Support renewables, says WISE

Midland Express
Tuesday 22/4/2008 Page: 4

Woodend Integrated Sustainable Energy (WISE), is supporting the uptake of all forms of renewable energy projects in Macedon Ranges Shire (MRS). WISE is a local community organisation which seeks to help the community take responsibility for its energy and carbon future. Spokesperson, Peter Hansford, said WISE support of renewable energy includes wind, solar and biofuels, be they large, medium or domestic, as well as sustainable building design with respect to energy and water conservation.

"In this day and age, we as a people need to think not only about impending climate change, but also the depletion, increasing expense and eventual disappearance of fossil fuels as an energy source." He points out that MRS is a wind-rich area (Victorian Wind Atlas, 2004), blessed due to its own topography with wind resources equal to coastal areas.

WISE asks, why not use this resource for our community's benefit? Mr Hansford said Denmark and the United States, among others, have embraced community-owned wind power generation for decades. "They have enjoyed the benefits flowing on from this, including a source of ongoing revenue for the community shareholders, and the proud feeling that comes from creating and using for themselves energy from a clean, renewable resource." Mr Hansford said WISE respects the opinions of local community members concerned about the potential impacts on landscape, flora and fauna, but simply asks that this be considered in the light of reason and current understanding.

WISE believes that bird strike, however, is one of many myths that needs exploding. The group points to detailed surveys conducted by various commercial and government agencies which have concluded bird strike by wind turbine is an extremely rare phenomenon, and that far more birds are killed by buildings and cars, not to mention the fate of these birds in an environment where climate and habitat changes continue unabated.

Mr Hansford said that with respect to flora, the footprint of wind turbines is small, so that the impact on vegetation is limited. "Further, productive agricultural land is being used right now in Victoria for wind farms, with the landholders enjoying annual annuities and leases on easements. This is at odds with the current Council position on using 'productive agricultural land' as an exclusion layer for siting wind turbines.

"In the MRS, this excludes a huge area which may otherwise be used for clean power production for community benefit. "WISE supports (councillor) John Letchford's comments on the positive benefits of wind power, and is heartened that the Council may be changing its current `hands off' attitude." Mr Hansford said WISE particularly supports community owned renewable energy production, in the form of initiatives such as small-scale wind `parks' (consisting of two to three wind turbines), which for example, could provide enough household energy for local towns and assist in achieving a carbon neutral future for the Shire.

He said the area would likewise benefit from other initiatives such as bulk purchasing of residential solar power systems, retrofitting of existing buildings for energy and water conservation, and introducing planning provisions for sustainable buildings. "The facts must be weighed with both reason and an appreciation of the bigger picture," Mr Hansford said.