Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach
The Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, has spoken out about windmills, and he’s not happy at all. Chris Huhne, the UK Energy Secretary, has said that people who oppose windmills are “curmudgeons and fault-finders”. He finds windmills “elegant” and “beautiful”.
Figure 1. A photo of elegant windmills beautifying the otherwise inelegant, ugly UK countryside. PHOTO SOURCE
The Duke, on the other hand, thinks that windmills are an absolute disgrace. Of course that’s my translation, because being royalty, the Duke would never say something as direct and crude as that. The man who tried to sell His Dukeness the windmills reports on the conversation as follows:
“He said they were absolutely useless, completely reliant on subsidies and an absolute disgrace,” said Mr Wilmar. “I was surprised by his very frank views.”
Hmmm … well, I guess royalty may not be that much different after all. The article continues:
Mr Wilmar said his attempts to argue that onshore wind farms were one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy received a fierce response from the Duke.
“He said, ‘You don’t believe in fairy tales do you?’” said Mr Wilmar. “He said that they would never work as they need back-up capacity.”
The Duke won’t abide windmills on his estate. I don’t blame him one bit, I commend his understanding of the situation, and I admire his frankness. The Duke’s eldest son, the Artist Currently Known As Prince, has agreed with the Duke’s position. He won’t allow windmills on his estate either, despite The Artist’s well-known alarmism about CO2. Funny how that works, even royalty believes in NIMBY.
Actually, though, none of that was what caught my eye about the Telegraph article. The part that made my hair stand on end was this throwaway line from just before the end:
Two-thirds of the country’s wind turbines are owned by foreign companies, which are estimated to reap £500 million a year in subsidies.
Yikes! I’m too gobsmacked to even comment on that, other than to say I guess we know how they lost their Empire … not that the US is far behind …
w.
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Dave says:
November 20, 2011 at 12:51 pm
“I think that at one time the WWF, Greenpeace Etc.. really were decent well intended protectors of Nature and our Natural world. I used to support them in their efforts. But they have become untrustworthy Eco fascists and frauds, that has lost the support of nature loving people like me and I suspect the wise old Duke.”
Totally agree.
Doug UK
I agree with some of the earlier posters, the WWF used be be a fine organization that was perverted from its original purpose some decades ago.
Prime Minister Cameron has a weekly meeting with the Queen. Do you think he’ll ask her to get the Duke to get back into line – it could cost Cameron a fortune in the future as his father-in- law has invested millions on wind tiyrbines. Is this a vested interest that should be declared?
Absolutely. Nobody wants a coal-fried power station in their backyard either. The advantage however is that one coal-fired power station replaces thousands of wind turbines and is far more reliable. Fossil fuels are by far the lesser evil in terms of environmental impact. Coal fired-power stations should make eminent sense to everyone (including royalty) except, of course, the extreme wacko watermelons.
He’s wrong about requiring constant backup. Hasn’t he heard? The citizenry is just going to have to get used to using the power when it’s available and doing without when it’s not.
Dave says:
November 20, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Bruce. I think that at one time the WWF, Greenpeace Etc.. really were decent well intended protectors of Nature and our Natural world
============================================
Dave, I’m not picking on you….you just mentioned WWF and Greenpeace in the same post… 😉
Here’s my problem with those two, and all of the other lying cheating save this and that BS….
These are the same people making up lies about polar bears, frogs, butterflies, coral reefs…you name it
Windmills are killing endangered and protected birds, bats, plants….etc….and not a friggin word from the lying hypocrites
“”The Altamont Pass wind farm in California kills 1,000 Golden Eagles per decade. Under US law, the operators should be subject to $250 million in fines and 2,000 years in jail.””
http://www.real-science.com/huhne-raptor-choppers-elegant-beautiful
Have a look at Fenbeagle’s take on Huhne’s “Huh Sticks”.
Hilarious!
BTW, I think that HRH has got the right idea about 16thC technology being pushed as the solution in the 21stC
Forgot the link!
http://fenbeagleblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/the-huh-who-spoilt-christmas/
Dave Springer: Realism makes any sane person vomit at the sight of giant windmills
If windmills consistently delivered the same energy per acre as oil wells,
let alone nuclear reactors,
nobody would be complaining,
but since its more like 1% the output a quarter of the time,
with hideously hazardous maintance tasks
that kill more people per year than refinery explosions do,
pardon us in laughing at the windmill-promoters
being from the same crowd that opposed nukes,
supposedly due to considerations of
subsidies, economics, engineering performance, and safety,
at all of which windmills fail compared to nuclear,
especially considering that nuclear engineering
has seen zero new plants in decades.
