HYDRO AN UNTAPPED RESOURCE
The big plans and hopes for hydrogen power seem to depend on bringing its cost below $2 a kilogram.
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So far, the best is about $2.30.
To replace liquid (oil) fuels for ships, planes, trains, trucks and cars worldwide would need vast amounts of liquid hydrogen.
That won't happen by 2030 ... maybe by 2050, we hope.
In the meantime, we should continue to use coal and gas in diminishing amounts from the present 73 per cent, and use increasing amounts of solar and wind from the present 18 per cent.
Two other renewables worth more investment are hydro and nuclear - after adding a referendum to the next election to amend that 30-year old act.
Hydro, at 6 per cent, is not far behind solar and wind (each at 9 per cent). Here are some ideas for increasing hydro power:
- NSW has 34 dams, of which only 14 have generators. So retrofit the other 20 with generators and do likewise to dams in other mainland states that lack them.
- Consider building dams (just for hydro) upstream of the many tributaries of the big rivers that run to the sea. Site them all within state forests and national parks.
- Consider using variable rates of release, within each day, from irrigation dams to match demand for power - like mini pumped-hydro.
- Consider building dams wholly within state forests and national parks, just for hydro and hazard reduction.
Bert Adams, Wagga
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APPALLED AT ELECTION TACTICS
I've always had a high opinion of Mick Henderson. Mick's passion for the Wagga Boat Club and Lake Albert can't be overstated. I have found him to be passionate, but honest and sincere.
The "Watergate" poster and the associated social media post by a member of Mick's group are false and defamatory.
I am appalled that Mick would allow his group to start an election campaign that way.
Council's general manager Peter Thompson was the person instrumental in stopping Mick being charge and fined after Mick's misplaced vandalism of the spillway structure at the outlet of the lake.
The three people photographed in the "Watergate" poster are the very same three people that are most responsible for Wagga gaining an agreement from the NSW government for an unprecedented special water licence that will guarantee the health of the lake going forward.
In case you haven't noticed Mick, the lake is full and overflowing because council ensured your vandalism was fixed and all diversions into the lake were in tip-top shape.
In the last term of council an unprecedented amount of money was spent on the lake and its surrounds.
This work has included new boat friendly soft erosion control works, boat tie up points, new and extended boat ramps and a significant upgrade to lake access and the lake walking track.
Mick, acknowledgement and thanks would be better rather than the slander and misinformation that you as the group leader have allowed to occur.
I now call on your sense of common decency to make amends for the damage done by this unwarranted attack.
Rod Kendall, Lake Albert
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