Gone with the wind

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/turbine-power-has-gone-with-the-wind/

Gone with the wind


http://www.iaza.com/work/120208C/iaza13186150435700.jpg
Power output on 6th February, 2012 (United Kingdom)


In April 2011, the UK’s total installed wind power capacity was 5,204 MW.

As of 3.30pm this afternoon, with the temperature around the country varying between 2 degrees and 6 degrees celsius and most people at home using power to stay warm, those wind turbines were delivering less than 11% of their stated capacity, contributing a mere 1.3% of the UK’s energy supply.

Is there any more clear a demonstration of the folly of the government’s plans to spend billions of pounds adding more wind capacity, when it cannot come close to replacing the amount of energy generated by coal-fired and nuclear power plant that will be decommissioned?

What compounds this folly is that additional gas-fired power will have to be built just to act as back up for the wind power on days like this. There is no economic sense to paying twice to install capacity, particularly given the extent of taxpayer subsidy being devoted to wind turbines to make them more ‘affordable’ – code for helping generators make money from them at our expense.

If this doesn’t convince those who favour wind of their nonsensical folly, what will?

Not one coal, gas or nuclear power station has been closed down in the world and replaced with wind power. And why? because, as I keep saying - it doesn't work. So I now ask, would any of the clowns who said we ought to build more wind power like to retract their statements? Like with the Euro and everything else thats gone wrong when we warned it would, I thought not.

[GommeInc]

Did anyone here actually support wind farms taking over Nuclear/Coal plants? I think you might be punching for a fight that isn't there - if anything people support more wind farms, rather than replacing tried and tested methods completely. That said, everyone and their unborn children knows wind power is completely useless and a waste of resources. Nuclear should be the way forward - safe, clean, reliable and powerful.

[cocaine]

Did anyone here actually support wind farms taking over Nuclear/Coal plants? I think you might be punching for a fight that isn't there - if anything people support more wind farms, rather than replacing tried and tested methods completely. That said, everyone and their unborn children knows wind power is completely useless and a waste of resources. Nuclear should be the way forward - safe, clean, reliable and powerful.

i think 'clean and safe' may be subject to opinion.

wind power was never going to be viable, not in the next decade or so. the costs involved are so huge (and so inflated) that the amount of money they save per year wouldn't be anywhere near their costs. like solar panels, they need to be around for a long time before they recover any costs incurred

[GommeInc]

i think 'clean and safe' may be subject to opinion.

wind power was never going to be viable, not in the next decade or so. the costs involved are so huge (and so inflated) that the amount of money they save per year wouldn't be anywhere near their costs. like solar panels, they need to be around for a long time before they recover any costs incurred
Cleaner than coal and very rarely go wrong. It's usually media fear mongering that brings on the idea that nuclear power is unsafe - we had quite a few in this country and yet there were very view reports of any problems. People are just scared because of the stigma associated with it. They're ideal in places like the UK where we do not suffer major earthquakes or land movement. Places like Japan only have nuclear problems because of the location of the country. Modern day systems keep the plants safe from breaches.

[cocaine]

Cleaner than coal and very rarely go wrong. It's usually media fear mongering that brings on the idea that nuclear power is unsafe - we had quite a few in this country and yet there were very view reports of any problems. People are just scared because of the stigma associated with it. They're ideal in places like the UK where we do not suffer major earthquakes or land movement. Places like Japan only have nuclear problems because of the location of the country. Modern day systems keep the plants safe from breaches.

haha yeah like i said, subject to opinion. those who listen to/watch the media are more likely to think 'omg it's bad look at japan and the communists'. but us smart hxf-ers know that it's perfectly fine given the correct implementation ;)

[GommeInc]

haha yeah like i said, subject to opinion. those who listen to/watch the media are more likely to think 'omg it's bad look at japan and the communists'. but us smart hxf-ers know that it's perfectly fine given the correct implementation ;)
Might as well educate the HxF-ers who do not know this though :P

[Chippiewill]

we had quite a few in this country and yet there were very view reports of any problems. People are just scared because of the stigma associated with it.
Apparently a nuclear rod got stuck in a reactor once, so a guy opened the reactor door and tried to un-jam it with a scaffolding pole. Active rods of nuclear fuel are quite warm.. needless to say the scaffolding pole partially melted and got stuck to the reactor which meant the reactor door couldn't be shut. Quite a bit of radiation decided to leak out.

But yeah.. no problems apart from that.

[Jordy]

It really is useless. A very good friend of mine who's also a farmer got a large wind turbine for his farm as the government were subsidising them so heavily, with selling electricity back to the national grid he'd be making a profit within a few years. Anyway, since the wind turbine fires in Scotland a few months back, all wind turbines from the company involved have been turned off throughout the UK since, it's now something like 2-3 months later. Not only are they not value for money at all and a poor way of generating electricity, they don't even seem to be reliable technology.

[GommeInc]

It really is useless. A very good friend of mine who's also a farmer got a large wind turbine for his farm as the government were subsidising them so heavily, with selling electricity back to the national grid he'd be making a profit within a few years. Anyway, since the wind turbine fires in Scotland a few months back, all wind turbines from the company involved have been turned off throughout the UK since, it's now something like 2-3 months later. Not only are they not value for money at all and a poor way of generating electricity, they don't even seem to be reliable technology.
Search YouTube for broken wind turbines - what happens when they go wrong is self-explanatory in those videos, and the noise they produce at the same time is horrendous :P

Interesting this comes amidst the discussions about the Government wanting to build the world's largest wind farm off the coast of Suffolk.

[Ajthedragon]

Search YouTube for broken wind turbines - what happens when they go wrong is self-explanatory in those videos, and the noise they produce at the same time is horrendous :P

Interesting this comes amidst the discussions about the Government wanting to build the world's largest wind farm off the coast of Suffolk.

That said I live in Suffolk and really couldn't care less. I quite like the way they look, very modern.

I personally think hydro-electric power is the way forward.

[GommeInc]

That said I live in Suffolk and really couldn't care less. I quite like the way they look, very modern.

I personally think hydro-electric power is the way forward.
I don't particularly care either, the ones off Frinton/Clacton aren't off putting, and the sea around there isn't picturesque until you head north where the tower is :P Hydro-electric is fine, but the only decent form is from a dam, and there's no places to build a damn :P Wave power is virtually useless and not worth the resources.

[Chippiewill]

I personally find the ones in Norfolk (Especially the offshore ones) quite beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.

The only downside is that you can't use them if they're too windy apparently because they overheat.