Response to Sustainability, yes, but also a Plan B

May 26, 2025

In response to Geoff Taylor’s letter on nuclear energy and his argument that the spread of generation is limited, I feel one must remember Australia, for many decades, relied on centralised coal power. Personally, I feel nuclear is unjustified due to waste management and costs. However, I feel there needs to be some changes to accommodate our needs with renewable energy.

I feel the transmission network could be installed underground at a level that allows normal farming above. The costs are higher, but I feel with greater use, the costs would drop. The advantage is that bushfire is less of a threat to energy supply and maintenance might be lower. Then, solar farms can be adapted for agriculture by panels being elevated and using semi-transparent panels. Also, panels can be mounted vertically and spaced further apart so crop agriculture can co-locate.

One advantage of sustainable energy is that the generation (and co-located storage) is distributed, so the threat of terrorism or attack during conflict is minimised. Personally, I think there should be far more solar PV in cities and towns. There are many areas beside rooftops that can be utilised: Walls in tall buildings, solar farms along road and rail corridors etc.