31 Comments

Just stumbled on this, I read something similar a year or so ago. The whole article might cause you to wake from the energy slumber you are in.

https://energybadboys.substack.com/p/disposable-power-plants-wind-and?utm_source=multiple-personal-recommendations-email&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true

Where Do We Dispose Them?

The labeling of wind and solar energy as “renewable” is misleading. When the useful lifespan of wind turbines and solar panels comes to an end, the majority of them are not recycled - they end up in landfills.

According to a CNBC article, “Currently, about 90 percent of end-of-life or defective solar panels end up in landfills, largely because it costs far less to dump them than to recycle them.”

Wind turbines weren’t any different. According to CNBC, “The lifespan of a wind turbine is around 20 years, and most decommissioned ones have joined retired solar panels in landfills… By 2050, 235,000 blades will be decommissioned, translating to a cumulative mass of 2.2 million metric tons — or more than 60,627 fully loaded tractor trailers.”

Sometimes, the blades don’t even make it to a landfill. The Minnesota Star Tribune recently ran a story of Grand Meadow residents who are livid that wind turbine blades have been stacked up for four years after recycling the blades fell through.

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CCS - so we can continue to burn gas when renewables are low

Hydrogen - so we can store energy for when renewables are low

Tidal - immensely predictable baseload

Wave - huge variable resource

All need development so justify high CfDs

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Jul 27Liked by David Turver

And another thing, what happens to food production if half the flipping country is covered is solar panels? We've just arrived in Cornwall on holiday and on the way down, field after field was completely given over to the ruddy things.

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Less land will be used than currently used for golf courses

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Facts please, this is BS by my radar. In Australia with a far less energy req than the UK. Just one proposed wind farm in Nth Qld covers 500 hectares. One being built on 71 hectares is destroying old growth forest that has never been harvested and home to a large Koala colony, which the builders have exemption to kill if damaged by earth clearing. Steven Nowakowski an avid environmentalist is fighting to stop this evironmental lunacy. Look him up you might learn something.

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The majority of our wind farms will be at sea using no land. The onshore wind farms are still used for agriculture or commercial forestry. My comment about golf courses was referring to solar, and you can still graze sheep under solar (but not on golf courses). The majority of our energy will come from offshore wind

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Did a bit more digging and the Lotus Creek windfarm in Nth Qld is on 4500 hetares of land - Just one of these things that run at about 40% of plated capacity and in our winter we can have low to zero wind for up to 4 weeks from Victoria to Nth Qld. It's an environmental and engineering disaster. BTW the energy produced has caused ALL of our high grade manufactureing companies to move to the US because the electricity is not stable enough for the accuracy required.

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You need a competent system operator then

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Please keep the comments within reason and logic. This statement makes no sense. What? they need a systems operator for the business or for the producers of windmill/solar energy? The guys who run this specialised area of manufacturing are not dummies.

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I predict this project will a) cost many millions more than that other white elephant HS2, and b) be just as useless. Apparently not a single private company has made overtures about investing or joining the project....I just can't understand why lol.....it will not produce a single kilowatt of electricity. This is classic willy waving from Starmer and the Cold Homez Crew, ego before country every. Single. Time.

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https://moneyweek.com/personal-finance/605440/will-energy-prices-go-down

Ofgem have price rises planned ,just in time for autumn.

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Jul 27Liked by David Turver

Has Milibean thought seriously about the dunkelflaute weather phenomenon, commonly experienced in Britain and much of northern Europe.

https://www.sunsave.energy/blog/dunkelflaute

According to this article- all will be for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

How exorbitant will our charges be, to subsidise this magical thinking? What has Ofgem got in store for us in the autumn?

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Have you read last years FES?

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A preventable disaster waiting to happen: I guessed that the Starmeramas would be bad, but not this bad.

Mr Milibean’s lunacy will collide with the growing overcrowding and unrest brought to us by Open Borders.

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Jul 25Liked by David Turver

It's the same thing the labor party in Australia promised over 100 times in the election, "We will cut your bills by $275". Less than half of the bigger lie you got told but the press ignores it and moves on.

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Jul 25Liked by David Turver

Is there anyone in Parliament who has the knowledge to challenge these bare faced whoppers the government is putting out?

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author

Very few. There's a few Tories and of course Reform.

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Which Reform U.K. MP has any energy system knowledge?

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It's the same lies that the Tories were telling, but worse.

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Except it won't be hypothermia deaths which the government publicises; it will be 'heat deaths', even during crap summers like this one. They'll find a way to attribute deaths to 'scorching' 20C temperatures.

Ed Milibanned, the Met Office, the UKHSA and the Green Blob have a 'climate crisis' to sell and they figure the most effective way to do that is to focus on the relatively small number of excess summer deaths compared to those excess deaths occurring during winter months (8-10 times as many). If people die in winter, it will be because they didn't avail themselves of generous government subsidies available to fit a heat pump or retrofit home insulation, or simply didn't get the 'flu or Covid jab. Their bad.

Heat deaths though will all be because of 'climate change'.

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“Climate change” is a result, not a cause. As someone said recently. Like batting average.

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It's a result sure enough and it is not written by the great prophets it is writen for a great profit.

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Jul 25Liked by David Turver

Only energy-dense power generation can significantly reduce emissions while guaranteeing reliable power supply. It is sad to see that Britain is walking down the path adopted by the present White House, which is completely disconnected from reality

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Is wind and solar cheaper than gas if you add the CCS cost to gas? Shouldn’t the reference price for renewables be gas plus CCS cost? This would reduce the subsidies we’re all paying.

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author

There's no gas + CCS plant being built, let alone running. If the reference price went up, that might reduce subsidies, but would increase the overall price we pay for electricity.

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Jul 25Liked by David Turver

If Ed Milliband is anywhere near anything, you can guarantee a monumental failure is in the offing. Unfortunately the media who should be asking the hard questions about this (any many other things) are captured by the unquestioning group think. But it fits in with the new Labour Party slogan: S*d the poor.

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"S*d everyone except us"

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