Turbines on Table Mountain?

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

The tragedy unfolding in Japan has sparked much discussion and debate on nuclear power. Since the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant took place, shares in renewable energy (solar, wind and wave power for example) have reportedley surged in value, while most other energy shares dropped.

Experts predict that investment in renwable energy, solar in particular, will continue to rise as nuclear will be considered “politically unacceptable” for the next few years, just as it was after the incident at Chernobyl in 1986.

Advocates of nuclear power are fighting hard to redeem its image and dispell “myths” about it’s damaging effects. The Guardian quoted climate scientist, James Lovelock, who said that people are unreasonably prejudiced against nuclear:

“It is very safe. Chernobyl, for instance, was “an idiotic mess-up that could only have occurred in the Soviet Union…More people are routinely killed in oil refineries and coal mines.”

Closer to home

Even our own parliament seems to be demonstrating fresh enthusiasm for renewable energy sources. News24 reports that just yesterday at a joint meeting of Parliament’s energy and public enterprises portfolio committees, ANC MP Chris Gololo enquired about the feasibility of placing wind turbines on and around Table Mountain, an especially windy area of the Cape.

A representative from Eskom said that such a decision would fall with the City of Cape Town. It’s nice to see government taking an interest in renewable energy, just perhaps not at the expense of one of our most cherished natural landmarks.

What do you think?