Letters, July 26, 2023

Power switch

TIM Calver, you need not worry about coal-fired power coming from interstate because there won’t be any (Your view, The Courier, July 12).

NSW is short of generation and relies on Queensland and Victoria.

With Bowen and Dan Andrews in power, no State can be relied on as they switch to renewables and shut coal down.

The off-shore wind turbines proposed for Newcastle won’t help, as it is over 1500km away and the losses in transmission will be 15–23%.

However, the claim that gas power causes less emissions than coal-fired is not strictly true.

The current coal-fired plants in Australia run at about 32–33% (Vic) or about 36–38% for black coal.

Germany has a new brown coal plant that runs about 40%.

Several countries, including China, have coal-fired plants at about 45%.

Intermittent OCGTs (open-cycle gas turbines) run 35% but CCGTs (closed-cycle gas turbines) 60–62%.

The higher the figure, the less emissions of CO2.

So the best reduction is for SA to use CCGT which don’t like on-off operation which reduces efficiency, boosts costs and breakdowns (and emissions).

Both Germany and the UK have learnt this the hard way.

Germany because their CCGTs shut down and they switched to imports as backup.

The ageing CCGTs in the UK are used to cover shortfalls by running at low efficiency (hence higher costs and emissions).

So why use OCGTs which don’t reduce emissions and cost more?

The reason is they are necessary as backup when renewables don’t generate.

Sweden and Finland are switching to nuclear and out of renewables.

A hint?

Your best bet is to buy a generator.  

G. Inkster, Mt Barker

Blood money

RESPONDING to “Agonizing death”, (The Courier, July 12) yes, the Felixer grooming trap does cause a slow, agonising death, and it shows the level of cruelty that our country has fallen to.

It also shows that our human species is capable of creating such diabolical methods of killing sentient creatures.

It also proves a mockery of a country that claims to have animal welfare laws.

The bottom line here, however, is that it has nothing to do with saving native wildlife, as has been promoted as the reason for such cruelty, because killing cats won’t reduce their number overall in an open system like Australia.

Scientifically-based surveys have proven that when one lot of cats is removed, another lot simply restocks the vacated spaces and breeds, increasing their numbers.

Why then, are we so naïve to fall for the Government line that this is to save native wildlife when we know it doesn’t? And why, as Ms Allan said, are we massacring up to 50,000 native ducks per hunting season every year, and slaughtering our kangaroos by the millions? While the Government reaps in the blood money for the hunting licences and the income tax from the kangaroo meat, animals continue to suffer these atrocities. So much for the Government’s saving native wildlife.

Christine Pierson

C.A.T.S. Cats Assistance To Sterilise

Tighten laws

THE Courier on July 12 featured on the front page a glowing report on the proposed development of the Stirling Golf Course to be renamed The Mt Lofty Golf Estate.

It was reported that this development could possibly attract up to 100,000 additional visitors.

However, while I am not opposed to some development on the existing footprint of cleared land, I do have two major concerns about this development.

This development plans to use Golflinks Road as its main access road.

I use this road several times a week to visit family and it is very narrow, without footpaths and not a safe route for the predicted increase in cars.

Secondly, this development contains plans to remove 106 native trees and the understorey.

These trees include 48 State-rare manna gums.

The majority of the trees for removal are 14 metres or more with many between 20 to 25 metres.

Many of these trees contain one or more hollows which potentially provide homes for native fauna.

I also regularly see koalas in this area.

The understorey which will also be cleared contains State-rare and vulnerable flora as well as native orchids.

Quite a lot of this vegetation removal is for the building of 18 pods or private retreats.

Sadly, this destruction of the native bush will probably get the go ahead, but it is not too late to put in submissions to the State Planning Authority.

They need to be in by August 16.

I urge our government to tighten laws to prevent the unnecessary clearance of our bushland.

Erika Guess

Wynn Vale

Responsible owners

I’VE seen correspondence that feral cats are being used “as a scapegoat for human destruction of wildlife through habitat destruction and the overuse of pesticides and poisons” (Agonizing death, The Courier, July 12).

Recognising the use of pesticides as a separate, albeit important issue in itself, claims that cats are scapegoats is misconstruing habitat with landscape.

Habitat is flora and fauna intertwined, so rather than being a scapegoat to habitat destruction, cats, in particular feral cats, are an accepted participant in that destruction.

It is critical then, for all cat owners to ensure they observe the laws governing their cat ownership in the Adelaide Hills; namely to ensure their cats are kept indoors or, within a suitable “cat run”.

And in relation to unwanted cats, that they surrender them appropriately.

By doing so, we will reduce the number of feral cats that must be culled to protect remnant South Australian habitat, which will always result in the agonising death of an animal regardless of the method deployed.

David Baker, Lobethal

Library inflation

WE are all concerned at the high rate of inflation that is being experienced – up to 7%.

That is nothing to worry about.

Inflation at the Stirling Library is rampant. The 10 cent black and white photocopy is now 20 cents – 100%.

Chris Chardon, Stirling

Evidence-based

I CONGRATULATE Michael Cornish for his contribution to the cat debate (The Courier, July 19).

He has provided evidence-based statistics which contrast with those vague and unsubstantiated ‘scientific facts’ so commonly referenced by Ms Allen, Ms Pierson and their ilk.

I refer those who deny the ravages of uncontained cats to the work and writings of Professor Brendan Wintle, a global leader in conservation ecology based at the University of Melbourne.

The depth of his knowledge and the sagacity of his conclusions are indisputable. The only difference between wild feral cats and roaming urban pets lies in the number of native creatures to which they have access and, inevitably, which they kill.

The numbers are conclusive: a roaming urban cat will destroy almost 200 creatures every year while a feral will destroy four times that number.

That’s some three billion creatures destroyed by cats every year.

There is no place for any uncontained cat anywhere in Australia.

Colin Rogers, Meadows

Spoilt environment

AFTER reading ‘Major development’ about the Stirling Golf Club (The Courier, July 12) I would like to share my thoughts on tourist development.

I recently visited Litchfield National Park and was sadden by the experience.

Overflowing car parks, beautiful natural water holes being used like local baths, complete with pool noodles.

I visited this area in the 1990s and fell in love with its beauty.

I choose to remember how it was, not what it has become. Will the same happen to our beautiful Hills thanks to tourism and the pursuit of profits?

Deborah Warland, Balhannah