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Ecology and economics share a common root: the Greek word oikos, meaning “home” or “a place to live”. Oikos is an Australian environmental policy blog focussing on the connections between the environment and the economy.
About Me
- David Jeffery
- David works as a lawyer in a government environmental agency and is studying a Masters in Environmental Economics, currently writing a thesis on the application of prediction markets to climate change. He lives in Sydney with Catherine.
Contact me
Email ozelaw x [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] au (and remove the x)
I'm starting to get a lot of spam to this account, so please put 'Oikos' somewhere in the subject of the email so your email doesn't get consigned to the spam bin...
I'm starting to get a lot of spam to this account, so please put 'Oikos' somewhere in the subject of the email so your email doesn't get consigned to the spam bin...
Blog Archive
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2006
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May
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- Global warming: legislating for temperance
- Stay tuned...
- An anti-wind-power conspiracy?
- Does Australia need nuclear power?
- Global warming: A tragedy of the commons
- Sydney's water future: some other views
- The economics of Kyoto and the business of ideas
- The economics of biofuels
- Water, water everywhere
- The peak oil transition: difficult but not deadly
- The ethics, politics and economics of climate change
- What does sustainability mean to you?
- More on fuel prices
- High petrol prices are not such a bad thing
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May
(14)
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6 comments:
Darn! I really wish I was back in Sydney for this. Would have been nice to give it a shot.
Oh well. Might just write a pretend one on my blog just for the heck of it.
Super color scheme, I like it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us.
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Very best site. Keep working. Will return in the near future.
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I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys.
»
Super color scheme, I like it! Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us.
»
Do you find giant windmills to be an eyesore, or beautiful? I find them to be a
wonderful solution to our growing energy needs. Not to mention the fact that they are
pollution free. Consider this, if nuclear power plant has a major problem, the
repercussions will be evident world wide for hundreds of years. If a windmill has a
catastrophic malfunction, the long term effects will be over as soon as it hits the ground.
Everyone agrees that the world has some pollution problems. Just how much of a
problem depends on who you ask. Some people deny it, while others think we are all
doomed. Personally, I rank somewhere in the middle. Wind turbines will never
completely solve our pollution problem. But they could be a large help in supplemental
energy that could get us out of the red. If every house in the world had a moderate sized
turbine, I predict that the American West would not be going through it’s energy crisis
Every summer. Nor would every family be feeling such a financial pinch.
Now, think of the pollution that would not exist. With all those families saving
money and saving the environment. All the nuclear waste that doesn’t need disposal. And
all the coal that didn’t have to be burned. That could really be a big help in the
environment. It could slow the effects of global warming and reduce the increasing
severity and frequency of hurricanes. Wind power could also help the world stop
contaminating what little clean water we have left.
Regardless of your position on the world's pollution status, the world needs to
develop new technologies, to curb Earths rising pollution problem. This is where the
controversies start. How much change do we need to make and how soon. Many of us
might think that Green Energy is a good idea, but don't know how to get started. There is
a high start up cost of equipment and not many people that know how to properly install
it. Or even know how it works. It is also difficult to estimate where on a property to place
a windmill to achieve maximum results. Plus there will be days that the wind just won't
blow. The major complaint however, is the noise. The large wind turbines with 100 ft.
rotors, spin at 200 mph. At the tips. The result is a whooshing sound that can be herd
from quit a distance. This is the major complaint. But I do have to state that nuclear, and
coal facilities, are not silent either. There are ways to get around these problems, and
achieve success. This technology dose have a lot of potential.
Unfortunately there is a good number of people that don't see the benefits to this
and think of windmills as an eyesore, or complain that they are too noisy. Well, I disagree
with them. I have not found one credible source of information that tells of a wind turbine
causing pollution, or leaving a negative impact in it's surrounding area. Compare this with
the problems we are having with Chernobyl in Russia. Also, even is it is a safe facility;
there is still nuclear waste to dispose of. Would you rather have that in your backyard?
That's apparently what a lot of people are saying.
This is largely due to the fact that we haven't had any real disasters in the United
States. The general population is happy to drive their Hummers blindly until we run out
of petroleum and are forced to change. We don't see the huge affect this has on the
environment. Is it fair to do this to the next generations? No, we should be doing more to
curb the problem now. One of the best ways we can start is to lift all bans and restrictions
on ways of producing green energy. This way, home innovators could be free to innovate
and develop ways to make it more friendly. Or maybe propose wind turbine areas
that are restriction free. Such as a housing development that has a one small turbine per
household. I think this would be a fair compromise.
There is a also a controversy over the fact that they are so large, and tend to be
seen as unsightly in comparison to the natural environment. Yes, they are large, but I
don’t think they are any worse than a power plant. Obviously we should no be putting
them in state parks, but I do feel that they should have a place in our country, due to their
befits. Also, they don't have to all be so large. Wind turbines come in a variety of shapes
and sizes. If a neiboring community has a problem with your community erecting a very
large turbine tower to produce power. You could instead put individual turbines on each
house. That would take care of the eyesore problem , and also help to reduce the noise.
In fact I am quite surprised that there is such a controversy in the first place. The
activists that say that they want to see the natural environment untainted, complaining
that they don’t want to look at the solution. I expected to find more support from a
community that is supposedly trying to help the environment. For shame! That like
saying, I want to stop being sick, but I don’t like the taste of the medicine. So I will just
keep on being sick. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. What I think it all comes down to is
people doing the work. Excel energy has a good thing going for them and see no reason to
stop because we all keep on buying what they offer. I am guilty of this myself. But we all
need to innovate and compromise to achieve the end goal of a pollution free Earth. Or at
the very least. Be Free to put up a few wind turbines, and not be hassled by the man.
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