William sent in the link https://www.yahoo.com/news/wind-solar-power-myth-finally-094338655.html … the wind and solar power myth has finally been exposed, says the headline. Governments in the western world have tied their arms behind their backs and trussed up their legs in order to reach the scary goal of net zero – although the US investment crowd appear to control all angles – green energy, as well as oil and gas. They hold all the cards and have Europe under their thumb. How to garner a market – in energy.
However, that is not the point made by the link. They are only suggesting some upcoming problems with wind and solar – as if it will make a difference. The hedge funds hold all the cards – in the US and Europe. It simply will not make a jot of difference. These guys have explored all the ways the cookie may crumble – and hedged their bets, so to speak. The lines are clearly set out with the media and politicos in their pockets. What can a few stroppy proles do about it?
According to the link the flaw is that it is all a pipe dream. Trouble is that it has worked. Successfully. It may have lasted longer than they thought it would. Wind does not always blow and solar is absent during the hours of the night – 50 per cent of the time. Worse, solar is inefficient in cloudy weather. We get plenty of clouds in NW Europe. That means solar only produces 25 per cent of capacity – any day of the week [on average]. They are paid for 100 per cent in most places. Nice investment if you can get it. Politicians in the US and Europe seem to think you can keep on building wind farms and banks of solar panels until you eventually reach net zero. The reality, we are told, is they have only kept the lights on by using existing fossil fuel power stations as back up for wind and solar. One point I did not know is that gas turbines have themselves been upgraded to open cycle gas turbines in order to throttle up and down easily, and quickly. This update to gas is expensive – and is passed on to the consumer. The ‘unmentionable’ problem here is open cycle turbines use almost twice as much gas as the earlier turbines = trwice as much emissions. All because of the goal of going net zero. Emissions have been going up rather than coming down. Unintended consequences. Looking at it soberly one can see we are actually doubling our emissions for one single reason – to keep wind and solar on the go – and the huge subsidies. Do you really think anyone really cares about fossil fuel emissions?
The politicos have scored a succession of own goals as the net zero goal has dominated their thinking. However, instead of net zero they are on the way to net numpties. A fist full of grit instead of a pearl. The cost of hitting the net zero target is eye watering and most politicos just put their fingers in their ears, it would seem. Yet, there is a way to reach net zero – as far as power production is concerned. Even the young, most vociferous in support of the process, will face the effects as their mobile phones will be useless without enough electricity to charge them – or the massive amounts of electricity required for internet installations. What will the politicos choose. Keeping the lights on, keeping hospitals running, or keeping the subsidy machine running so the fat cats get more and more wealthy. The answer is of course nuclear – if you insist on net zero. It is clean energy, as far as co2 production is concerned. However, the idea of starting and stopping nuclear power stations in order to keep wind and solar subsidies running along is out of the question. This is why nuclear power is demonised – especially by the Green Blob. Politicos know that nuclear does not produce co2 – and have known for 30 years. Yet, they have resisted the idea of building new nuclear power stations over and over again. The whole of the UK parliament is united against the idea. Wind and solar is salvation, apparently. You may also note that nuclear, unlike wind and solar, does not kill birds and bats or migrating butterflies, and does not scorch the earth or present a problem to flora and fauna, unlike the huge concrete platforms used to house the wind mills, or the banks of solar panels. In reality the global warming/ climate change message is anti-environment. Yet, somehow it is presented as an environmental issue. Even Charlie Chuckles seems to think so. It is clearly nothing to do with the environment. Who in their right mind would think for one moment wind and solar is environmentally friendly when it is actually destroying the envrionment. Politicos are of course not known for their practicality – only for their rhetoric. A recent survey of UK parliamentarians came up with the obvious result – all those that bothered to respond were firmly of the opinion global warming is happening [even though there is no evidence anywhere that it is]. A complete lack of critical thinking. Or common sense. Parliament in the UK is chock full of mutton heads.
The same story is also at a lot of internet blogs. See for example https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2023/05/10/the-wind-and-solar-power-myth-has-finally-been-exposed/#more-62425 …