| Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005. |
Expensive turbines won’t save as much CO2 we thought
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
David Haskell visualises an “Alice” looking-glass world in which our power generating system is not what it seems (Letters, 30 May).
Giant windmills produce electricity which is rewarded with a consumer-sourced “subsidy” of more than 100 per cent, provided by the Renewables Obligation but in the real world the wind electricity is so intermittently variable, and not available on demand, that it wouldn’t even be marketable without the “obligation” to purchase.
Not marketable? Baseload generation runs at peak output 24/365, providing for the continuous minimum consumption that our society demands. Wind cannot replace this because it is so variable. The generation which fills the gap between baseload and the wandering peak of consumption must also be available for every hour of the year. Wind cannot do this either.
However much wind power we deploy, demanding huge finance from consumers, we must also have an equivalent amount of conventional generation to fill the gap. As a government adviser put it recently (and was ignored), “The paradox of building windmills is that you have to build a lot of ordinary power stations to back them up.”
If we sensibly take this advice, wind power will not only be very expensive but will save much less carbon dioxide emission than foolish politicians assume.
Dr John Etherington,
Llanhowell, Pembrokeshire.
County Echo
6 June 2008
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
| Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
 (via Stripe) |
 (via Paypal) |
Share:
[ Short URL: https://wind-watch.org/news/?p=14067 ]
