It could be argued that the basic arithmetic showing wind power is an economic and societal disaster in the making should be clear to a bright primary school child. Now the Oxford University mathematician and physicist, researcher at CERN and Fellow of Keble College, Emeritus Professor Wade Allison has done the sums. The U.K. is facing the likelihood of a failure in the electricity supply, he concludes. “Wind power fails on every count,” he says, adding that governments are ignoring “overwhelming evidence” of the inadequacies of wind power, “and resorting to bluster rather than reasoned analysis”.
Professor Allison’s dire warnings are contained in a short paper recently published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. He notes that the energy provided by the Sun is “extremely weak”, which is why it was unable to provide the energy to sustain even a small global population before the Industrial Revolution with an acceptable standard of living. A similar point was made recently in more dramatic fashion by the nuclear physicist Dr. Wallace Manheimer. He argued that the infrastructure around wind and solar will not only fail, “but will cost trillions, trash large portions of the environment and be entirely unnecessary”.
In his paper, Allison concentrates on working out the numbers that lie behind the natural fluctuations in the wind. The full workings out are not complicated and can be assessed from the link above. He shows that at a wind speed of 20mph, the power produced by a wind turbine is 600 watts per square metre at full efficiency. To deliver the same power as the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant – 3,200 million watts – it would require 5.5 million square metres of turbine swept area.
It is noted that this should be quite unacceptable to those who care about birds and other environmentalists. Of course, this concern does not seem to have materialised to date. Millions of bats and birds are calculated to be slaughtered by onshore wind turbines every year. Meanwhile, off the coast of Massachusetts, work is about to start on a giant wind farm, complete with permits to harass and likely injure almost a tenth of the population of the rare North Atlantic Right whale.
When fluctuations in wind speed are taken into account in Allison’s formula, the performance of wind becomes very much worse. If the wind speed drops by half, the power available falls by a factor of eight. Almost worse, he notes, if the wind speed doubles, the power delivered goes up eight times, and the turbine has to be turned off for its own protection.
The effect of the enhanced fluctuations is dramatic, as shown in the graph above. The installed nominal generating capacity in the EU and U.K. in 2021, shown by the brown dashed line, was 236 GW, but the highest daily output was only 103 GW on March 26th. The unreliability is shown to even greater effect in the second graph that plots the wind generated offshore in the U.K. in March last year.
For eight days at the end of the month, power generation slumped, presumably, says Allison, because the wind speed halved. The 8.8 GW daily loss over the period was noted to be 1,000 times the capacity of the world largest grid storage battery at Moss Landings in California. When it comes to the enormous batteries needed to store renewable power, Allison notes the problems with safety, as well as mineral shortages. Batteries will never make good the failure of offshore wind farms, even for a week, and he points out they can fail for much longer than that.
Others have recently looked in more detail at the costs of battery storage. The American lawyer and mathematician Francis Menton, who runs the Manhattan Contrarian site, reviewed recent official cost reports and found that “even on the most optimistic assumptions” the cost could be as high as a country’s GDP. On less optimistic assumptions, the capital cost alone could be 15 times annual GDP. Last year, Associate Professor Simon Michaux warned the Finnish Government that there were not enough minerals in the world to supply all the batteries needed for Net Zero. Michaux observed that the Net Zero project may not go fully “as planned”. Meanwhile, Menton concluded, with an opinion that some might consider unduly charitable: “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the people planning the Net Zero transition have no idea what they are doing.”
Professor Allison has done his sums based on basic physics and freely available information. “Whichever way you look at it, wind power is inadequate. It is intermittent and unreliable; it is exposed and vulnerable; it is weak with a short life-span,” he concludes.
Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Thursday Morning Norreys Drive
& Shoppenhangers Rd Maidenhead
Ministers should have known ‘within hours’ about ricin found in Southport suspect’s home
Errr……Ministers would have been told within hours about ricin in Southport…….
‘There are three widely-documented malicious uses of Ricin: in the assassination of Georgi Markov in London in 1978, and in two other cases (one in Paris and one in the US)’
‘Ricin is indeed ‘Macavity The Mystery Cat’: it virtually disappears in the body. This ‘vanishing’ characteristic is its unique quality’
‘Arrests in London – January 2003 In this case, we have is persons with suspected Al Qa’ida links carrying a material that is useful for covert assassination. We do know that Ricin was found in caves in Afghanistan formerly occupied by Al Qa’ida……one of those arrested was a chemist and would probably have understood Ricin and its benefits and limitations…….Using Ricin would give them a better chance of getting away than if they used more open methods such as guns……would-be assassins wanted to disguise the killing of someone as a natural death. If no one had talked about Ricin for over a decade, and if the assassins had managed to get the Ricin into the victim undetected (as in the Paris attack), it may well have worked. But who and why? Perhaps extremists wanted to kill moderate Muslim clerics and avoid the blame?’
