Dogma and delusion over renewables

As for the coal lobby, it is certainly powerful, but why wouldn’t it be with so much export income and so many jobs resting on its fortunes? It’s not rocket science, nor a case of conspiratorial machinations, to recognise the simple fact that no democratically elected government can afford to ignore “Big Coal’s” interests.

The nuclear lobby, last time I looked, was hard to find. It certainly pales alongside the power environmental NGOs (Friends of the Earth, Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace, Wilderness Society, World Wildlife Fund, and so on). There is no nuclear lobby of consequence because there is no nuclear industry. All there is, is a rational case for considering nuclear power here and in countries where lower carbon options for energy security are difficult to come by.

And as for the NIMBYies, I can hardly blame citizens (and even members of wilderness type societies) for not sharing Diesendorf’s love of windmills, especially where they despoil seascapes.

The challenge for advocates of nuclear power lies with critiquing past dogmas and being open to nuclear power’s limitations. But, in the end, with demand for electricity likely to double in Australia by mid century, and heaven knows how much in China and India, the option nuclear power becomes increasingly compelling.

Hoping to draw a response from ACF President, Ian Lowe, or Diesendorf at last week’s nuclear matters conference, I quipped during the question time; “you just cannot power up Beijing, Mumbai or Shanghai with wind!”. Not a “punch” was thrown in return, much to my puzzlement, because this is such a fundamental problem for the anti-nuclear lobby to grapple with. Thus, I remain a heretic among the ACF brethren.

In a perfect world uranium should be left in the ground, but alas, who sees a perfect world?