Alan Pears AM

Alan is a Senior Industry Fellow at RMIT. He was previously an Adjunct Professor at RMIT, and taught part-time in the environment program from 2002 until 2015.

Alan has worked in the sustainable energy and environment fields since the late 1970s for community groups, government and the private sector.

While working for the Victorian government in the 1980s, he helped develop and implement programs such as the Home Energy Advisory Service, public information and education, appliance energy labelling and mandatory building insulation regulations.

Since 1991, Alan has been an environmental consultant, and has been involved in building energy and environmental rating and regulation, green building projects, educational software, green appliance development, industrial and business energy and environmental management, and policy analysis in Australia and, more recently, the Asia-Pacific region.

Alan is a highly regarded analyst, consultant and commentator on sustainable energy and climate policy, and has written or peer reviewed many articles in specialist media such as The Conversation, Energy Policy and ReNew magazine, as well as other academic journals, chapters of books and major reports.

Alan was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2009 for his contribution to environmental and energy policy. He has also received a number of awards from industry associations and RMIT media awards.

Expert commentary on...

Clean energy policy, technologies and practices, climate response (energy) policy and action, low carbon urban development, innovation.

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News & Blog

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Despite the creation of a new Energy Security Board to try to hold regulators and policy makers to account, the ability of the present structure to deliver is uncertain.

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Gas crisis? Energy crisis? The real problem is lack of long-term planning

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If you’ve been watching the news in recent days, you’ll know we have an energy crisis, partly due to a gas crisis, which in turn has triggered a political crisis.

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2017 will be a big year for Australia’s energy system: here’s what to look out for

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2017 is looking like a busy and challenging year across the energy sector and it is the year where many long-festering energy policy problems must be addressed.

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The solution to Australia’s gas crisis is not more gas

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Concern about higher and more volatile gas prices in southern and eastern Australia is spreading.

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The Pears Report: Basslink blues, abatement buy-in

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Is a second Basslink cable the best solution for Tasmania? And with the UN now trading carbon offsets, how can you become a voluntary abater? Alan Pears reviews the options.

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Lessons from APEC’s Low Carbon Model Towns Project

20 June 2016

The APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) project on Low Carbon Model Towns, led by APEC’s Tokyo-based Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC) has run since 2011.

Media

Expert comment on Victoria’s zero emissions target

09 June 2016

RMIT University’s Alan Pears AM is available to comment on the Victorian State Government’s plan to work towards a target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

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PolicyCheck: Labor’s phased emissions trading scheme

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The Conversation’s academic experts look at the history of policies, whether they have been tried in Australia before, and how likely they are to succeed.

Publications