If nuke progresss had been allowed to continue onward from 1975,
they would be making 100% of our electricity by now,
at far less cost than the coal and gas we’re stuck with.
Remember that the Fukishima reactors are 50 years old,
and would have been replaced by tsunami-proof designs.
There was a report on the news that windmill farms interfere with radar both weather radar and defense radar. When you add this to the situation plus the large number of birds killed by windmills it makes you support him but for additional reasons.
O H Dahlsveen says:
November 20, 2011 at 12:37 pm
“Willis – good article, but just out of interest, can you tell me how the electricity is conducted away from these, or any other, wind-turbines?”
At least here in Germany, wind parks are, whenever possible, built near an existing power plant. This way they can use the existing high voltage distribution net, and there is a smaller danger of the wind turbines overwhelming the grid. It also becomes easier to restart them. (Wind turbines cannot start by themselves, they need power supply for that, even if the wind would suffice; they need power to start the microcontrollers and turn the blades into the right position.)
They exist in a kind of symbiosis with fossil fuels 😉
How about that ABC News new stunt?
http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gases-weren-t-invisible-123052512.html;_ylt=ArNtBcCBaWeX66oj8ABCFJZVbBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTRvdWVla2cyBGNjb2RlA2dtcHRvcDEwMDBwb29sd2lraXVwcmVzdARtaXQDTmV3cyBmb3IgeW91BHBrZwM3ZDI0MzViYi04YmI1LTM3YjgtOGZmNy1mOTVjYTUxMTFkOWEEcG9zAzcEc2VjA25ld3NfZm9yX3lvdQR2ZXIDMDFhZGM0YTAtMTM4Yy0xMWUxLTlmZmUtZDJmZjRkN2FhOTc5;_ylg=X3oDMTM1YmoxaTRmBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDYzVkNzgwMjYtYzI3YS0zYzdjLTkyNDAtMGIxZDk2ZGJkZjJlBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxldXJvcGUEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3
by Bill Blackmore (I am not making that one up…)
“NATURE’S EDGE NOTEBOOK
Observation, Analysis, Reflection, New Questions
By Bill Blakemore
The emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gas that are now rapidly warming the earth are by definition invisible.
But what if we could see them? Might the United States have begun to regulate them long ago — as with other emissions we do see?
The Graphics Department of ABC News, working with technicians from the FLIR camera company, whose special “GasfinderIR – GF” cameras can “see” greenhouse gases, has created artist’s impressions of what it might look like if we could see our greenhouse gas emissions.
Take a look at this brief video of their work:
Greenhouse gases are invisible by definition because, in order to produce the “greenhouse effect” of building up extra heat inside, they must first allow that heat — which comes from the sun — to enter.
So, like the clear panes of glass on a greenhouse, the invisible greenhouse gases in the air let the hot, visible sunlight pass through them on its way down to warm the earth.
Look up from inside a greenhouse and you don’t see the glass — it’s invisible — but do see the bright sun behind it. You also feel its heat even though that light has passed through the glass.
On a greenhouse, that same invisible glass also traps much of that heat from the sun inside the greenhouse, just as the invisible greenhouse gases in the air let in the visible light but also trap much of the heat from the sun.
That’s why they are called “Greenhouse Gases.”
But the analogy ends there.
The glass traps the heat simply by blocking the currents of sun-heated air so they don’t escape the greenhouse, whereas greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat near the earth in a different way.
(…)
henrychance says:
November 20, 2011 at 12:31 pm
The enlightened elite class.
One day the people will get tired of subsidizing this fiasco.
I thought you were referring to the monarchy
My opinion of Philip just went up 1000%. Maybe he doesn’t watch the BBC or read the other Warmist propaganda outlets.
Subsidies????? What subsidies? http://energy.gov/ig/downloads/western-area-power-administrations-control-and-administration-american-recovery-and and http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20111109/OPINION/111090306/MATL-loan-oversight-criticized-line-way
Our British cousins should enjoy this.
This duke doesn’t like windmills either. Especially those at Altamont.
Jeremy says:
November 20, 2011 at 1:31 pm
“Absolutely. Nobody wants a coal-fried power station in their backyard either.”
