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On 27 December 2007 the Western Australian Government announced it had underwritten a new A$500m ($437m) coal fired power station at Collie. A deal is believed to have been signed for state-owned power retailer Synergy Power to buy 200 MW of electricity from The Griffin Group for the south-west grid from 2010. The contract would allow the A$500m second stage of Griffin's Bluewaters station at Collie to proceed.

WESTERN POWER Western Power in 2008 is planning the planting of 240,000 extra trees in association with Carbon Neutral program to help absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions…

The CO2 emissions from only the planned (200 MW) coal-fired power plant, in just 20 days of operation, will negate this entire effort.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT AUTHORITY In 2007 the Public Transport Authority has completed delivery of its new (B-series) suburban railcars which use re-generative brakes to improve energy efficiency by over 20% (implements a similar principle which applies to hybrid cars) and continued purchase of gas buses which reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12%.

The planned coal fired power plant will negate this entire effort within 2 months.

BUILDING CODE CHANGES The Premier recently said that over five years, it was estimated the Five Star Plus (Stage One) Building Code recently adopted would deliver water savings of 30 gigalitres of water - the equivalent of one million backyard swimming pools and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 129,000 tonnes - the equivalent of taking 30,000 cars off the road.

But the proposed coal fired power station would pump out 764.5 million tonnes of CO2 pollution over its lifetime - equivalent to putting another 8.5 million cars onto Western Australian roads.

EVERY HOUSEHOLD If every household in Western Australia changed every 60-watt incandescent light bulb to a compact fluorescent......

The CO2 emissions from the planned coal-fired power plant each year would negate this entire effort many times over.

EDUCATION The Western Australian Government is investing $4.1million to expand the State Government's solar schools program, increasing the number of schools using renewable energy from 100 to 350. The CO2 emissions from the planned power station would negate the entire effort of this program in a matter of days.

THERE IS A "SILVER BULLET" FOR SOLVING GLOBAL WARMING - NO MORE COAL Without coal, all our positive efforts underway can make a difference. Coal power is Australia&'s largest greenhouse polluter. Obviously, if Australia is to make deep cuts in emissions, the coal power industry will have to do its fair share. Instead, the industry has spent the past decade ignoring its responsibilities. According to the Australian Greenhouse Office, emissions from electricity generation (largely coal) increased 40.8% between 1990 to 2002.

At the same time the German Government with its 100,000 Roofs Program in 2003 installed 20,000 solar electricity systems yielding an output of about 145 Megawatts (MW), almost twice the volume installed in the previous year. With these additions, the total solar electricity capacity in Germany is now estimated at over 400 Megawatts, twice that of the planned coal fired power station.  It generated total revenues of over 800 million euros and created over 10,000 jobs in production, distribution and installation. We don't need coal, we have what we need: efficient design and proven technologies.

By implementing a Western Australian Solar Roofs Program, we negate the need for any new coal plants.

Make a Difference: Protect Your Efforts.

Issued by The Gaia Foundation http://gaia.iinet.net.au