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GAVIN RILEY reports on the Power Conference held in Auckland where the state collier argues our natural resources as under-valued and under-used.
They give the country a huge opportunity as well as a responsibility to help the 5.5 billion of the world’s population who aspire to reach the standard of living of the one billion well-off people, he told the Power Conference held in Auckland earlier this year. But the 5.5 billion will become six, seven, eight billion and their aspirations will not be met unless unprecedented breakthroughs are achieved in supply and commodities, energy and food comparable to the scale the IT industry has achieved in speed of processing. Elder says New Zealand has 15 billion tonnes of coal underground, at least two billion of which is good quality but may not economically minable using conventional techniques. However, it is amenable to new technology of underground coal gasification whereby underground gas coal can be extracted by pipes and not by people going underground. “That is the kind of technology breakthrough needed.” Elder says the 10 billion tonnes of lignite in Southland is a major global resource that has the potential to make us the richest country per capita in the world. “Monetising” the lignite by turning it into briquettes for export, transport fuel or fertiliser would be worth about $5 billion a year. With rising fuel prices, by 2015 the figure would be $10 billion and by 2020-25 the lignites could be generating $20 billion a year. “The opportunity is immense,” he says. However, there are issues to be addressed that have caused major problems for the energy industry in recent times. Climate-change ‘deniers’ (?) need to apologise for denying everyone else the right to have proper information to determine whether climate change is the biggest threat facing mankind in the 21st Century. “I am talking about the people who, it is now clear, to the detriment of sensible rational discussion, have denied scientific process, have denied transparency, have denied free speech around this critical international issue without denigration or ridicule, have denied the rights of good scientists to have their work included in the international body of work while at the same time being happy to use unpublished student dissertations, and to quote in IPCC reports and use as documented evidence press releases from environmental lobby groups.” Elder considers the climate-change argument has suppressed an urgently needed discussion about energy in light of the imminent oil crunch. “We are now on notice from the world’s industry leaders that one of the biggest threats facing New Zealand is our dependence on oil.” He also appealed for a sensible discussion about future mining operations in this country. The value of one hectare for a dairy farm is $3000-$4000, but $200,000-$1 million for a mine, making a national discussion critically important for the country’s future prosperity and social well-being. “If we go into mining and use our natural resources in a rational and responsible way, we can afford to do things we can’t do now because we will be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We need to grab the opportunity.”
Q&M Vol.7 No.2 April-May 2010 |
New Zealand’s water, climate, knowledge, resources, people and energy make us the “lucky country”, says Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder (pictured).