Australia needs to be bold to become a world leader in alternative energy for the future, according to entrepreneur Dick Smith.
He is concerned Australian governments don't have the vision for big projects like the Snowy Mountains Scheme anymore.
Smith says Australia’s economy could grind to a halt in a matter of days if there was a major disruption to the world’s energy markets.
Australia is one of the world's most vulnerable economies when it comes to fuel security as it sources more than 80 per cent of its crude oil needs from overseas.
Smith has spent the past year investigating Australia’s energy options for an ABC documentary to screen this week. at 8.30pm this Thursday, August 1, 2013.
His film, “Ten Bucks A Litre”sees Smith travelling around the nation trying to make sense of the complex subject of energy.
"I’m certain the era of cheap energy, which has built the modern economy, is over. What comes next? We don't know, but it is bound to be much more expensive,” he warns.
Smith says that domestic energy prices have more than doubled in the past five years and will double again soon, not because Australia lacks energy resources, but because the gas and coal industry focuses almost entirely on export markets.
As the world’s biggest coal exporter and soon to be the world’s biggest gas exporter, Australia is set to become an energy super-power, bigger even than Saudi Arabia.
"And world markets means we will be paying world prices,”Smith says.
This is leading to some acute problems in the very near future. With so much investment going into export facilities, domestic supplies are dwindling.
"There is the very real chance that NSW, for instance, could face severe gas shortages as soon as 2015,” he says.
As a result, Smith is calling for a reconsideration of Australia’s ban on nuclear energy.
He is urging a fresh look at all local energy options, and is also supporting the development of a billion dollar solar-thermal power station at Port Augusta in South Australia.
Given what he has seen, Smith has traded in his petrol-powered car for an electric vehicle powered entirely by solar panels, but he admits this expensive option is not possible for average Australians.
