AN "EXPERT" ON ENERGY (27 october 2004)
If English is your native tongue, there isn't much chance you've ever read the Dutch VARA tv magazine.
In the issue of 30 October, we find an article in which a certain Thijs Zoet suggests that so-called green energy is little more than a waste of money and has hardly any more use than being a nice source of extra income for the electricity companies.
Mr Zoet's argument mainly hinges on the fact that green energy is much more expensive than conventional energy; he seems to be unaware that there can be other arguments than money.
Mr Zoet deals with green energy as if it's some kind of fad that we should forget about as soon as possible. Would he ever have heard of the disastrous effects of carbon dioxide on our climate?
At the end of the article, Zoet comes with his clinching argument: windmills.
He expresses his overwhelming astonishment about the fact that energy from windmills is so frightfully expensive.
He quotes tv director Dirk Kagenaar, to whom he attributes this brilliant argument: "The average windmill yields as much energy as two car engines; you might as well put two of those engines in a meadow ..."
As if car engines produce renewable energy!
I don't know if the writer is the same Thijs Zoet who writes articles in the Noordhollands Dagblad about such subjects as the price of roses for Valentine's Day.
Mr Zoet may be a great writer about the price of roses, condoms or peanut butter, but his article in VARA tv magazine makes it painfully clear that the ins and outs of the energy economy are completely beyond him.