Markov: ‘Mr Markov told him that a well-built man with a foreign accent had pushed him in the leg with the point of his umbrella and said “I am sorry” and disappeared into a taxi…..Markov….was murdered, Scotland Yard said yesterday. Evidence to back this comes from the discovery of a tiny metal pellet in Mr Markov’s leg which is identical to a pellet removed from the back of another Bulgarian exile earlier this week. The second pellet, which is now being examined at the Metropolitan Police laboratory, was taken from Mr Vladimir Kostov, former head of the Paris Bureau of the Bulgarian State Radio and TV network…….Mr Kostov said that as he was leaving the Arc de Triomphe Metro station on August 27 he heard a crack which sounded like an airgun report and felt a sting on the right side of his back. Although the wound became inflamed he quickly recovered. The existence of a pellet, found by doctors on Tuesday and in the presence of two Scotland Yard detectives, strengthens suspicions that the umbrella with which Mr Markov was injured was a sophisticated gun……brought in experts in bacterial warfare agents from the Ministry of Defence establishment at Porton Down, Wiltshire, was told to a coroner in London. After two hours of pathological evidence, Mr Gavin Thurston, the Inner West London coroner, said that under new investigation he was prevented from returning a verdict of murder or manslaughter.
“Mr Markov has died of toxaemia caused by the implantation of a metal pellet containing ricin, and that it is quite impossible that this was done by Mr Markov himself.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2020/sep/09/georgi-markov-killed-poisoned-umbrella-london-1978
‘A tiny pellet that had two small holes drilled in at 90 degrees to create an X-shaped cavity. This cavity would have been able to hold a very small amount of poison, which led people to believe Markov did not die of natural causes and that this pellet may have been plugged up with a coating that was designed to melt at body temperature. The pellet was likely shot into Markov’s thigh, the coating melted and allowed the toxin to be absorbed into his body.
‘Ricin: …..as little as 0.5 milligrams can kill an adult. The symptoms of ricin poisoning often occur within eight hours of the initial exposure and they include vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, and high temperature – all of which Markov suffered with.
Years after the assassination on Waterloo Bridge, a Dane of Italian origin called Francesco Gullino was identified by a Bulgarian journalist as a renowned Soviet-era assassin. It is believed that Gullino came to London to neutralize Markov.
‘The murder weapon is now believed to have been a smaller hand-held weapon.’
Why would Government Ministers have been informed immediately?
‘….the probability that Markov was shot not by a lone individual wielding an umbrella, but that his death was the result of the concerted action of a larger team.’
But that is, of course, also the reason why that information would not have been made public.
They knew & still they doubled down on the indigenous who also knew !!!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/clyr4kz18dyo
This bloke should be in the Cabinet:
‘In New Zealand when we perform the haka to someone it’s a sign of respect. It’s performed at 21sts, and at weddings. Yes, it’s about laying down a challenge, and it’s up to the opposition how they would like to perceive that challenge, but to us it’s a sign of respect.’
NZ head coach, Scott Robertson
‘Its meaning has changed since tribes used to fight each other 200 years ago, but it’s the older interpretation that was adopted by our All Black rugby team who perform a haka just before the start of a game as a kind of challenge to fight.
According to the New Zealand government’s own promotional website, the Haka traditionally “served to invigorate warriors as they headed into battle”.
So should this bloke:
’Sorry to any New Zealand fans I upset with my poorly articulated tweet earlier in the week,” Marler posted on X. “I meant no malice in asking for it to be binned, just want to see the restrictions lifted to allow for a response without sanction.
‘I’m grateful for the education received on how important the haka is to the New Zealand culture and hope others have a better understanding too.’
Hopefully someone here can explain about the pensions inheritance. I thought a pension was for the use of a worker in retirement, with a side obligation for the pension provider to continue to pay a deceased worker’s widow. Why should non dependent children and beneficiaries get it? Isn’t the point of pensions a “some you win, some you lose” thing, because pensions cannot be funded if they all pay out to the max in every single case?
Can you only pass on annuity based pensions or does it apply to final salary pensions as well?
I get the ‘government shouldn’t grab your money’ argument but people have had tax relief on those pension contributions. You’re in a good place if you are wealthy enough to not need to touch your pension pot.
Search for “pension inheritance rules” if it is not clear what can be done. It is possible in many schemes to nominate a potential beneficiary if, or when you die.
“You’re in a good place if you are wealthy enough to not need to touch your pension pot.”
Not necessarily, some people have less extravagant lifestyles and if you have invested your earnings in your home and savings then you will not have rent to pay from your pension, which makes a significant difference.
Sadly this government seems to think spending every penny you earn is a virtue and punishes prudence.
