Reporting to the Minister for Climate Change, Water and Energy Efficiency, as well as to the Minister for Resources and Energy, the Task Group will focus on ways to improve Australia’s energy efficiency by 2020. It aims to place Australia at the forefront of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) energy efficiency improvement.

The Task Group also comprises representatives from the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury, and the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.

On 30 March, the group released an Issues Paper for public comment to promote discussion on how to achieve ambitious improvements in energy efficiency. Submissions closed on 3 May, and the group will provide its findings to government in mid-2010.

The Issues Paper acknowledges Australia’s poor energy efficiency performance in comparison to other similar OECD countries like Canada and the United States, and outlines the group’s planned attempts to amend this by introducing more sound energy use in all sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, mining, energy, transport, government, residential, commercial and agriculture.

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The paper discusses ways in which attitudes can be altered toward energy use, including increasing the price of energy and running programs to educate energy consumers about extracting the most from the energy lifecycle. It also introduces for consideration ways in which known barriers to energy efficiency improvements can be overcome, such as altering regulatory restrictions and providing more access to capital for development within the clean and renewable energy industry.

The paper outlines that Australia’s substantial fossil fuel resources of coal and gas (including coal seam gas), along with Australia’s growing renewable energy market, are capable of meeting both domestic demand and increased export demand over the coming decade.

The paper also says that substantial investment will be required to update Australia’s energy infrastructure, with an emphasis in the clean and renewable energy industries.

The Climate Institute CEO John Connor welcomed the paper’s release, acknowledging that as things stand “Australia has one of the most climate-polluting and energy-wasting economies in the developed world.”

Of the goals and incentives outlined by the Task Group, Mr Connor said “This effort to crack the energy efficiency nut, across all sectors of the economy, is long overdue and critical to ensure the long-term global competitiveness and productivity of a range of sectors from manufacturing to mining.”