Wind Turbines to smother Wales

[BlasterBates]

Wind turbines would need to cover Wales to supply a sixth of country's energy needs - Telegraph

[amcdonald]

Do you think Kinnock will apply for a grant ?

[scooterscot]

It's a brave man that puts career and reputation on the line with such media scoundrels

[pjclarke]

Old, old news

Blimey, a Telegraph article from 2008! You're really doing your homework.

The hook for the article was the publication of David Mackay's book 'Sustainable energy without the hot air'. Available as a free download if you're interested, Not bad, though I percieve he has a pro-nuclear, anti-renewables bias.

The Telegraph want (well, wanted a few years ago) you to take away this message:

He said: "The average energy used per person in the UK is 125 kilowatt hours per day. To achieve even 20 kilowatt hours per day per person it will require enough wind turbines to cover an area the size of Wales.

Which of course is a selective quote, as most wind turbines are going offshore, and in the coming decades wind will be just part of the mix... to quote the book directly ...

...we get all the green electricity from a mix of four sources: from our own renewables; perhaps from “clean coal;” perhaps from nuclear; and finally, and with great politeness, from other countries’ renewables. Among other countries’ renewables, solar power in deserts is the most plentiful option. As long as we can build peaceful international collaborations, solar power in other people’s deserts certainly has the technical potential to provide us, them, and everyone with 125 kWh per day per person ...

Here is some more recent news

[TimberWolf]

Blimey, a Telegraph article from 2008! You're really doing your homework.

The hook for the article was the publication of David Mackay's book 'Sustainable energy without the hot air'. Available as a free download if you're interested, Not bad, though I percieve he has a pro-nuclear, anti-renewables bias.

The Telegraph want (well, wanted a few years ago) you to take away this message:



Which of course is a selective quote, as most wind turbines are going offshore, and in the coming decades wind will be just part of the mix... to quote the book directly ...



Here is some more recent news

Great on-line book. He fixates on carbon though.

If solar deserts were practical propositions one might wonder why Australia hasn't gone in that direction yet, which appears more doable there than the Middle East. It might have been him that said solar is waiting for a cost revolution.

[stek]

Wind turbines slow the wind down, too many of them and the wind will stop. I read that in K-PAX...

[gingerjedi]

He said: "The average energy used per person in the UK is 125 kilowatt hours per day. To achieve even 20 kilowatt hours per day per person it will require enough wind turbines to cover an area the size of Wales.

By my calculations that’s 2-3 kettles on constant boil for 24 hours a day? Shirley not??

Or are they factoring 'average energy used' by taking car, air, and food miles into account which makes no difference in calculating how much electricity we require.

[d000hg]

Maybe it's national_usage/number_of_people which includes business use, traffic lights, etc, not just homes themselves?

[d000hg]

From a common-sense perspective, solar seems the best long-term renewable energy source to me, globally speaking. Before jumping in about pollutants and efficiency and so on, note the key phrase "long-term". The energy is there to be taken, we just need a better way to harvest and distribute it.

[Sysman]

Wind turbines slow the wind down, too many of them and the wind will stop. I read that in K-PAX...

By the same logic:

Given that the prevailing winds go in the same direction as the rotation of the earth, won't too many windmills speed up the earth?