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[Viral_Jim]

A couple of news stories caught my eye this weekend, it is somewhat apposite that in the same week as a tanker begins burning/discharging over 130,000 tonnes of oil into the sea off the chinese coast, the dutch announce plans for the world's biggest off-shore wind farm, along with an entire man-made island to support it!

http://uk.businessinsider.com/worlds-largest-wind-farm-netherlands-island-2018-1?r=US&IR=T
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-shipping-accident-oil/iranian-oil-tanker-burns-32-missing-after-collision-off-chinas-coast-idUSKBN1EW059

Given that the cost of off-shore wind electric has now dropped below the projected cost of Hinkley point C (which will doubtless be far less than the final cost). Hopefully the dutch project will mark something of a step change and we can move more quickly away from digging things up and burning them as a way to get around and stay warm. 

Seeing as everyone loves to bang on about how renewables only work when subsidised, the below article is worth a read, if only because it sets out in black and white the subsidy paid to Off-shore wind vs Nuclear.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-renewables-auction/new-british-wind-power-deals-cheaper-than-nuclear-supplies-idUKKCN1BM16E

Its also worth noting that no mention has been made of the clearup costs when we finally shut Hinkley, which given that sellafield's costs are currently running at £70bn and still rising every year, will doubtless make offshore wind, solar, (or harvesting the power of unicorn tears) look like a bargain 


PS. The xmas smileys have finally gone 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I like wind turbines.

......and production is becoming less expensive.

[Varche]

Nice to see the building of more land. That is something we ought to do in. Britain.

[Mister Rog]

I like wind turbines.

......and production is becoming less expensive.

So do I, but around my way the NIMBY effect kicks in big time every time a new one is proposed

[Keith ABS]

  I have often said that a wind turbine should have the main column painted green, the blades yellow and the centre hub orange
A giant daffodil

Keith ABS

[STEMO]

  I have often said that a wind turbine should have the main column painted green, the blades yellow and the centre hub orange
A giant daffodil

Keith ABS

Look a bit silly in the North Sea. 

[Fraggles Rock]

https://goo.gl/images/hiqd6n ...

[Lizzie Zoom]

  I have often said that a wind turbine should have the main column painted green, the blades yellow and the centre hub orange
A giant daffodil

Keith ABS

That is a fab idea!

We could have pretty, pretty, flowers everywhere, with a tangerine sky, and I could again put roses in my hair, listening to the flowers grow, floating away in a haze of purple and green................

Oh God, just realised this is 2017* not 1967!  Bloody shame!! Where's my LSD?

Still love the idea of coloured turbines

* Before someone says "No its not!", I am using poetic licence as 2018 would not fit, as by 1968 Flower Power was "so yesterday" with it fading fast, like a flower in  Winter

[Marks DTM Calib]

I like wind turbines.

......and production is becoming less expensive.

They have a place but are not the answer.....and never will be sadly.

I recall there being circa 8500 in the UK at the moment and at best, they can only knock out 18GW....until the wind stops blowing that is!

We need a mix of technologies and nuclear has to be in that mix....certainly for the next 20 years or so.

[Sir Tigger KC]

Trouble with nuclear is that it's not just for 20 years or so as we still don't know what to do with the waste. 

Hopefully future generations will find a use for it, but I suspect that they will be cursing us in the centuries to come. 

[LC0112G]

But it's pointless pretending that renewables are anything more than part of the answer.

Turbines & Wave - The wind doesn't always blow
Solar - It's dark for at least 50% of the day
Tidal - only 2 tides a day

On a good day renewables may be able to supply some, perhaps even most of our power requirements. But if it's calm and dark and high/low tide when Eastenders finishes the lights are going to go out unless there is some other reliable power available. Currently that's either gas, coal or nuclear, and it'll remain that way until/unless someone comes up with a way of storing excess renewable energy to even out the load. And no, traditional batteries aren't the answer.

[Nick W]

But it's pointless pretending that renewables are anything more than part of the answer.

Turbines & Wave - The wind doesn't always blow
Solar - It's dark for at least 50% of the day
Tidal - only 2 tides a day

On a good day renewables may be able to supply some, perhaps even most of our power requirements. But if it's calm and dark and high/low tide when Eastenders finishes the lights are going to go out unless there is some other reliable power available. Currently that's either gas, coal or nuclear, and it'll remain that way until/unless someone comes up with a way of storing excess renewable energy to even out the load. And no, traditional batteries aren't the answer.

You omitted hydro-electric, but that also has environmental issues, and we've probably built as many as are possible in the UK. Some joined-up thinking and planning was required about 40 years ago, which didn't happen. And there's no chance of it happening now

[Mister Rog]

Relax everyone. I have the answer.

I've invested in a super-big scale hamster farm, along with several hundred thousand hamster wheel turbines

Plus, I'll sell all the hamster poo as fertilizer, unless it can be used as a biofuel

[ronnyd]

  I have often said that a wind turbine should have the main column painted green, the blades yellow and the centre hub orange
A giant daffodil

Keith ABS

As a long suffering Ipswich Town fan i find that idea quite abhorrent 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

  I have often said that a wind turbine should have the main column painted green, the blades yellow and the centre hub orange
A giant daffodil

Keith ABS

That is a fab idea!

We could have pretty, pretty, flowers everywhere, with a tangerine sky, and I could again put roses in my hair, listening to the flowers grow, floating away in a haze of purple and green................

Oh God, just realised this is 2017* not 1967!  Bloody shame!! Where's my LSD?

Still love the idea of coloured turbines

* Before someone says "No its not!", I am using poetic licence as 2018 would not fit, as by 1968 Flower Power was "so yesterday" with it fading fast, like a flower in  Winter

You might be best to just sit watching flowers in the rain, Lizzie.

.....or perhaps you feel inclined to blow your mind get hung up feed the ducks with a bun.