Wind Farms
Are wind farms green? In a world with constant wind and infinite lifetime for turbines there would be no need to ask this question. In the real world the wind dies and turbines must be replaced.
According to UK Energy Research Centre the cost of wind power is a bit higher than gas:
Wind being about 45 euros a megawatt hour and gas about 35 euros. These costs include the allowance for CO2 shown in the study below (ie:they are not the basic cost but the CO2 adjusted cost).
According to The economics of Wind Power The current basic cost of wind power is about twice that of fossil fuels and considerably higher even when CO2 tariffs are included:
This study uses actual prices for the basic costs. The basic cost for coal is 35 euros a megawatt hour and 70 euros for wind power. The taxpayer foots the bill for the difference. The CO2 adjusted costs are closer to each other (45 euros vs 35).
There can be no doubt that wind turbines, taken by themselves are "green", they have little or no CO2 burden compared with fossil fuels. Unfortunately, because the wind drops, wind turbines cannot be taken by themselves.
There are 8,760 hours in a year and even offshore wind turbines are only rated to produce power for about 3,500 hours a year ("An on-land installation normally has around 2000-2300 full load hours per year"). In the absence of adequate energy storage wind power must be backed up by fossil fuel or nuclear power stations. This means that sufficient energy production for the peak load of the country must be held in reserve in the form of standby gas, coal or nuclear power. Unfortunately the coldest periods of the year are often accompanied by large high pressure regions which are associated with light winds. These high pressure regions are often continental in extent so wind power will always need to be fully backed up by other forms of power generation. This means that the capital cost of wind power generation should always be doubled to get a real estimate which increases the cost per megawatt dramatically.
Given that wind turbines are only active for 30-40% of the year they carry with them the CO2 burden of the back up generator. At present this is fossil fuel based so wind farms are only about 40% greener than fossil fuel. If the backup were green then wind power would be fully green but then we would use the backup instead of the wind farms. Wind farms are total folly based on an ill judged European Environmental Policy; this is not just my conclusion, see for instance: Electricity Costs: The Folly of Wind Power. Ruth Lea by the independent Civitas Think Tank.
Overall it seems that wind farms are an expensive, transitional technology to allow governments to meet their treaty obligations. They would do better to spend the money on fusion research (see Nuclear Fusion).
The reason that wind power is being pursued in a fanatical fashion is that the Government has signed the mandatory European Union Renewable Energy Road Map:
"The Road Map sets an overall mandatory target of 20% for the proportion of renewable energy figuring in gross domestic consumption by 2020. Setting targets at European level will make it possible to ensure that national policies on this issue remain relatively stable."
Land based wind power has by far the lowest capital investment to achieve this target, especially as its "greeness" is calculated solely on the costs whilst generating power (does not include fossil fuel back up and the road map does not even include a requirement that back up power generation should exist).
It is intriguing that whilst well-run countries have built up their own wind-power industries, for instance Germany has generated about 38,000 manufacturing jobs, the British Labour Government, one of the biggest investors in wind power anywhere, have bought in the technology from overseas and scarcely employed anyone in the UK at all. The huge government subsidies mean that this industry is a government financed industry and the UK could have insisted its suppliers were UK based. Poor old Brits, governed by morons. It is so easy for the Germans, their politicians think "I am elected to serve the people who voted for me, it is my duty to provide work for them therefore I will" whereas a British politician thinks "I don't give a damn for the idiots who voted for me, I hate the English tattooed thugs anyway, I might get a job as an EU commissioner if I get in well with the Germans".
References
A REVIEW OF ELECTRICITY UNIT COST ESTIMATES Working Paper, December 2006 - Updated May 2007
The economics of Wind Power, Part III was compiled by Poul Erik Morthorst of Risø DTU National Laboratory, Technical University of Denmark; Hans Auer of the Energy Economics Group, University of Vienna; Andrew Garrad of Garrad Hassan and Partners; Isabel Blanco of UAH, Spain.
