Electrical Gems #161 | Page 12

THE POWER ISSUE

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

OUR ENERGY RESOURCES MAY BE THE ENVY OF THE WORLD , BUT DEMAND IS INCREASING AS AUSTRALIA ’ S POPULATION GROWS . SO WHERE IS IT ALL COMING FROM ?

ENERGY EXPORTS

The Australian energy sector directly accounts for 20 per cent of total export value . Australia is the world ’ s largest exporter of coal , and coal is our largest export , earning up to $ 40 billion a year from Japan , India , Europe , Korea and Taiwan , among others . Australia has almost a third of the world ’ s uranium . We are the world ’ s third-ranking producer , behind Kazakhstan and Canada , with major deposits in SA , NT and WA . Seeing as we don ’ t use nuclear power here , it ’ s all exported . Uranium ’ s future as an electricity source here depends on whether scientists can work out how to make it cheaper … and safer . Those potential accidents make it unreliable as an energy source . In January 2020 , Australia became the world ’ s largest exporter of LPG , nudging Qatar into second place .
12 GEMCELL . COM . AU FEB – MAR 2021