Antinuclear

Cleaning up the climate debate, Climate Spectator , 8 Dec 2011, Dan Cass A recent poll confirms what I have come to believe after watching the global warming issue for 20 years; renewable energy is the only way to save the debate about saving the planet. If the UN wants to make progress in the climate negotiations and closer to home, if Julia Gillard wants to win the next election, then the debate should be couched in terms of the tangible benefits of today’s solar and wind technologies.
A poll by Essential Research, conducted during Australia’s recent carbon price negotiations, shows overwhelming public support for investment in solar and wind, and that this support might just win the politics of a carbon price.

The poll shows that the public loves renewables, but that this sentiment is vulnerable to attacks from various clean energy
detractors. Solar and wind have been politicised and companies need to step in and vigorously defend their interests.
Renewable energy consensus The central question of the poll was ‘Does that fact that the carbon pricing scheme includes a $10 billion investment in renewable energy make you more supportive or less supportive of the carbon pricing
scheme or does it make no difference?’
Fourty-three per cent said the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance
Corporation (CEFC) makes them more supportive, 10 per cent said more
negative, and 41 per cent said it made no difference.
If wind and solar firms, along with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and
the Australian Greens, can shape the national narrative around the
progress of renewable energy technologies, then that 41 per cent who
said the CEFC $10 billion makes no difference can probably be
activated into supporting the package.
The poll also questioned whether or not renewable energy appeals to
people’s basic values. In answer to the proposition, ‘Investing in
renewable energy is good for people and the environment,’ a startling
89 per cent agreed, with only 6 per cent in disagreement, and 5 per
cent undecided.
Fourty-five per cent of Australians strongly agreed with the value
proposition, and 2 per cent strongly disagreed. That is a level of
support that neither fossil fuels nor nuclear power will ever have.
So a majority of Australian think renewables are a good thing, but how
many actually want to see money spent on them? It turns out that 87
per cent agree that ‘There should be more investment in renewables
like solar and wind.’ If you understand the value of renewable energy,
then you want to see more investment.
The heavy polluting industres know they cannot easily shift basic values, so they have undermined solar and wind at the next level of understanding, around jobs, prices and the electricity industry. In reaction to the statement, ‘Investing in renewable energy is good for the economy by creating jobs,’ 80 per cent were in agreement, and only 10 per cent in disagreement.
After two years of campaigning for coal and against renewables, energy-intensive and heavy-polluting industry, along with certain media outlets and Opposition leader Tony Abbott, have done barely any damage to the perceived value of renewables as an industry.
When asked to respond to the statement, ‘Renewable energy can be as reliable as other sources of energy,’ 68 per cent agreed, and we begin to see where the antis have been effective.
Busting the baseload myth....
http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/cleaning-climate-debate