WIND farms are
one of the healthiest forms of energy the world has to offer and Australia’s
renewable energy policies should be based on these facts rather than fiction,
the Climate Council said today.
The Climate
Council has moved to confirm the science on wind farms after Prime Minister
Tony Abbott raised concerns about the potential health impacts of wind farms
while speaking to Alan Jones today.
Climate Council Councillor Professor Will Steffen said there was no consistent
evidence that wind farms caused adverse health effects.
When compared to coal, wind power was the clear front-runner as one of the
healthiest forms of energy, Professor Steffen said.
“Coal, the dominant energy source in Australia, is well known to emit toxic and
carcinogenic substances which can cause severe health effects.
“The basis for Australia’s renewable energy policies must be the best science
available rather personal preference.
“If we are weighing up energy sources based on health, coal is one of the most
dangerous energy sources.”
“In contrast to the Prime Minister’s comments, we know that renewable energy,
like wind, is one of the healthiest forms of energy. While burning coal is
linked to the development of potentially fatal diseases and kills 50,000 people
each year in the US alone.”
“Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation about renewable energy out
there. Misinformation in the tobacco debate delayed action to protect the
community for decades. We can’t afford to let misinformation cloud policy
decisions on climate change.”
Professor Steffen also emphasised that not only is wind one of the healthiest
forms of energy, the uptake of wind technology comes with significant cost benefits.
“Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy is getting increasingly cheaper
to do, it’s better for the health of Australians and will bring down the
significant health costs that result from burning fossil fuels.
“In Australia, it is estimated that the adverse impacts from pollutants
produced from coal-fired electricity generation costs A$2.6billion
annually.”
The Climate Council is an independent, crowd-funded organisation providing
quality information to climate change to the Australian public.
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