At a time when we are seeing unparalleled increases in renewable energy and reductions in fossil fuels all over the world, one wonders why this is still under public discussion in Australia.
Connecting renewable energy across Australia will help generate reliable electricity.
Wind farm image from www.shutterstock.com
During the Abbott government, the often recalcitrant Senate cross bench was thrown a big, juicy bone plainly intended to sweeten their disposition toward government bills which needed their support to…
Tony Windsor at his Werris Creek property with Mackdog, who’s a hit on social media.
Pat Hutchens/TC
There is one question that Tony Windsor, the high-profile former crossbencher from the Gillard years who is attempting a comeback in New England, is unwilling to answer. That is: in the (admittedly unlikely…
How long do we wait for evidence of harm before accepting something is safe?
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
A moratorium on wind turbines until we know they’re safe sounds like a good idea, but it’s likely that those calling for a ban will never be satisfied with the evidence.
A solar array goes up in New York. Is this the best place to locate solar, given the relatively clean New York state grid?
Lucas Braun
Tristan R. Brown, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The wind and solar industries scored a huge win by getting extended tax credits, but research shows this isn’t the best policy for lowering emissions through renewable energy.
Infrasound is generated by wind turbines, air conditioners, and a host of natural phenomena.
Johan Swanepoel/Shutterstock
At the centre of claims about wind farms allegedly causing health problems is the infrasound that wind turbines generate as they turn in the wind. Infrasound is sound below 20Hz, which is generally inaudible…
Renewable energy developers choose sunny locations, which can be near protected lands.
jsmoorman/flickr
The UK’s first new nuclear power station since the 1990s is coming at the expense of renewable energy and leaving us unnervingly in hock to the Chinese.
A cloud of gloom settled over the renewables industry during Tony Abbott’s prime ministership.
Terence Doust/Wikimedia Commons
Renewable energy investment dried up under Tony Abbott’s prime ministership, as he made his antipathy to the industry clear. But Malcolm Turnbull has to do to revive the sector is call a simple truce.
Imagine a wind turbine, but underwater, not fixed to the seabed, and able to work 24/7.
To no one’s surprise, a US study found that solar panel cells produce infrasound and low frequency noise which is way below audibility.
AAP/Dean Lewins
Internoise is the world’s premier research conference for acousticians. The 2015 meeting is being held right now in San Francisco. Buried among the hundreds of papers is one that you could easily take…
Broadcaster Alan Jones said on Q&A that the cost of wind power far outstrips the cost of coal power.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Broadcaster Alan Jones told the Q&A audience this week that coal fired power costs about $79 a kilowatt-hour, while wind power is about $1502 a-kilowatt hour. Is that right?
The research never mentions wind turbines, only low-frequency noise.
Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH/Shutterstock
The confirmation by Trade Minister Andrew Robb that the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has been ordered to cease future investments in wind power is a major setback to renewable energy, investment…
Badly sited wind farms may pose a threat to Bearded Vultures in southern Africa.
Shane Elliott
“More research needed” is a familiar cry in science. But in the case of the Senate’s call for yet more scrutiny of wind farms, there are signs that experts are being ushered in a preconceived direction.
Would you please tell me when my light turns green?
stockphoto-graf
Tough Tory manifesto commitments and hatred of wind farms from the right will make it hard for the new government to meet its EU renewables commitments. Scotland might be able to help.
South Australia’s wind farms have coped without baseload power before - they can do it again.
Fairv8/Wikimedia Commons
Coal closures announced this week in South Australia will cause employment pain, but could also help pave the way for the state to go 100% renewable - something that modelling suggests is eminently possible.
Wind turbines do produce infrasound - but the link to ill-health is far from clear.
Danielle Martineau/Flickr
People are complaining of a range of health related problems and are attributing them to wind turbines. The question is: what is the cause of these health problems?