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An unsustainable future : Comments
By Tom Quirk, published 19/2/2009The proposal for renewable power is unachievable: no wonder large tax concessions have been proposed for coal burning power stations.
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Yet despite Tom’s remarkable effort at explanation, Phil Matimein has apparently metaphorically slapped his hands over his ears, and continued to chant the green mantra of renewable energy nirvana. He is so typical of the environmental movement here in Australia. He is utterly convinced that renewables are the answer.
In fact, solar thermal power like wind is also intermittent. Even when used with molten salt storage (horrendously expensive and inefficient) it only takes one day of cloudy weather and the plant will shut down. Where will the power come from then? As Tom advises it must come from stand-by electric generation based on gas turbines. This idle stand-by power adds a further cost to the infrastructure. And then there is the issue of $2M per km for new transmission lines. And this is why California and Spain have only installed 300MW of capacity, which of course is trivial, and if installed in Australia represents about 0.25% of our energy production.
Perhaps the problem is that Tom's argument is still too complex. To understand the subject, it requires the ability to quantify, a reasonable level of knowledge of engineering and economics. Maybe this issue is beyond the intellectual capability of your average Phil?
Whilst energy conservation and ZPG will help, it won't resolve the problem. Energy requirements will certainly increase dramatically as the electric vehicle inevitably gains popularity. A viable answer lies in piped gas from the NW Shelf and nuclear power. But we need to start planning now, and resolving the political barriers. We need more articles by people like Tom, and a big effort by the community to educate our peers, to get this urgent message across.