community, highlighting the key issues faced by the industry in a unique discussion exercise
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use improved, purpose-built integrated models featuring a linkage of economic, technology development and implementation, social attitudes and environmental modeling
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analyse, quantify and discuss the major social, environmental, economic and technology implications for each scenario
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provide information for different organisations to use to meet their needs, for example:
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CSIRO to use in the development of future research programs
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government to use in policy development
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non-government organisations to inform policy development
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businesses to inform investment strategies.
Background
Economic growth will continue to drive demand for low cost energy. At the same time, there is a need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The challenge for Australia is to take advantage of our energy opportunities without compromising the environment.
Now is a critical time for Australia to make long-term infrastructure decisions to address the needs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the growing energy demand.
Structure and operation
The operation of the Forum was designed based on three important drivers:
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engaging with the Forum members to provide them with maximum value and input
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providing results to the Forum members in a timely manner
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delivering an energy-economy modeling capability unprecedented in Australia.
Outcomes
The first major outcome of the Forum was to develop a set of energy scenarios for Australia:
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scenarios developed by industry and community forum members assisted by professional facilitators - CSIRO and ABARE provided the modeling tools and analysis - broader circulation or consultation of scenarios to wider industry groups were also conducted
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the final set of scenarios was reached partially through consensus and partially through voting rights that came with membership of the Forum
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CSIRO and ABARE did not promote particular scenarios but did contribute with economic and technology advice where requested by Forum members.
Forum participants
Forum participants included:
Australia must make long-term infrastructure decisions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet growing energy demands.
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Alcoa World Alumina Australia
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Australian Automobile Association
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Australian Council of Social Service
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Australian Council of Trade Unions
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BHPBilliton
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Hydro Tasmania
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Loy Yang Power
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NSW electricity generators - Joint participants:
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Delta Electricity
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Eraring Energy and
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Macquarie Generation.
- Orica Australia Pty Ltd
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Origin Energy
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Public Interest Advocacy Centre
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Rio Tinto Limited
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Stanwell Corporation Limited
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Westpac Banking Corporation
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Woodside Energy
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WWF Australia
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Xstrata Coal.
Supporting reports
The heat is on: the future of energy in Australia report is supported by five separate reports outlining the major bodies of research undertaken as part of the project:
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