Presented by Futureworld Eco-Technology Centre and sponsored by Hatch as part of Sustainability Week 2009.
– **Date:** Tuesday 21 April 2009
– **Time:** 6:30 pm for 7:00 pm (light refreshments will be served at 6:30)
– **Cost:** $20 per person, $15 per Futureworld member or concession, $10 per student, payable at the door by cash or cheque. Please call Futureworld on 4274 2939 for prior credit card payments.
– **Venue:** McKinnon Building, Building 67, Lecture Room 104 University of Wollongong. Northfields Avenue, North Wollongong. [Location and parking info](http://www.uow.edu.au/about/maps.html).
– **RSVP:** Seating is limited, please RSVP by COB Friday 17 April 2009.
A low carbon economy based on renewable energy: the only way to go!
Because Australia is a major world exporter of coal and gas it is estimated that these exports alone will lead to an estimated 53 billion tonnes of Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050. Add to that the likely 29 billion tonnes that Australia itself will emit under a business as usual scenario by 2050, then it is clear that Australia is indeed a key player in the global battle for atmospheric stability and environmental security.
In this public lecture Barney Foran from the Fenner Centre for Research and Environmental Studies at the ANU will be describing and testing the renewable energy transition to 2050, as well as discussing essential technologies, the science-based approach to modelling whole economy transitions, and flaws in today’s mindset, policy and economics.
Dr Foran was the first speaker and has subsequently chaired the current series of ten seminars on renewable energy held at the Australian Academy of Sciences in Canberra.
Barney Foran has degrees in agriculture and ecology, which led to professional eras spanning rangeland ecology, agricultural systems, environmental science and long term analysis of Australia’s physical economy. He led research teams in CSIRO’s Resource Futures group which produced long term analyses of Australia’s physical economy focusing on human population (Future Dilemmas), marine fisheries (Fish Futures), land and water (Decision Points) and a triple bottom line analysis of the Australian economy (Balancing Act). His current work focuses on integrated solutions to Australia’s challenges of energy security and greenhouse mitigation. He is a research fellow at the ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, the Institute of Land Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, and the Physics Department at Sydney University. He now lives in regional Victoria and tends small forest blocks of blue gum and spotted gum.