The public was told that wind turbines would ‘save the planet’, or at least the UK’s minuscule 1.13 percent proportion of it.
What they were not told was that huge emissions would be created by the manufacture, shipping, haulage, site preparation, and erection of wind turbines.
The fact that nearly all the turbines in the UK were not manufactured here has no relevance – greenhouse gases are greenhouse gases no matter where they’re created.
A small 2.3 MW wind turbine has 1,300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of glass fiber, and four tons of copper plus rare metals which create pollution in the countries where they are mined.
On a national scale, there are 2,620 onshore wind turbines with a generating capacity of 3,679 MW. This is before we even start on the offshore wind farms.
How much greenhouse gas was created for all the turbines in the UK and how many years will it take until they are carbon-neutral?
In addition, there are the emissions caused by manufacturing the cabling to transmit this ‘green’ electricity to where it is needed, often hundreds of miles.
Our politicians are betraying the public by failing to ask the awkward question of how many years it will take until the existing turbines and proposed turbines are carbon-neutral.
Could it be they want to keep us in the dark? This, of course, is a real possibility when the wind does not blow or blows too much.
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Q.How many liberal Democrats dose it take to screw in a Lightbulb? A.None they prefer to live in the dark
Enjoy your delusion for the next 4 years.
if the wind is blowing at 12 knots per hour, a typical large-scale wind generator will have produced enough energy to duplicate itself it about 2.2 hours.
Fossil fuel generators remain carbon positive their entire life.
What do you mean by “duplicate itself”? You made a claim I’ve never seen or heard before. It seems impossible that a few hours of intercepted wind could provide the energy needed to produce just the concrete for the base of a turbine installation.
G’Day Drewski. FYI – a “Knot” is one nautical mile per hour, so ‘knots per hour’ would be a measure of acceleration.
If farmers spread some of the chemicals involved in solar panels on their farmland, they would break pollution laws in many countries. Wind turbines are not entirely free of heavy metals, rare earths and the like as well. Turbines, like panels, have a limited life span. What happens once this usable life runs out?
Do the production, transportation, erection, maintenance and clean up requirements outweigh the benefits accrued in the serviceable life? There are many necessary questions which have been scant attention in the rush to save the planet, despite reasonable doubt as to whether or not this planet saving is actually necessary.
Naturally, though, if we are constantly told that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, we shall be too scared to hasten slowly.
Germany at present is decommissioning their ageing 20 year old wind generators costing them billions and cannot get them recycled as fibreglass is more dangerous to handle than asbestos so they are shipping them to West Africa and paying them to dispose them . We all know what will happen to them in a third world country .They will be dumped in lush valleys .
Karl Englund is chief technology officer for Global Fiberglass. The company has developed – and is scaling up – a plant in Sweetwater, Texas to recycle fiberglass from wind turbine blades and other sources.
Mosat interesting information, I know of the huge problem of the blades that are considered as toxic wastes. Do you have a reference that the Germans will send the wastes to West Africa? It would be most useful for me to enlighten the Swedes about the horrors of wind energy
Global Fiber Glass (GFG) is an established endeavour in the field of Composites Industry in UAE & INDIA. They also have an office in South Africa.
Interesting. Their “About Us” web page is “Protected” – I was unable to download it for further study. No mention of any activity in the US.
“Could it be they want to keep us in the dark? This, of course, is a real possibility when the wind does not blow or blows too much.”
Freezing weather doesn’t help either.
I still laugh when I recall a news article from last winter – Tesla owners who couldn’t open the doors of their vehicle. One of todays lower priced Jeeps actually comes with crank-up windows.
Wind and Solar energy is not enviromentaly friendly their harmful to the Birds especialy the bigger ones the Eagles and Condors their nosie and there eyesore as well
A great post, actually wind and solar energy produce 4 and 6 times more CO2 per kWh compared to nuclear. Thus, wind and solar is not at all “green”, se link that provide the information: https://group.vattenfall.com/siteassets/corporate/who-we-are/sustainability/doc/lca-brochure-2018.pdf?_t_id=XmpIxuIem4pThDbdTEdjPg%3d%3d&_t_uuid=Xgd67Ou4RRCdV766qU7JNg&_t_q=LCA&_t_tags=language%3aen%2csiteid%3aec6448d4-f3c8-47b9-b9c4-42845a8acf13%2candquerymatch&_t_hit.id=Corporate_Web_Cms_ContentTypes_Media_PdfFile/_a2855e5c-f48e-46eb-96c9-8d96a32e4e17&_t_hit.pos=1