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Wind Power News: Christopher Booker
Dem senators from 4 states ask NOAA to address whale deaths
Democratic U.S. Senators from four states want federal environmental officials to address a spate of whale deaths on both coasts, urging “transparency and timeliness” in releasing information about whale deaths and their causes. The call late Tuesday by New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez and Cory Booker; Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse for action by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marked the first large-scale request for action by Democratic federal lawmakers . . . Complete story »
The cost of wind-farms will dwarf that of HS2
Much attention was paid to the vote by a huge majority of MPs for the HS2 project, the main objections to which are that it will cost a staggering £50 billion and cause immense environmental damage, to much less useful purpose than is claimed for it. But no one seems to have noticed that the same is true for another of the Government’s projects: its bid to meet our agreed EU target that, within six years, we must treble the . . . Complete story »
Proposed turbine law remains far too little
In a headline above the fold on Monday, Dec. 17, The Standard-Times touted a “Tougher turbine bylaw proposed” for Fairhaven. This new proposal, concocted by Fairhaven Planning Director Bill Roth and Planning Board Chairman Wayne Hayward in an almost complete vacuum of information, is only slightly more restrictive than the current “anything goes” bylaw. It is far from the toughest, but it is certainly one of the stupidest. That is saying something in Fairhaven, known for superlative performance in the . . . Complete story »
Wind warning
Americans should hope that winds of change – and sanity – blowing away pro-wind-energy policy in the United Kingdom waft all the way across the Atlantic, sparing U.S. taxpayers the bills for further subsidies of an industry that makes no economic sense. Energy Minister John Hayes has announced a moratorium on building onshore wind turbines. It’s a dramatic reversal for the U.K.’s coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron, who in 2008 advocated spending 100 billion pounds on wind farms, according . . . Complete story »
Are wind farms saving or killing us? A provocative investigation claims thousands of people are falling sick because they live near them
It was Uplawmoor’s tranquillity and wild beauty that drew civil servant Aileen Jackson to settle there 28 years ago. She’d had enough of life in the big city. Now she wanted somewhere quiet and rural to start a family, keep her horses, and enjoy the magnificent views down the valley and out to sea to the western Scottish isles of Arran and Ailsa Craig. Then, two years ago, she says, it all turned sour. A neighbour with whom she and . . . Complete story »
Wind turbulence
Subsidy earned for having monster turbines on your land is disproportionate to public benefit, says Philip Howard. Wind farms are a crime against the landscape and the taxpayer So the prime minister has had an attack of the political conscience vapours and is going to ward against the obscene levels of corporate pay. Good on him but perhaps he could have started his fairness crusade closer to home. His father-in-law has earned himself a small fortune each year by allowing . . . Complete story »
Wind farm worry
The offshore wind farm, as wide as Mid Sussex, in last week’s Middy, should not be approved: 1. Offshore wind farms are unreliable. E.On boasts of “an installed electrical capacity of up to 700 MW” from the 100 to 195 turbines. This is the potential output if the wind was blowing at optimum speed all the time. Currently all the 3,500 ugly, noisy turbines sited around the country feed on average just 1,000 MW into the grid – no more than the . . . Complete story »
The Duke of Edinburgh sees clearly over wind turbines
It is difficult to improve on the Duke of Edinburgh’s description of the policy of covering Britain’s countryside with wind turbines: “an absolute disgrace”. Views on the aesthetic merits of the objects, which can be over 400ft tall, may legitimately differ. But what should be beyond dispute is the simple truth that wind turbines do not, and cannot, provide a significant part of Britain’s energy needs. The problems are legion. The turbines are hugely expensive to build and to operate, . . . Complete story »
Wind power: a policy spinning out of control
Telegraph View: The Government’s policy on renewable energy is based on dogma not evidence. The Coalition is committed to a policy, mandated by the EU, of ensuring that 40 per cent of Britain’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020. The renewable source that has been chosen to provide most of the electricity is wind. As our columnist Christopher Booker has pointed out, this creates a serious problem: wind does not blow at a constant rate, which makes it unreliable . . . Complete story »
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
This is the season for quizzes. So fingers on buzzers, here’s your starter for ten. In percentage terms, how much electricity do Britain’s 3,150 wind turbines supply to the National Grid? Is it: a) five per cent; b) ten per cent; or c) 20 per cent? Come on, I’m going to have to hurry you. No conferring. Time’s up. The correct answer is: none of the above. Yesterday afternoon, the figure was just 1.6 per cent, according to the official . . . Complete story »
