Transport fuel accounts for over 40 per cent of Australia's energy consumption and rising, at the same time as the country is facing declining oil production.
CSIRO petroleum chief Dr Adrian Williams said the latest ABARE figures showed that Australia's oil shortfall would equal $10 billion by 2020.
“Energy consumption is linked to economic growth - so cutting energy use is not an option,” Dr Williams said. “Instead, we need to come up with smarter, cleaner ways to use our coal, oil and gas resources.”
Because Australia was gas-rich, there was a strong strategic argument for new gas-based fuels. “While we certainly need to maintain our oil exploration efforts, the looming crisis in transport fuels can be averted by converting natural gas direct to liquid fuel.
“This will give us clean diesel now and provide the basis for developing hydrogen as an energy source in the future.
“We have a large supply of natural gas, so it simply doesn't make sense not to use it. But we must do so sustainably -- and by converting it to hydrogen, we overcome the greenhouse emission problem and also eliminate air pollution from energy generation.”
Dr Williams, who spoke last week to the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference in Adelaide, said research and development needed to focus on aspects such as the storage of natural gas and hydrogen in vehicles.
Dr Williams said industry focus was also turning to renewable and clean electricity such as wind, tidal, biomass and hydro. However, he said, geothermal energy was arguably Australia's most material option for renewable energy.
“The Cooper Basin, for instance, is the hottest place on earth (outside volcanic regions) and contains heat energy equivalent to all of Australia's electricity needs for 800 years,” he said. “To capture even a small amount would be significant, and the challenge requires significant R&D to help realise this opportunity.”
Getting Australia moving towards many of these goals would require a major investment in well-focussed R&D, he said.
