Greens leader pushes for renewable energy in Australia

Greens leader Bob Brown said on Wednesday that renewable energy would be the best option for Australia in the future, reported Xinhua.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has reportedly urged the federal government to consider nuclear power as a way to meet climate change targets.

In a submission to a government white paper on energy, Rio Tinto said there were questions over the viability of renewable energy due to high costs.

Brown said Rio Tinto was in the business of promoting nuclear power, but Australians did not want it.
"Australians hate the idea of nuclear power stations," he told reporters.

"Coal and nuclear are both last century. This is a century of renewables".

Brown said both coal and nuclear power were dirty and "in the long term very dangerous to human life on the planet".

Renewable energy was cheaper for Australia, and could be developed more quickly than nuclear power, he added.