[LINK] Submission to Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Inquiry

[Tom Worthington]

At 12:23 PM 15/03/2009, I wrote:
>The Australian Senate invited submissions on a Carbon Pollution 
>Reduction Scheme ...

The Senate Economics Committee has published the 40 submissions 
received so far: 
<http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/economics_ctte/cprs_09/submissions/sublist.htm>. 
I have not heard anything about hearings. I was going to make a point 
by taking the number 3 bus to the Senate, rather than a car or plane. ;-)

My submission was Number 7. The official version is in PDF, but there 
is a  HTML version of mine at: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/03/senate-submissions-on-carbon-pollution.html>.

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SUBMISSION TO CARBON POLLUTION REDUCTION SCHEME INQUIRY
Tom Worthington FACS HLM
18 March 2009

This is in response to the invitation for submissions to the Carbon 
Pollution Reduction Scheme Inquiry [1]. It is inadequate to aim to 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions to between 5% and 15% below 2000 
levels by 2020, as detailed in the Draft Carbon Pollution Reduction 
Scheme Bill [2]. The bill should be changed to aim for a 25% to 50% 
per cent reduction, as advised by IPCC scientists [3].

A reduction of 15% can be delivered just by the use of more effective 
use of computers and telecommunications (ICT) [4]. Better ICT can 
reduce energy use, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and at the same 
time lowering costs. As an example, the Australian Government is 
planning to replace interstate travel for some meetings with 
high-definition video teleconferencing [5].

As well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, the use 
of teleconferences will reduce the cost of airfares. This process of 
"dematerialisation" is a technique covered in a course I have been 
teaching to postgraduate ICT students [6].

The Green ICT course was commissioned by the Australian Computer 
Society (ACS) and is conducted online via the web [7]. A Masters 
level version of the course is planned to commence at the Australian 
National University in mid 2009.

Disclaimer

Tom Worthington is the Chair of the ACS Green ICT Special Interest 
Group and is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer, for the Australian National 
University Masters course in Green ICT. However, this submission is 
made in a person capacity and does not necessarily represent the 
views of the ACS or ANU.

References

1: Senate Standing Committee on Economics, Inquiry into the exposure 
drafts of the legislation to implement the Carbon Pollution Reduction 
Scheme, 2009, 
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/economics_ctte/cprs_09/info.htm

2: Australian Government, Draft Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme 
Bill, 2009, 
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/economics_ctte/cprs_09/cprs_bill.pdf

3: ABC News, Scientists call for stronger emissions targets, 2008, 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/16/2447163.htm?section=australia

4: The Climate Group , SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in 
the information age, 2008, 
http://www.theclimategroup.org/news_and_events/smart2020pressrelease/

5: Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Australian Government signs 
teleconferencing deal with Telstra and Cisco, 2009, 
http://www.financeminister.gov.au/media/2009/mr_082009.html

6: Tom Worthington, Enabling ICT to reduce energy and materials use, 
2009, http://tomw.net.au/moodle/course/view.php?id=11&week=3

7: Australian Computer Society, Green ICT Strategies Course Outline, 
2008, http://www.acs.org.au/cpeprogram/index.cfm?action=show&conID=greenict

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Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Australian National University