Energy Future for Australia (3)

Energy Future For Australia: Transport

Where did all that energy go? A large proportion of Australian energy were consumed to support the transport that needed for large cities such as Sydney.

According to the Public Transport Report of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) in 2012, the percentages of money of GDP spent in public transport projects by the Australian government have been increasing during the 10 years throughout 2000 to 2009 (pp. 4). These investments aimed to build an active public transport in order to face the circumstance of rapidly developing on the urban fringes due to increases in population in Australian large cities (ACF, 2012). Transport, as one of major emitters of greenhouse gases, is closely associated with the aforementioned dilemma of urban population increase. Thus it is the responsibility of government to consider the effects to the environment while providing sufficient public transport options to the low income families who living in the urban areas and remote suburbs of these areas (ibid). As one of the most car dependent countries in the world, Public transport can provide significant reductions in greenhouse gases emissions to Australian environment, and particularly when the renewable clean energy is used in this system, such as tram and diesel-electric hybrid driving buses (ibid).

Reference:

Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Clean, green transport future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/sustainable-living/clean-green-transport-future (accessed: 17, 6, 2016)Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Australia’s Public Transport: Investment for A Clean Transport Future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_transport_funding_report_27-4-11_0.pdf (accessed: 17, 4, 2016).
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