Recycling of paper
Paper recycling seems to be an obviously "green" activity. However, when all of the environmental costs and benefits in the UK are taken into account it is a surprisingly "close run" debate. Everyone is agreed that disposing of waste paper in landfill is highly damaging, producing methane as the paper rots and providing no recovery of production costs. On the other hand, when recycling is compared to virgin production and incineration for energy production there is little advantage in recycling.
"Much of the research concerning the preferred end use of paper takes the form of life cycle studies which compare the environmental impacts of various wastepaper disposal/use scenarios. A number of life cycle analyses (LCAs) have been published comparing the environmental impact of waste paper recycling and incineration. Of these, some conclude that under certain conditions paper recycling has less environmental impact than incineration [29;30]. Others conclude the opposite[31;32]." (Paper recycling: exposing the myths).
However, the use of cheap and nasty incinerators that emit ash and volatile components has undermined the case for incineration. In the absence of incinerators producing electricity from paper the other alternative for processing paper is recycling.
If well designed incinerators were used that had regulated emission standards the incinerator option would provide the elusive green reservoir power that is needed in any renewable power generation system. The recycling industry argues that incineration would create a demand for paper products but it would no more do this than the recycling industry itself.
The reason the government favours recycling is that the UK is a large importer of paper and pulp. Recycling could save about £2 billion from our import bill - this saving might also be obtained if incineration were used because this would save imported oil at up to $100 a barrel.
Should you be fined by your council if you fail to sort your rubbish? I run a business and pay a small premium for the waste disposal company to sort our rubbish. It is the same operator as the council uses. If I do not want to sort my rubbish I should have the option to pay a slightly higher charge to get it sorted. There is absolutely no reason for fines.
The real answer to paper pollution is to use much less paper.
Towards a sustainable paper cycle, International institute for Environment and Development
Friends of the Earth Briefing: Paper recycling: exposing the myths
Are wind farms green? In a world with constant wind and infinite lifetime for turbines there would be no need to ask this question. In the real world the wind dies and turbines must be replaced.
According to UK Energy Research Centre the cost of wind power is a bit higher than gas:
Wind being about 45 euros a megawatt hour and gas about 35 euros. These costs include the allowance for CO2 shown in the study below (ie:they are not the basic cost but the CO2 adjusted cost).
According to The economics of Wind Power The current basic cost of wind power is about twice that of fossil fuels and considerably higher even when CO2 tariffs are included:
This study uses actual prices for the basic costs. The basic cost for coal is 35 euros a megawatt hour and 70 euros for wind power. The taxpayer foots the bill for the difference. The CO2 adjusted costs are closer to each other (45 euros vs 35).
There can be no doubt that wind turbines, taken by themselves are "green", they have little or no CO2 burden compared with fossil fuels. Unfortunately, because the wind drops, wind turbines cannot be taken by themselves.
There are 8,760 hours in a year and even offshore wind turbines are only rated to produce power for about 3,500 hours a year ("An on-land installation normally has around 2000-2300 full load hours per year"). In the absence of adequate energy storage wind power must be backed up by fossil fuel or nuclear power stations. This means that sufficient energy production for the peak load of the country must be held in reserve in the form of standby gas, coal or nuclear power. Unfortunately the coldest periods of the year are often accompanied by large high pressure regions which are associated with light winds. These high pressure regions are often continental in extent so wind power will always need to be fully backed up by other forms of power generation. This means that the capital cost of wind power generation should always be doubled to get a real estimate which increases the cost per megawatt dramatically.
Given that wind turbines are only active for 30-40% of the year they carry with them the CO2 burden of the back up generator. At present this is fossil fuel based so wind farms are only about 40% greener than fossil fuel. If the backup were green then wind power would be fully green but then we would use the backup instead of the wind farms. Wind farms are total folly based on an ill judged European Environmental Policy; this is not just my conclusion, see for instance: Electricity Costs: The Folly of Wind Power. Ruth Lea by the independent Civitas Think Tank.