I wouldn’t mind.
Here’s a photo of the Frankfurt power plant, smack bang in the middle of the city near the railway station, surrounded by office buildings and apartment buildings.
DirkH says:
November 20, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Sorry, forgot the link:
http://www.fotocommunity.de/pc/pc/display/18902493
binny says:
November 20, 2011 at 12:56 pm
> Part of Philip’s job is to say things the Queen can’t.
Makes sense. All this time I figured he occupies a high enough seat in the royalty and the queen still likes him, so no one can correct him. Or maybe he just missed out on the political correctness implant.
This look like some seriously big turbines. Glad they’re not in my back yard!
Good old Phil. Even better than his “slanty eyes” comment a few years ago, even with all his faults he will not suffer fools…….as Mr Wilmar found out
HUMMMmmmmm,
Perhaps the publicity about modern windmills being bird and bat shredders is getting a bit too loud and this is the beginning of a bit of back pedaling. Can’t wake up the “Useful Innocents” now can we.
But not to worry. Over a year ago James Delingpole reported that Global Cooling was on the Bilderberg agenda. I wonder what the next scam they are hatching will be??? Ocean Acidification??? Loss of oxgen in the air from burning fossil fuel???
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100055500/global-cooling-and-the-new-world-order/
“The common enemy of humanity is man.
In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up
with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming,
water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these
dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through
changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome.
The real enemy then, is humanity itself.”
~ Club of Rome
If they wish to continue to herd us they must come up with something new, or perhaps not.
With the EU and the World Trade Organization they have done a very good job of transferring national sovereignty FROM the nation states (people) to a bunch of unelected international bureaucrats. “Harmonization” of laws and the WTO riding roughshod over national wishes when there are clashes means there has been a definate shift. So we already have a “Global Government” of sorts and most people are not even aware of it. The intentional collapse of the EU and USA and the rise of China and India has shifted the balance of power furthering the push towards “Global Governance”
So How far along are they???
International Conference on Harmonization (pharmacuticals & Medical Devices) http://www.ich.org/
International Tax Harmonization – http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTTPA/Resources/Velayos-Villela-Barreix.pdf
Harmonization of International Commercial Law – http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Unification_Harmonization1.htm
Good Farming Practices – http://www.oie.int/doc/en_ListDocument.php?line_0%5Bvalue%5D=3573905&line_0%5Bfield%5D=descripteur&typerec=Index
Good Agricultural Practices – http://www.fao.org/prods/gap/
Harmonization of Criminal Law – http://www.tni.org/article/global-enforcement-regimes
EU – http://www.cicerofoundation.org/pdf/lecture_vermeulen.ppt
Cybercrime ~ http://www.cybercrimelaw.net/documents/cybercrime_history.pdf
Food and drug law harmonization is almost complete and they are working on the rest even a International currency http://theglobaljournal.net/article/view/256/
In that picture are 8 turbines, each probably rated at 2MW. Given a typical load factor of 25%, on average they produce as much power (4MW) as is consumed by a large pump motor at a conventional power station. That pump motor is about the size of a car, not the size of 24 jumbo jet wings on giant towers. The pump motor works continuously at full power, not intermittently when the wind blows at the right speed.
That just about says it all.
O H Dahlsveen & Willis E
RE “electricity is conducted away” How?
I live in Washington State where the Columbia River dams provide much electrical power. Transmission lines (towers) have been part of the system for many years. Locally, wind turbans are established near the existing lines and feed to them. New towers and lines have not been built – and likely not possible.
They also get paid for the electricity they do produce and, of course, they get paid to not produce electricity as well as in not to overload the net.
So on top the current subsidized package (500 million at a meagre 2% production, what will it cost at 10%?), all paid for by the huddled masses called the british tax paying collective, who then kindly has to pay over the market price to the same corporations (just as in Cali), and of course the profit from producing and not producing is quickly spirited out of the country all legal.
I really like the set up though, it’s really nifty to get the customer to pay for the wind farms at the same time they pay for the equivalent in MWe of new coal fired power plants, so they can get pre paid nuclear power plants as well, and still ending up raking in the original investment plus the cream of the profit from all the parts in the “trinity” package. What if an automobile manufacturer could get the same … we’d be reinventing soviet industries. :p
Is it any wonder that they need to add more energy based taxes that they need to keep raising ad bonkers?