NRMA’s Jamison Group has devised a practical 12-step plan to make alternative fuels a reality – but state and federal politicians must come to the party. By Kris Ashton.

If climatologists record a sudden spike in carbon emissions, it’s probably due to quacking mouths at yet another summit on alternative fuels. Scientists, politicians and those with a corporate interest have spent years wrangling over the issues, but if climate change is as urgent an issue as the Rudd government would have us believe, the time for talk is at an end.

So says David Lamb, a consultant on automotive technology and strategy and co-author of the Jamison Report, a plan commissioned by NRMA to reduce Australia’s dependence on oil. Lamb believes further roundtables and summits will achieve nothing.

“The seminars are the same old stuff where there’s somebody from the ethanol industry, somebody from the biodiesel industry, who is usually a scientist,

and we all sit around and jaw about our pet theories.”

At NRMA’s Alternative Fuel Summit in 2006, it became clear the time for talk was over and something concrete needed to happen.

“At the summit, Alan Evans announced that NRMA would help support a road map for Australian fuels,” says Lamb. “Because the one message that came out of the summit was, we can’t just drift along thinking, ‘Oh, let’s have a bit of that, let’s have a bit of this, let’s do that, let’s do the other.’ All these conflicting opinions. We need a road map that says, ‘Where do we want to go and how are we going to get there?’”

Lamb and three other eminent experts put their heads together to draw up such a road map. NRMA adopted a hands-off approach to ensure the report’s credibility.

“There was no direction from NRMA, there were no rules, no conditions.” says Lamb.

Alternative fuels are a contentious issue but the Jamison Report’s pragmatic and even-handed approach appears to have shielded it from the usual splurge of criticism.

“I would have expected by now to receive a few sarcastic emails, perhaps to say, ‘Hey, you guys are recommending that we ought to do something with the sugar industry and you can’t do it because there’s a fertiliser issue and there’s the run-off and there’s the coral reef and this that and the other’. But not a dicky-bird!” says Lamb.

It’s [possibly] because we’ve hit the nail on the head, and because we haven’t said this alternative is better than that, [but we have said] you could do this one quicker than you could do that. I think that might have gone down well.”

NRMA’s general manager of corporate affairs, Chris Siorokos, has had similar positive feedback from the public, experts in alternative fuels and environmental groups. He says the next step is to lobby governments to have the Jamison Report’s recommendations implemented.

“The plan is to work with groups that have similar objectives in relation to alternative fuels – farming groups, environmental organisations and others – and form a bit of a coalition and push this along. If we change fuel consumption, we don’t just reduce our environmental impact, we save motorists dollars too.”

While NRMA has had much success lobbying governments at all levels, Siorokos concedes there will be some barriers to overcome.

“There are a couple. The first one is that the report identifies the huge subsidies that are paid to the fossil fuel industry, so I guess there are some interests that have a fair bit to lose economically if there are changes.

“There is a psychological barrier out there. Everyone thinks when you’re talking about alternative fuels and new vehicle technology, you’re talking about some sort of novel, futuristic thing. What the report makes absolutely clear is that there is nothing new or novel or futuristic about what’s being proposed. Everything in there has been done somewhere else in the world. We’re not talking about something that needs 20 years worth of development. It’s all there. I think that is just as big a challenge as the economic one,” says Siorokos. When the report was released in late July, the media focused on its mention of electric cars. While it’s one of many suggested measures, Siorokos agrees electric cars are a key goal.

“We need to move ultimately to electric cars powered by renewable energy. There is no point in powering them all up using electricity from coal-fired power stations, because you defeat part of the purpose, which is reducing our reliance on fossil fuels,” he said.

The crux of the matter is that the Jamison Report is just another document unless the government gets behind it. Siorokos says NRMA has already started talking to the federal government in a bid to get things moving. Lamb says it is imperative governments at all levels mandate these changes.

“What we’ve said is this: There’s nowhere in the world that has successfully transformed its motoring industry without using some form of mandate. So we recognise that if we see that the potential shortage of oil is an urgent issue and must be dealt with urgently then you’ve got to face up to the fact that you can’t just leave it to happen.

“You are going to have to push it in the direction you want it to go. That implies mandates – alternative fuels mandates, fuel consumption and tail pipe emission standards.”

He warns that the government must be careful in the way it applies these mandates. For instance, mandating a particular ethanol mix, such as E10, could result in transport logistics and overheads that cancel out any benefits ethanol provides.

“Let’s say there’s enough ethanol being produced in north-east NSW to make E10. What would be happening is that the ethanol being made there would then have to be transported down to Kurnell [in Sydney] where the oil is refined and where you would do the mixing and then it’s going to be transported all over the state.

“Mandating a standard mix for all fuel tends to impose an unnecessary transport burden. If you mandate a minimum across the fuel economy, then you can have E85 close to the source of production, but straight petrol in major cities. You avoid the crazy effect of using more energy and carbon emissions then you save.”

In the Jamison Report, the federal government has been handed a sensible, practical road map to reduce vehicular carbon emissions and halve Australia’s dependence on oil by 2050.

While the report will remain open to discussion and adjustment, it should not become an excuse for yet another gabfest. The time for action is now.

Open Road September/October 2008