This government is wholly committed to stripping wealth and savings from normal working people, the type I suspect who post on DS. The wealthy will be ring-fenced.
Everything this government does has at heart the aim of depopulation and control and once that view is understood all government actions make sense.
Agenda 2030.
‘This government is wholly committed to stripping wealth and savings from normal working people’.
I too, have reached this conclusion. This government cannot stomach the idea of a mostly independent citizen.
The situation is different with a personal contributions based pension (SIPP). There is no guaranteed payout level and employer contribution levels are usually pretty low. It is also often managed by the pensioner themselves.
Not really.
SIPP’s are Self Invested Personal Pensions and were introduced to benefit the self employed and small businesses. There are not two sources of contributions – Self Invested.
The PM, government, CPS, judicial system and the police are a fu#@ing nest of snakes over this Axel Rudakubana debacle!
Heads should roll, all the way to the top
I hope the whole lot of them rot from the inside with infighting and finger pointing
And all those falsely imprisoned should be immediately released!
Something stinks with this story even with the recent “news.”
How did a 17 year old lad get hold of Ricin? Assuming he did then others are involved and this issue is way bigger than we are being told.
I believe the whole story is gaslighting. All fiction but why?
Apparently it’s made from castor beans (as in the oil) but I suspect you’d have to know how to refine it
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/10/30/ten-fundamental-climate-questions-the-media-and-climate-alarmists-cant-or-wont-answer/
The Observers Book of Climate Change: a handy guide
Today’s quiz for those expert ‘climate scientists’:
What is the correct global mean surface temperature (GMST) for life on Earth and why? Numerical answer required, with workings.
What is the correct atmospheric CO₂ level for life on Earth (in volume percentage)?
What exactly makes CO₂ “pollution”?
How was the climate less dangerous in the 17-19th centuries, the end of the Little Ice Age?
What have been the observed benefits of The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that President Biden signed into law in 2022 so far?
By how much will decarbonization of the economy by 2050 reduce the Global Mean Surface Temperature?
Who are you expecting to pay for the $275 trillion cost of global net zero by the year 2050?
Are China and India combating climate change (submit numerical costed evidence)?
Given that currently, 200 ships are nuclear powered, what is wrong with nuclear power?
If humans are the problem, why don’t you personally embrace change and “nut zero” yourself?
Superb
Driving you off the road
As some of the links above note, many of the budget announcements will have their effect over future years. This seems to include the effect on motoring, they avoided making any headling grabbing changes on fuel duty but if you unravel the budget announcements it seems to me to be quite an insidious attack on motoring for the hoi-polloi.
This link explains what is happening to the car tax on new cars;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FfAHUegoIw
Of course many of us would not think of buying a new car, many of us look to pick up an 3/4 year old bargain ex-lease car. But of course for there to be any secondhand cars someone has to buy the new ones in the first place. These budget changes look to be pushing to limit the number of new petrol/diesel (ICE)l cars that are sold. If that is the case then there will be very few ex-lease ICE cars coming up for sale in 3 years time. Other commentators have said they were surprised there were no big subsidies announced for people to buy EVs. This could lead one to think that there is an underlying message here of the end of private motoring.
At the same time the car insurance industry is changing they way they calculate insurance premiums with risk being a key factor. The insurance industry is increasingly giving EVs a high risk rating. The effect of this is that increasingly EVs are being ‘written-off’ for what in an ICE car would be minor damage. The insurance industry increasingly rates the slightest damage to an EV battery as high risk, even if repaired the risk of a subsequent fire is too high and so the car is written off.
And so we have a clear attempt to limit the number of secondhand ICE cars coming to the market in a few years time. Whilst EVs are increasingly being seen as one user disposable commodity items. Even if there was a secondhand EV available would you risk buying it? These policies are being ‘driven’ through by urban elitist politicians who seem to see no need for the hoi-polloi to have cars. It will have a major impact on rural areas. Is this the thin end of the wedge leading to the end of private motoring?
Thanks for saying it for me. I had worked out that the tax on new cars would impact on second hand stocks but you have summarised this very succinctly. 👍
There is no question that private motoring is to be eliminated. I expect further tightening within six months.
“Rioter who died in prison hanged himself, inquest hears”
Any more news about the TEN MUSLIM RIOTERS GIVEN SUSPENDED SENTENCES after pleading guilty to the exact same “violent disorder” charge that Peter Lynch was thrown into prison for, and died there?
David Atherton on X: “🚨Outrageous two-tier Justice🚨 Lawyer Akhmed Yakoob is at Birmingham Crown Court defending 10 of his clients. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wounding & violent disorder. The conspiracy charges were dropped, but they pleaded guilty of violent disorder. Suspended https://t.co/BnvteMmWgI” / X