The demand for energy continues to grow in Australia. In the last 5 years there has been a steep rise in oil prices and recognition that the climate is changing.

 

Meanwhile debate continues about the size of the worlds oil reserves, when we will hit ‘peak oil’, and how and what alternative energy sources can be used as substitutes.

 

The Institute for Land, Water and Society and the E.H.Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation will hold a public forum on the implications of diminishing international supplies of petroleum and the possibilities for biofuels industries in rural Australia.

 

Forum convenor, Associate Professor Ian Gray from Charles Sturt University’s Institute of Land, Water and Society says local business owners, farmers and importantly, all transport users, will benefit from hearing the facts about peak oil and what will change as supply decreases.

 

“Biofuels are being discussed as one alternative to oil and can provide benefits, with lower emissions as well as potential opportunities for rural and regional communities,” he says.

 

Professor Peter Sinclair, an environmental sociologist and oil industry analyst at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada will present the facts about ‘peak oil’– how much is left, and whether governments and corporations are, or are not responding to the issue.

 

Dr Barrie May, a biofuel researcher from CSIRO (Mt Gambier) and an author of the recent report Biofuels in Australia: Issues and Prospects will discuss the prospects for biofuels, including their significance as a petroleum substitute and the social and environmental impacts of production.

 

Important questions will be discussed at the forum including: