Education key, not blame
WHEN the commentators pause to reflect on the power supply situation of South Australia they may begin to look at some of the more pertinent issues.
By concentrating on the relative merits or deficits of renewable energy sources with those of the coal and gas based types, other critical “survival “issues are being neglected.
As one who resides in a tropical cyclone zone, I see the matter of community preparedness and appropriate infrastructure installation as two important aspects that need to be addressed in order to cope with catastrophic weather events.
The damage would seem to indicate that the infrastructure is insufficiently robust to withstand severe wind, and that there is a lack of awareness of potential damage to homes from trees and wind borne debris, hence lack of proper preparation.
Surely attention to these issues would be more constructive to the state than the current blame-setting and assertions being made about energy sources and their operation.
Insofar as the blame game goes, it does not take rocket science thinking to appreciate that renewable energy sources may have questions over their reliability or efficiency, but we need to understand that they are in their infancy in Australia.
Once someone works out a way of making a quid out of the renewables and consumers understand and are willing to pay for sustainable power supply production, the whole of Australia will jump onto the wagon.
In the meantime, our southern friends would do well to take a leaf from our northern book and fuel up, buy a few batteries, tins of baked beans and packets of powdered milk before the storm hits. Kerry Linwood, Atherton