Mark Diesendorf dispels nuclear/renewable energy myths

Nuclear energy and renewable energy are the principal competitors for low-carbon electricity in many countries. As renewable energy technologies have grown in volume and investment, and become much cheaper, nuclear proponents and deniers of climate science have become deniers of renewable energy.

Associate Professor
Dr Mark Diesendorf.

The strategies and tactics of renewable energy deniers are very similar to those of climate science deniers. To create uncertainty about the ability of renewable energy to power an industrial society, they bombard decision-makers and the media with negative myths about renewable energy and positive myths about nuclear energy, attempting to turn these myths into conventional wisdom. In responding to the climate crisis, few countries have the economic resources to expand investment substantially in both nuclear and renewable energy. This is demonstrated in 2016 by the UK government, which is offering huge long-term subsidies to nuclear while severely cutting existing short-term subsidies to renewable energy.

This article, a sequel to one busting the myth that we need base-load power stations such as nuclear or coal, examines critically some of the other myths about nuclear energy and renewable energy. It offers a resource for those who wish to question these myths. The myths discussed here have been drawn from comments by nuclear proponents and renewable energy opponents in the media, articles, blogs and on-line comments.

Read the energypost story by Mark Diesendorf - “Renewable energy versus nuclear: dispelling the myths.”

(Associate professor, Dr Mark Diesendorf, was brought to the Goulburn Valley by Slap Tomorrow to talk about renewable energy and some 150 people gathered at Mooroopna’s Westbank about three years ago to hear him then say with confidence that Australia, and the world, could abandon fossil fuels completely and embrace a combination of renewable sources - Robert McLean)

AEMC admits, reluctantly, the renewables will push prices down

Australia’s principal rule maker, the Australian Energy Market Commission, has belatedly admitted that the much delayed surge in investment in wind and solar will cause wholesale electricity prices to fall in Australia, but it is clearly not happy about it.

In a report that appears to be deliberately misleading about the impacts of wind and solar, the costs of coal generation, and the impacts on wholesale prices, the AEMC says that rises in consumer bills this year, due to the jump in wholesale prices, should be reversed in the next couple of years.

The fall in wholesale prices from the influx of renewable energy has long been predicted by most analyses, but its impact has been delayed because of attempts – supported by the AEMC – to kill the renewable energy target, causing an effective three-year investment strike.

Read the RenewEconomy story by Giles Parkinson - “AEMC admits, reluctantly, the renewables will push prices down.”

'Science deniers reject authority and facts' - The Age

In North Carolina, a community rejects a solar farm amid concerns it could "suck up all the energy from the sun" and cause cancer.

On the sidelines of climate negotiations in Paris, an eccentric British peer continues to insist anthropogenic climate change is a hoax. In Canberra, prominent backbenchers publicly share the same doubts. So, it seems, do 17 per cent of the Australian population.

The principal of Brunswick North West Primary School makes a point of respecting the "diversity" of views on vaccination. Months later, a quarter of its student body comes down with chicken pox.

Read The Age story - “Science deniers reject authority and facts.”