At
the imaginary evil of alternative energy windmills with our cognitive
dissonance cruelling the future.
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| Shane at Waubra.... G’day Petals, |
I
suppose the following is all Wombat Droppings again; my little chronicle of
Australia’s slide from egalitarian democracy to fascist state.
Went
to a meeting t’other night in Lal-Lal … it was a meeting to “inform” the public about Wind-Farms and
alternative energy.
In
reality it was a veritable lecture on the horrors of wind energy, it’s
destruction/ Industrialisation of the landscape, the health issues, (it’s
worse that Ebola) its costs and infrastructure non-viability and also a very,
very, very big push for the conservative National Party in the forthcoming election in the
“Tardis State” (Where-All-Goes-Backward).
As
an exercise in fear mongering it took some beating.
A Mixture of fact, myth, suppositions, appeals to sentiment and downright misleading projections all coddled together to reinforce in a largely negative rural audience the idea that change is bad!
The
same hoary old myths of “potential” health issues when…
“A study carried out by the research institute DK Teknik, in Denmark indicates that perception of the noise generated by a wind turbine has more to do with the individuals attitude to the wind turbines, than the actual noise itself.”
And similar studies done here
show that the psychosomatic illnesses exhibited
by some are exacerbated by fear campaigns alone. And that newer designs in
machinery and blades actually reduce noise is never mentioned.
Always answer with a ½ truth; it’s harder to refute.
Then there was the costs of
“replacing-the–Turbines” every 25 years… will they have the millions and
millions of dollars to do it? And who
wears the cost? A fear-monger 1/2 truth, neatly
stepping around the fact that “…replacement of rotor blades, gearbox and
generator (IF REQUIRED) is about 15%-20% of the price of a new turbine and that
estimated maintenance costs are in
the range of 1.5% to 2% of the original investment per annum a day over the
same two decades.”
When this “well-informed”
speaker was asked by an audience member, ”What are the cost comparisons between
wind and coal?” He said he didn’t know the answer.
But the answer is, coal is
cheaper, only if you allow for its subsidies. On a production level,
alternatives are really now cheaper than coal and gas.
Presently around $27.00 /KWH
for alternatives, $23-24.00 /KWH for subsidised coal and gas and in
Queensland with its greater use of solar, power is about $20.00/KWH.
“Studies show that
electricity can be supplied from a new wind farm at a cost of [$80 per megawatt
hour in Australian dollars], compared to [$143 per megawatt hour] from a new
coal plant or [$116 per megawatt hour] from a new baseload gas plant, including
the cost of emissions under the Gillard government’s carbon pricing scheme.
However even without a carbon price (the most efficient way to reduce
economy-wide emissions) wind energy is 14% cheaper than new coal and 18%
cheaper than new gas.…”
Then on came the footballer….(and as he once played for
Essendon, more than one of us quipped, ”What’s he on?”)
“I remember," he intoned "when I was a young lad and bought the land for 2/6 and raised millions of cattle and I’m-salt–of-the-earth-and-you-better-believe-it… blah, blah, blah! 
Which was fine, somewhat irrelevant, till he asked the audience, “How many here
would want a Wind–Farm on their Property?”
About 15- 20 hands went up….” Well, you’ll split the Community, that’s what you’ll do!” He spat out.
We don’t want change, you do, your wrong, we’re right! No
discussion, be seen but not heard, speak when spoken to, eat your vegetables
and watch you P’s and Q’s!
Bloody old fascist!
I left at that juncture.. musing that ex premier of The
Tardis State “Big-Bird” Baillieu (Genus: Silvertail Incompetens) had been
tarred as a veritable Greenie Socialist, as had Pretend Premier, Dennis “Do-Do” (Genus: “Inutilis Rusticus”) Napthine,
in their support of wind farms…?
After Baillieu brought in sighting restrictions so severe
that 300 jobs went from the turbine plant in Naptime’s (sic) electorate and a
further 100 have gone with the slashing of the RET, it’s really pushing the boat out a bit far in asserting that!
The only
consistent in this meeting was one of closed minds, lack of imagination and a
visceral hatred of anything that looked “Green, Conservation, Climate-Change or
actually good sense.”
It's interesting just how
visceral the hatred is ... completely unreasoned. It's almost as if they hate
their god for not giving them imagination, talent, and vision.
How very conservative! How very
unintelligent!
And the “Killer Line” from the night….
“Oh we don’t mind wind farms, we just want them where we
can’t see them …besides..” (echoing Joe “Cereal-Toyota-Killer”) Hockey’s line,
“..they industrialise the landscape.”
1/ 500-600 meters from houses 2/ 60 meters from the Avon River 3/ Located on a flood plane What country are we living in?
Hoo-roo Possums,
Shane.
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