Earlier in May, following months of negotiations, Australia's current government and the primary opposition party reached an agreement to scale back its Renewable Energy Target (RET) by almost 20 percent by 2020, due to declining power demand.
A recent Ipsos report based on a poll of nearly 1200 people funded by Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) revealed that Australians responding to the poll strongly support the use of renewable energy. Some 87 percent of respondents were strongly in favor of solar panels on homes and 78 percent supported large-scale solar energy facilities.
An overall 72 percent of respondents from across Australia said they supported wind farms and hydro energy, while tidal and geothermal energy was favored by 52 and 45 percent respectively.
The poll found that 60 percent of those surveyed "agree that funding for large scale solar facilities should be prioritised over funding for sources of non-renewable energy."
The Grattan Institute issued a separate report on Monday, revealing that the costs of installing and maintaining solar energy systems on households exceed the profits from these systems by $9 billion.
A study conducted by the Garnaut Climate Change Review in 2011 revealed that Australia led the list of developed countries in per capita carbon emissions.
Since coming to power in 2013, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has repealed a tax on carbon emissions and eliminated the post of science minister.