Overall it seems that wind farms are an expensive, transitional technology to allow governments to meet their treaty obligations. They would do better to spend the money on fusion research (see Nuclear Fusion).
The reason that wind power is being pursued in a fanatical fashion is that the Government has signed the mandatory European Union Renewable Energy Road Map:
"The Road Map sets an overall mandatory target of 20% for the proportion of renewable energy figuring in gross domestic consumption by 2020. Setting targets at European level will make it possible to ensure that national policies on this issue remain relatively stable."
Land based wind power has by far the lowest capital investment to achieve this target, especially as its "greeness" is calculated solely on the costs whilst generating power (does not include fossil fuel back up and the road map does not even include a requirement that back up power generation should exist).
It is intriguing that whilst well-run countries have built up their own wind-power industries, for instance Germany has generated about 38,000 manufacturing jobs, the British Labour Government, one of the biggest investors in wind power anywhere, have bought in the technology from overseas and scarcely employed anyone in the UK at all. The huge government subsidies mean that this industry is a government financed industry and the UK could have insisted its suppliers were UK based. Poor old Brits, governed by morons. It is so easy for the Germans, their politicians think "I am elected to serve the people who voted for me, it is my duty to provide work for them therefore I will" whereas a British politician thinks "I don't give a damn for the idiots who voted for me, I hate the English tattooed thugs anyway, I might get a job as an EU commissioner if I get in well with the Germans".
References
A REVIEW OF ELECTRICITY UNIT COST ESTIMATES Working Paper, December 2006 - Updated May 2007
The economics of Wind Power, Part III was compiled by Poul Erik Morthorst of Risø DTU National Laboratory, Technical University of Denmark; Hans Auer of the Energy Economics Group, University of Vienna; Andrew Garrad of Garrad Hassan and Partners; Isabel Blanco of UAH, Spain.
Recycling of paper
Paper recycling seems to be an obviously "green" activity. However, when all of the environmental costs and benefits in the UK are taken into account it is a surprisingly "close run" debate. Everyone is agreed that disposing of waste paper in landfill is highly damaging, producing methane as the paper rots and providing no recovery of production costs. On the other hand, when recycling is compared to virgin production and incineration for energy production there is little advantage in recycling.
"Much of the research concerning the preferred end use of paper takes the form of life cycle studies which compare the environmental impacts of various wastepaper disposal/use scenarios. A number of life cycle analyses (LCAs) have been published comparing the environmental impact of waste paper recycling and incineration. Of these, some conclude that under certain conditions paper recycling has less environmental impact than incineration [29;30]. Others conclude the opposite[31;32]." (Paper recycling: exposing the myths).
However, the use of cheap and nasty incinerators that emit ash and volatile components has undermined the case for incineration. In the absence of incinerators producing electricity from paper the other alternative for processing paper is recycling.
If well designed incinerators were used that had regulated emission standards the incinerator option would provide the elusive green reservoir power that is needed in any renewable power generation system. The recycling industry argues that incineration would create a demand for paper products but it would no more do this than the recycling industry itself.
The reason the government favours recycling is that the UK is a large importer of paper and pulp. Recycling could save about £2 billion from our import bill - this saving might also be obtained if incineration were used because this would save imported oil at up to $100 a barrel.
Should you be fined by your council if you fail to sort your rubbish? I run a business and pay a small premium for the waste disposal company to sort our rubbish. It is the same operator as the council uses. If I do not want to sort my rubbish I should have the option to pay a slightly higher charge to get it sorted. There is absolutely no reason for fines.
The real answer to paper pollution is to use much less paper.
Towards a sustainable paper cycle, International institute for Environment and Development
Friends of the Earth Briefing: Paper recycling: exposing the myths
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