July 28, 2010
Aesthetics, Australia, Impacts

Inquiry into rural wind farms

Burraston, David; and Last, Sarah

The current push for fast tracking industrial wind power stations in rural NSW is being put forward as solution to the problems of climate change. However, the public are not being presented with balanced information on the issues surrounding industrial wind energy. Landholders are being persuaded to host industrial wind turbines with little knowledge of the impact this will have on their own and other people’s property, the environment or the wider community in general. In this submission we present evidence that demonstrates that industrial wind energy does not live up to the claims of its proponents, and counters the misleading information the wind industry continues to distribute.

The research and information presented in this submission will be of interest to people who care about the environment, the truth and a sustainable future. Our submission comprises of the following broad themes:

• Synopsis of major research requirements for industrial wind energy research
• Brief overview of problems with electricity generation by wind turbines
• Research demonstrating industrial wind energy’s failure to displace fossil fuels or significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Discussion of environmental concerns, project lifespan and the urgent need for a realistic decommissioning policy
• Negative health effects and noise pollution
• Negative impacts on property values
• Negative visual impact
• Myths surrounding “green jobs”
• Sustainability considerations for rural landholders without industrialisation of the landscape
• Negative social impacts on rural communities
• Comments on Renewable Energy Strategy
• Conclusions from a rural landholder’s perspective on the reasons not to sign up to a wind power company lease

Submission to the Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No 5, 21 August 2009

Download original document: “Inquiry into rural wind farms ^[1]”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/inquiry-into-rural-wind-farms-2/

URLs in this post:

[1] Inquiry into rural wind farms: https://docs.wind-watch.org/Burraston-Last-090821-Inquiry-into-rural-wind-farms.pdf

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