Randall Bell of Landscape Guardians out of touch?

Randall Bell, President of the Landscape Guardians, a prominant anti-wind-power group, has said on national TV (ABC Four Corners, 2011/07/25) that the battle against wind farms is a political battle, not a scientific argument, and that he will use any weapon he can to win that battle.  What does this say about his ethical standards? On the same program he said that “wind will never deliver on [the government’s 20% of electricity by 2020 target], not in 100 million years”, yet wind is already providing 20% of the electricity consumed in South Australia. Is he interested in facts, or hoping … Continue reading Randall Bell of Landscape Guardians out of touch?

Logical fallacies in arguments

It is interesting how often those who are against wind power claim that a supporter is in the pay of the wind industry rather than to actually address the argument at hand.  I have had this accusation thrown at me several times recently, without any evidence. To attack the man rather than address the argument is called an ‘ad hominem’  logical fallacy.  (See http://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logicalfallacies.aspx – a page that’s well worth reading by anyone who wants to argue rationally.)  Using the ad hominem attack is one of the many ways those who have no real answers to the questions at hand … Continue reading Logical fallacies in arguments

SA’s emissions down about 20% due to wind power

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) draft South Australian Supply Demand Outlook and Annual Planning Report of 2011 stated that SA’s greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation have declined from around 10 000 000 tonnes in 2005/06 to around 8 000 000 tonnes in 2010/11.  And I quote “The trend shows a decline in emissions over the last few years due to the increased wind generation”. To download a copy of the report go to http://www.aemo.com.au/corporate/0407-0001.html.  See Fig 6 on page X. Continue reading SA’s emissions down about 20% due to wind power

Wind farm opponents get confused

Desparate for evidence that wind farms are producing effects at distances of ten kilometres or more, opponents of wind power have wrongly supposed that a report titled “Seismic Noise by Wind Farms: A Case Study from the VIRGO Gravitational Wave Observatory, Italy” (written by Gilberto Saccorotti, David Piccinini, Lena Cauchie and Irene Fiori)  dealt with ordinary noise.  The VIRGO group picked up vibrations “at distances as large as 11 km from the wind park”. In fact this report deals with vibrations carried by the ground and detected by instruments called seismometers. Seismometers are exquisitely sensitive instruments; they respond to earthquakes … Continue reading Wind farm opponents get confused