If we allow ourselves to be deceived by the fossil-fuel industry and their fabricated worries about birds, then we will be refusing to look the future squarely in the face. We must end our addiction to fossil fuels, and work to establish clean, renewable alternatives. . . The birds and bats will thank us.
Debunking Myths about Wind Energy
As detailed below, the Government’s survey shows that the public is much more supportive of onshore wind – the technology they are determined to curb – compared to the technologies to which they want to give incentives, namely nuclear power and shale gas.
Recently, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) released a comprehensive position statement on the curiously invulnerable issue of ‘wind turbine syndrome’. One phrase from the statement caught my eye, because it goes slightly further than other institutions (like the Victorian Department of Health, the National Health and Medical Research Council, or New South Wales Health), in that it mentions the impact of misinformation:
Tehachapi’s Windmill-Wildflower Hike is one of the longest-running annual walks among wind turbines worldwide. More than 800 people, from children to octogenarians, have taken the six-mile walk across Cameron Ridge since the event was first launched.
Our analysis of the raw house price data for transactions completed within the vicinity of the wind farms yielded no evidence that prices had been affected by either the announcement, construction or completion of the wind farms for six out of seven sites. . . One site did see a noticeable downturn following the announcement that a wind farm would be built; however once the turbines were erected, local house price growth returned to the county-wide norm.
These are real fears of unreal things. They are strongly promoted by anti-wind advocacy groups. It is strongly arguable that anti-wind advocates drive down property prices in the run up to wind farms becoming operational just as they are creating the psychogenic health hysteria, “Wind Turbine Syndrome.:”
In a surprising finding, a joint study by the University of Connecticut andLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the Massachusetts Clean … Read more
An analysis of more than 122,000 Massachusetts home sales between 1998 and 2012 found no statistically-significant evidence that proximity to a wind turbine affects home values.
The old canard of 14,000 abandoned wind turbines in California came up again recently in Australia of all places. A rabid anti-wind blogger—seems the Aussies have a good crop of them downunder—posted a typically ill-informed tirade against wind energy.
I’ve added several new categories of cultural icons featuring wind turbines and updated some others. I’ve added categories for Book … Read more
