Opportunities cost – how Australia is inadvertently squandering its long-term benefits from the energy transition

whitePaper | December 11, 2019

The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) was established by the University of Technology Sydney in 1996 to work with industry, government, and the community to develop sustainable futures through research and consultancy. Our mission is to create change towards establishing sustainable futures that protect and enhance the environment, human well-being, and social equity. We use an inter-disciplinary approach to our work and engage our partner organisations in a collaborative process that emphasises strategic decision-making.

whitePaper | April 15, 2023

On March 1, 2023, Tesla presented Master Plan Part 3 – a proposed path to reach a sustainable global energy economy through end-use electrification and sustainable electricity generation and storage. This paper outlines the assumptions, sources and calculations behind that proposal. Input and conversation are welcome.

whitePaper | March 20, 2023

This Plan sets out the steps the Government is taking to ensure the UK is more energy independent, secure and resilient. Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine 12 months ago has put the need for energy security in stark perspective. Never again will we allow our energy security to be threatened.

whitePaper | November 29, 2022

Renewables are expected to account for 80–90% of power generation globally by 2050. Due to their dependence on weather conditions, wind and solar power cannot provide constant baseload power during all hours of the day, and measures have to be taken to compensate for this intermittency. The good news is that such imbalances or fluctuations can be mitigated effectively using battery energy storage systems (BESSs).

whitePaper | December 30, 2022

This brief explains the advantages of the Airborne wind energy (AWE) technology and outlines the investment requirements for scaling and bringing this novel solution to market. The brief is based on the White Paper “Getting airborne – the need to realise the benefits of airborne wind energy for net zero” by BVG Associates on behalf of Airborne Wind Europe.

whitePaper | October 9, 2022

Our findings suggest that emissions are on the way to reach pre-pandemic levels. Of the 25 countries analysed, emissions under current policies have increased from 36.3-36.8 GtCO2e in 2020 to 37.2- 38.1 GtCO2e in 2021; this translates to a rebound of 2.5-3.5% since the COVID-19-induced emissions dip observed in 2020. Recent estimates of global CO2 emissions suggest a rebound of between 4.2% and 6.5% in 2021 (Davis et al., 2022; Jackson et al., 2022)