Sector a lot of hot air
OVER the past few weeks, we have seen a continuing “Tap Dancing and Flatulence Routine” by the renewable energy industry and our illustrious local “Labor Four” trying to convince us just how fortunate we are to have the opportunities arising from this amazing new industry, renewable energy.
For as long as I can remember ( and I’ve been around for a while!), we have been able to turn on our lights and appliances and industry has been able to function.
A few glitches of a power strike in the Joh era, and a few temporary outages during cyclones, but generally very reliable and relatively cheap power from our coal- fired power stations.
Labor and the Greens, together with the renewable energy industry, are going to allow us to continue being able to turn on our lights etc and power our industry, but at twice the price, and with the added bonus of us having to hand over billions in taxpayer- funded subsidies, which could otherwise be spent on silly things like new hospitals or schools or roads etc.
How lucky are we to get to pay more than double for what we already had and get nothing for a big slab of our taxes!
The entire renewable energy industry derives its income from the increase in the cost of power to us the consumer and our businesses, and massive government, taxpayer- funded handouts, but in return, giving us nothing more than we already had, other than a “feel good” about reducing our carbon emissions.
It’s an incredibly high price to pay, particularly when you consider that even the Chief Scientist has publicly stated that our efforts in reducing emissions will have essentially no impact at all on reducing the world’s temperatures.
The economic logic surrounding this whole industry is straight out of the Irrational and Illogical Economics Handbook, which is undoubtedly the go- to manual for the formation of economic policy by Labor and the Greens.
The much- touted jobs bonanza will be paid for by you and I through excessive power costs, for which the return to us will be nothing more than we already had. Doesn’t sound like a good deal to me!
Economies of scale and straight- out logic would suggest that a large state- of- the- art coalfired baseload power station located in the North would deliver much cheaper and more reliable power outcomes to us, the consumer, than 13 or more separate renewable energy projects in different locations, with different ownership ( a lot by overseas companies), duplicated management and overheads and with the major issues of lack of reliability associated with wind and solar power.
What we need more than anything else in trying to address our energy crisis is a clear policy based on logical, rational and economically viable decisions. The current policy doesn’t include any of these. STEVE MCPHERSON,
North Ward.