Just had to deal with a bunch of wind turbine conspiracy theories at #StateOfEU, this polite political event I’m at in Brussels.
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We know beyond any doubt that wind as part of the renewable energy mix is vital. It’s cheaper than nuclear. And sure, turbines make some noise - so don’t build them next to homes. Which you don’t anyway. #StateOfEU
@jon but what about space for new housing development? The rich don't want to buy luxury homes in the middle of the nature and have a wind turbine near them! /s
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@jon but what about space for new housing development? The rich don't want to buy luxury homes in the middle of the nature and have a wind turbine near them! /s
@jt_rebelo they’re not buying homes in Bourgogne or the plains of Brandenburg!
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@Reinald Right. That was my point. I didn’t say it’s zero!
@jon I read "they don't, you jerk" as "turbines kill no birds" :-).
And climate change will kill way more. Same argument for "woods instead of windturbines"... Climate change will kill way more woods. Even wildfires these days kill more wood than building turbines...
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@jt_rebelo they’re not buying homes in Bourgogne or the plains of Brandenburg!
@jon yet (not even kidding, they are always looking for more and more undeveloped space, in my country they'd set fire to protected areas on a certain municipality, until the then president and municipal assembly ruled that wherever it burned it would be impossible to build for 50 years; no more fires happened since then, and it is a green area in a country rife with forest fires, it's just a coincidence, I'm sure).
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Also making the case for new nuclear in France right now after the headaches nuclear had with cooling water this summer. WHAT? #StateOfEU
@jon I think France stopped funding research on SMRs last year, AFAIR?
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“And those turbines you see in Brandenburg approaching Berlin are so UGLY!” he went on. Climate change, that’s ugly. #StateOfEU
Talk like that should be SHUT DOWN like racism.
I'm serious, I haven't heard it for so long, if I heard it now I would react as if they were promoting slavery and race war.
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Just had to deal with a bunch of wind turbine conspiracy theories at #StateOfEU, this polite political event I’m at in Brussels. Damn we‘re fucked. Fucked. Our notional political elite is believing in utter complete garbage.
Much of the intergenerational wealth of the 1% is reliant on fossil fuel "forever" investments.
The Moneyed never handle transitions very well.
Landed gentry fought democratic reform for decades. French & Russian revolutions were the result.
It took two world wars to end the British Empire's grip on global trade.
It looks like another world war is brewing as fossil fuel interests fight the switch to renewable energy.
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Also making the case for new nuclear in France right now after the headaches nuclear had with cooling water this summer. WHAT? #StateOfEU
@jon but you really need to maintain a dependency on Russian resources. If it isn’t gas, then it must be uranium.
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“And those turbines you see in Brandenburg approaching Berlin are so UGLY!” he went on. Climate change, that’s ugly. #StateOfEU
And there was another line. “It’s rich landowners in Brandenburg taking the subsidies from the state to build wind turbines”. This is an equality / distribution issue, not an energy issue! Think of the opposite: “we shouldn’t build turbines there because the land owners are rich!” Errrr… #StateOfEU
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Just had to deal with a bunch of wind turbine conspiracy theories at #StateOfEU, this polite political event I’m at in Brussels. Damn we‘re fucked. Fucked. Our notional political elite is believing in utter complete garbage.
@jon It's incredibly infuriating that most of these conspiracies theories have been blown up into the European discourse by one person - and it's not a European.
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Also making the case for new nuclear in France right now after the headaches nuclear had with cooling water this summer. WHAT? #StateOfEU
@jon The French have at least done reasonable modelling. The https://www.rte-france.com/donnees-publications/etudes-prospectives/futurs-energetique-2050#Premiereedition2021 compared new nuclear deployments to wind+solar plus all the work needed on the network layer (for storage etc.) came out at nuclear being ~10 billion €/year cheaper. Of course, that calculation was with 2010s solar prices, and before the final Flamanville III cost was known. Also at already 70% nuclear electric starting point, so not transferable.
I'm eagerly awaiting the 2026 report update.
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Just had to deal with a bunch of wind turbine conspiracy theories at #StateOfEU, this polite political event I’m at in Brussels. Damn we‘re fucked. Fucked. Our notional political elite is believing in utter complete garbage.
@jon part of the problem is that there is no attempt to get the facts out; so conspiracy theorists have a field day. we need govs actively to fight these lies, not just sit and watch them...
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@ilmari They can be - given the right artistic flourish :
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@jon The French have at least done reasonable modelling. The https://www.rte-france.com/donnees-publications/etudes-prospectives/futurs-energetique-2050#Premiereedition2021 compared new nuclear deployments to wind+solar plus all the work needed on the network layer (for storage etc.) came out at nuclear being ~10 billion €/year cheaper. Of course, that calculation was with 2010s solar prices, and before the final Flamanville III cost was known. Also at already 70% nuclear electric starting point, so not transferable.
I'm eagerly awaiting the 2026 report update. -
And there was another line. “It’s rich landowners in Brandenburg taking the subsidies from the state to build wind turbines”. This is an equality / distribution issue, not an energy issue! Think of the opposite: “we shouldn’t build turbines there because the land owners are rich!” Errrr… #StateOfEU
@jon There is even an EU-funded project about Red kite and Wind turbines.
Human caused deads of Red kite are caused by rat poison.
https://www.life-eurokite.eu/ -
Also making the case for new nuclear in France right now after the headaches nuclear had with cooling water this summer. WHAT? #StateOfEU
@jon@gruene.social providing nuclear power doesn't drain wind power, it supplements it. There are more than enough fossil fuels to replace; we don't need to, and we really shouldn't, just rely on one source.
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And there was another line. “It’s rich landowners in Brandenburg taking the subsidies from the state to build wind turbines”. This is an equality / distribution issue, not an energy issue! Think of the opposite: “we shouldn’t build turbines there because the land owners are rich!” Errrr… #StateOfEU
@jon as opposed to all those small businesses that own nuclear, coal & gas power plants...?
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@jon The French have at least done reasonable modelling. The https://www.rte-france.com/donnees-publications/etudes-prospectives/futurs-energetique-2050#Premiereedition2021 compared new nuclear deployments to wind+solar plus all the work needed on the network layer (for storage etc.) came out at nuclear being ~10 billion €/year cheaper. Of course, that calculation was with 2010s solar prices, and before the final Flamanville III cost was known. Also at already 70% nuclear electric starting point, so not transferable.
I'm eagerly awaiting the 2026 report update.@henryk thanks. This is the sort of analysis I’m all for. It’s sensible, and give me numbers and I’m fine with it. Let’s see how updated numbers look indeed!
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@jon@gruene.social providing nuclear power doesn't drain wind power, it supplements it. There are more than enough fossil fuels to replace; we don't need to, and we really shouldn't, just rely on one source.
@amy Sure. I’m not ideologically opposed to nuclear. Fossil fuels are obviously worse.
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@jon part of the problem is that there is no attempt to get the facts out; so conspiracy theorists have a field day. we need govs actively to fight these lies, not just sit and watch them...
@glynmoody but that’s the central point: if our leaders are steeped in the conspiracies we can’t do that.
