Coal, environment, this will hurt

**bob10** · 19th September 2014, 07:42 AM

Arthur, check this out, Bob

Projects Overview

Valentines

making all the right noises;

The Environment
Details Published on Friday, 15 July 2011 14:58 At Zamin we work to minimise our environmental impact and safeguard the environment, now and for the long term. Achieving a sustainable equilibrium with the natural environment is a central aspect of our business. We are continually reviewing our policies and procedures in this area to improve our performance.

As proof of Zamin's commitment to responsible environmental stewardship, in 2011 we produced the largest ever Environmental Impact Assessment in the history of Uruguay. Among other benefits which this exhaustive study brought, the EIA led to the discovery of a new species of plant in the Uruguayan countryside. The EIA also included a detailed analysis of wave patterns in the Uruguayan coast which Zamin has shared with the local surfing community and has been of value to them.

Zamin works in partnership with local communities to define ways of contributing to the sustainable development.

**mox** · 19th September 2014, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yes, China is by far the world's biggest investor in renewable energy and even its coal fired power plants are mostly newer and cleaner than ours. They are turning away from importing dirty coal at the very time our government is focusing on coal exports.
All of this just makes it even more important we continue to support investment in renewable energy because it is the big winner in today's international energy market with around half of energy investment now going into renewables.
So, we definitely should keep John Howard's highly successful Reneweable Energy Target, which will secure the current 20,000 renewable energy jobs and could save the proposed investment which could create another 14,000 jobs.
If that means we replace more dirty coal power stations with clean renewable energy sources that can only be good. SA is leading the pack averaging about a quarter of its electricity coming from wind power alone. Joe Hockey's complaint that wind generators look ugly is just selfish and ridiculous - coal mines and power stations are not exactly works of art either, but who cares as long as it works.
Coal still has a future, but it will decline in importance. The energy future of this country is too important to allow it to be hijacked by any one industry sector at the expense of the overall good.

Looks to me that solar is a viable renewable energy source but wind for generating directly into the mains is an enormous scam which greatly increases power costs to consumers while being a very inefficient way of reducing carbon emissions. Wind farm owners have been profiting from large effective subsidies which are now under threat as their lies are being exposed.

Note how South Australia is "leading the pack" along with Germany and Denmark by having amongst the highest electricity prices in the world due to its large numbers of wind turbines. Re jobs this industry supposedly creates, it destroys many more due to high power prices making electricity using businesses less viable. Power companies are compelled to prefer high priced wind power to meet renewable targets. Meanwhile, 100% backup capacity, mainly provided by intermittent and inefficient use of fossil fuel generators is necessary to maintain supply. Overall a very costly way of reducing carbon emissions.

For further information, check www.stopthesethings.com, links from it and www.windfarmperformance.info.

**bee utey** · 19th September 2014, 08:31 AM

Originally Posted by mox

Looks to me that solar is a viable renewable energy source but wind for generating directly into the mains is an enormous scam which greatly increases power costs to consumers while being a very inefficient way of reducing carbon emissions. Wind farm owners have been profiting from large effective subsidies which are now under threat as their lies are being exposed.

Note how South Australia is "leading the pack" along with Germany and Denmark by having amongst the highest electricity prices in the world due to its large numbers of wind turbines. Re jobs this industry supposedly creates, it destroys many more due to high power prices making electricity using businesses less viable. Power companies are compelled to prefer high priced wind power to meet renewable targets. Meanwhile, 100% backup capacity, mainly provided by intermittent and inefficient use of fossil fuel generators is necessary to maintain supply. Overall a very costly way of reducing carbon emissions.

Massive rises in retail electricity costs have a lot to do with profit taking by the Asian based owners of SA power networks while the wholesale cost of wind energy continues to drop.

https://www.aer.gov.au/node/4788

No Cookies | The Advertiser

blame privatisation

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

wind energy is cheaper

Power of the wind - how renewables are lowering SA electricity bills

Wind farms lowering electricity bills in SA | Beyond Zero Emissions

I could go on but I know no-one listens to evidence counter to their worldview.

**mox** · 20th September 2014, 09:36 AM

Re above quote " the wholesale price of wind energy continues to drop", so it should. Power companies have been compelled to take renewable energy at high prices when it is available. Owning wind power companies has been very profitable while there have been large legislated for effective subsidies. A preferential high price of often over two or three times the rate for base load power for a fraction of the total generated had resulted in overall high costs to consumers. As the rorts are cut back, wind power becomes less viable.

I gather no new windfarm projects have been commenced for at least a couple of years as would be developers cannot now get new Power Purchasing agreements from power retailers to lock in guaranteed high prices. Without these they cannot get finance. Also, as effective subsidies are cut back for this erratic unreliable source of power which is uncompetitive without them. it seems wind farms will go the same way Managed Investment Schemes did when tax break support for them was cut. ie Likely that soon there will be wind farm companies managed by receivers.

Excessive profiteering by the SA electricity seems one reason why prices have been so high there. Also should drop with abolition of the carbon tax. A circular from my power supplier in Victoria indicates they will be charging about 2.4 cents/kilowatt hour less due to this. However, those who examine articles such as many that have been posted on www.stopthesethings.com and compare them with the spin peddled by the wind industry propaganda machine will soon realise the overall cost of wind power is very high. Even though the wind itself is free.

Thread: Coal, environment, this will hurt

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