October 15, 2010
Massachusetts

Physicist kicks off anti-wind series with pro-nuke message

Written by J. James Joiner, The Barnstable Patriot, www.barnstablepatriot.com 15 October 2010

Those looking to create a bit of headwind to push back on land-based wind power enthusiasts felt a nuclear breeze Oct. 7 with the start of a three-date lecture series.

Sponsored by the newly formed anti-wind energy coalition Windwise Cape Cod, the first lecture at Cape Cod Community College featured physicist and self-described environmental activist John Droz Jr.’s slideshow, “Our Energy Future: Designed by Science or Lobbyists?”

Droz’s resume includes degrees in physics and mathematics and work experience as a real estate broker, nuclear energy activist time with General Electric’s Aerospace Electronics Systems division, membership in Mensa and as a high school CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) teacher. He also contributes regularly to Web sites on subjects ranging from environmental topics to the superiority of Apple computers.

He has most recently created a name for himself with his presentations on the what he says are misleading claims about wind energy.

The lecture’s sponsor, Windwise Cape Cod, is an “alliance of neighborhood organizations and dedicated individuals” who seek “a reasoned consideration of the economic feasibility and the adverse effects of Industrial Wind Energy.”

The Oct. 7 presentation opened to a nearly full house, seated arena-style in one of the college’s lecture halls. Flanked by a banner of the periodic table, Droz stood behind the lectern bathed in his computer’s blue glow as he readied the evening’s slide show.

After a brief introduction by Windwise co-founder Preston Ribnick of Wellfleet, Droz took the stage.

Joking about his being a scientist and not a public speaker, he started with a few quotes and a bit of history. Droz said people need to evaluate everything based on the scientific method, and until that’s done, wind or any other new resource cannot be considered viable.

Droz claimed those behind wind energy, in conjunction with power companies and government, have been misleading the public and attempting to push through legislation and infrastructure without subjecting it to the proper testing. This technology won’t, he says, do what it is purported to do.

Likening land-based turbines to giant billboards contributing to visual pollution, Droz said the general public has primarily been duped, much like members of a cult.

Using the term “cognitive dissonance,” he described it as a genetic predisposition, making it extremely difficult to change one’s mind once it has bought into something. Even when, he said, that something has been proven to be untrue.

Blaming much of the so-called false information on “thousands of scientists who have personal or political agendas to promote,” Droz spent the next hour showing slides he claims debunk much of what the pro-wind establishment herald as proven fact. He also questioned the validity of Global Warming caused by man’s CO2 emissions, and said that wind power wouldn’t significantly reduce these emissions in any event.

After railing against Renewables Portfolio Standards (RPS), which require those states that adopt them to include a minimum amount of renewable energy in their electricity resource portfolios, Droz went on to say that in the United States “we feed, clothe and protect the world,” which he interpreted as meaning we shouldn’t need to feel bad about consuming more resources than any other country.

Calling for an FDA-like oversight committee for new energy sources, Droz believes that a hold should be put on all RPS’s for at least a year, so that renewable energy solutions could be safely and objectively evaluated.

The 200-plus slide presentation slowly segued into a rallying cry for nuclear energy, which Droz pushed as a truly renewable, safe alternative energy.

A question and answer period followed, with Droz leading into it saying he would only answer questions that were “polite, professional and pertinent.”

Droz deflected most inquiries of a technical or contradictory nature, disputing the science of any wind proponents, and said that when it came to topics such as these, “No matter how many times you ask me, you’ll always get the same answer, until you get tired of hearing it.”

He urged those with complaints or concerns regarding wind power to stand up and be heard, and to use their votes, citing many towns in New York that had successfully initiated bans on wind turbines.

The next speaker in the series will be Thursday October 14 at 7 p.m. in Science Lecture Hall A at CCCC. Environmental advocate and co-founder of Green Berkshires, Inc. Eleanor Tillinghast will “give an overview of the policies and energy profile of Massachusetts and show how wind power will cause problems on Cape Cod.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/10/15/physicist-kicks-off-anti-wind-series-with-pro-nuke-message/