We need reliable, affordable energy sources, not punitive taxation
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Posted 7 months ago
Editor:
Phillip Lehman's comments in the June 27 Daily Observer on my earlier column "Where is Save The Planet taking us" questions whether I truly love nature with all the beautiful things it offers and whether I really don't want them harmed.
The answer to this is my unqualified "YES" and the too many conservation projects to remember I participated in, hands on, attest to that.
However, I am not easily fished-in by fads and dance to the tune of the political flavor of the day.
Instead, I form opinions from undisputed scientific evidence and not based on sophisticated calculations and computer modeling.
Computer models are not undisputed evidence.
Mr. Lehman must be aware that Climate Change and Global Warming remain still hotly debated in the scientific community, especially since there exists the inconvenient truth that means average temperature on Planet Earth has flatlined since about 2001, according to reputable scientific evidence.
The problem I tried to highlight in that column is, that Ontario' increasing population creates much higher demands on energy and that the challenge is to find "reliable" sources which do the least or no harm to the natural environment and human health.
I'm sure Mr. Lehman wouldn't like to see the waterflow on every of the 500 identified sites altered and restricted, besides navigation, by in-stream electric generators.
Likewise, existing wind turbines, besides increasing bird mortality, are creating human health problems evidenced by more and more case histories of the sufferers.
If this is dismissed as illusionary ... how come that any addition to Germany's existing +13,000 wind turbines attract armies of protesters at newly proposed sites.
Has anyone ever interviewed any of these protesters, asking for their reason to take time off work and travel to these sites to protest?
And in spite of these existing +13,000 German wind turbines, not one single coal-fired power plant became shut down.
In fact, Germany is contemplating building as many as 40 new coal-fired power plants!
To curtail CO2 emissions from combustion engines, replacing them with electric cars is noble thinking, however, once their owners receive their smart-metered electricity bills, I'm not so sure whether they are convinced having made the right choice.
The needed research I referred to was not meant as an excuse for doing nothing.
The challenge is to research for and finding energy sources, which are "reliable" and "affordable", especially for non-stationary engines in cars and airplanes.
But to carry on with research on how to create milk and beef cattle with genetically engineered digestive systems for cows, which produce less methane is bordering on the bizarre and should be disp>Whether to convert arable farmland to ethanol-producing crops raises many ethical questions alluded to in my column.
But there are alternatives already researched as non-stationary source of energy, eg.
Hydrogen. However, NOT being an inert gas, it's handling and storage can be hazardous.
The power pack created through separating oxygen and hydrogen from water and producing electricity is promising, but needs much more research funding for arriving at small enough units which fit into passenger cars.
For stationary energy production there are:
The nuclear power plants which, for the most part, operate as "green" as possible. - Yet, these are opposed also by the same crowd which views the world through green-colored glasses.
The Pebble Bed nuclear power system experimented with in South Africa and Spain which needs no nasty spent-rods storage.
The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor technology with fuel costs less than coal.
These technologies exist already. What's needed is the political will to finance them.
And lastly, I want to assure that my views are not a "knee-jerk" reaction; perhaps proposing a few megawatts here and there is.
Clearing 4 acre sites of vegetation for each wind turbine tower plus for transmission lines plus King's highway size construction roads don't look very "green" to me.
We need reliable and affordable energy sources not more punitive taxation!
A possible "carbon tax" and/or a "cap and trade" scheme won't transform CO2 into something better!
That dreaded CO2 remains out there just the same, driving Planet Earth towards the alleged apocalypse. How then can the "green soldiers" save the planet?
While all the current proposed measures may result in "green" energy, the harm done to our natural environment through their installation needs realistic independent studies, not financed by the proponents.
After all said and done, and NYMBY or not, George Smitherman's attitude and gag-order, abrogating municipal councils' democratic mandate to act in the best interest of all citizens remains despicable!
Alfred Beck
Laurentian Valley
