Speechification

A little gem of a documentary this, the kind of thing that quality speech radio does so well. A complex tale of Australia’s mishandled post-war future drawn from the politically-charged world of R&D into alternative energy sources.

For a few decades after WWII, Australia was the world leader in solar energy research. You might imagine that a sun-kissed nation - if not a little sun-battered - might well find itself in this position. But as with many aspects of the 1950s and ’60s, WWII was the catalyst for this techno-centric R&D effort.

As a result, by the 1970s, 30% of houses in Perth had solar water heaters on their roofs. And yet now the figure is more like 1 in 20 and Australia’s solar energy industry is effectively insignificant. What happened? As the wonderfully named Annabelle Quince relates in this story sewn together with archive clips and quotes from those involved then and now, Australia appears to have lost its way due a murky combination of pressure from the fossil fuels industry and governments, particularly those of John Howard, all too keen to pull investment out of relevant research.

So, the principal players in solar energy end up being Japan, Germany, China and California, often using tech developed by Australian scientists, who had to follow the research money overseas. (It’s one area, ironically, in which Howard has decided not to follow US leadership, where the Department of Energy has massively supported renewable energy research.)

Rather topically, Australia heads to the polls this week, with much opinion suggesting that Howard’s time might be up. The bleak view, however, is that both main parties are simply proposing ‘band aid’ solutions when it comes to renewables, without thinking ahead. Yet there is huge opportunity there.

As contributors point out, Australia is not only asset rich in terms of coal and uranium but also sun, wind, bio-mass and tides. One speculates that the North West of Australia could become an energy exporter to the world; indeed that Australia could be one of the cleanest and greenest countries in the world, quite different to its current position. And learning from the lessons implicitly suggested by this little docco would probably help get Australia there.

ABC Radio National: Rear Vision: Solar Energy in Australia (MP3)