At the turn of the decade, the anti-wind lobby escalated its campaign of exaggeration, cherry-picking, and scare tactics.

At the turn of the decade, the anti-wind lobby escalated its campaign of exaggeration, cherry-picking, and scare tactics. Just five years later, community members from regional Victoria are saying enough is enough.

A new Friends of the Earth analysis finds wind farms within 100 kilometres of the nation’s Parliament have delivered hundreds of jobs and millions worth of investment for communities, all while cutting pollution.

Bob Massie is the outgoing President and CEO of the New Economy Coalition, whose mission is to support a just transition to a new economy that enables both thriving communities and ecological health. He has degrees from Princeton and Yale and a doctorate in business policy from Harvard University. In 2011, he was a candidate for the US Senate. He was the keynote speaker in a recent Australian tour organised by 350.org Australia and Earthworker Cooperative – “Just Transitions” – discussing the development of new economies that better support people and the planet. Massie advocates for the transition to a clean energy economy to include people currently working in the fossil fuel industry.

The 2015 Super Bowl host stadium will be powered by 100% wind energy, and is not the only stadium in the US making an example of utilising renewables. A number of sports stadiums in Australia could also utilise the technology and demonstrate a commitment to clean energy supply.

The UK and Germany have seen new heights in their domestic wind energy production. This growth, and continuing growth is strongly related to policy and regulatory decisions. If Australia followed suit with sensible energy policy, we could enjoy the same transition in the coming years. 

The Governor of California Jerry Brown has announced that the state will continue to be a leader in renewables, with a pledge to derive a full 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. A similar pledge would help Victoria get back on track to support renewables.

Distributed wind energy is starting to gain traction in many US cities, even while oil prices have been dropping. The multiple localised benefits of the technology cannot be ignored much longer. 

The federal political stand off on the RET is coming to a head with Senator Lambie and Greg Hunt meeting this Thursday. Lambie wants a compromise to revive the stagnated renewable industry in Tasmainia.

The wind industry in Victoria takes a much needed breath of fresh air as the anti-wind Coalition government steps down from power. The anti-wind veto laws, and the scrapping of the state’s renewable energy target will now have a better chance of coming back into the political spotlight.