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OT: Eminent Oxford Scientist Says Wind Power "Fails On Every Count"

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BROTHERSKINNY

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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.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/eminent-oxford-scientist-says-wind-power-fails-every-count
 
He is an advocate of nuclear power.


I think many on the board would also like to see nuclear power increased but we have to be honest the general public is not there.

No reason we cannot attempt to do all of the various power sources.

Hell, I'd just like to see them not shut down early. Germany did that, and the result was an increase in burning coal. And that's before Ukraine.
 
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I'm old enough to remember the proponents of nuclear telling us power was going to be so plentiful it would no longer be metered. No electric bill! Just pay for the production and transmission infrastructure.

I wonder if there has ever been an honest evaluation of the cost/benefit of the ACUA wind turbines. These are the five you pass on Route 30 as you enter Atlantic City.
 
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Hell, I'd just like to see them not shut down early. Germany did that, and the result was an increase in burning coal. And that's before Ukraine.

Of course they could have had rolling blackouts instead of burning more coal, but I guess this isn't THAT much of an existential crisis
 
Plenty of LNG available for next winter (and yes Europe is scrambling to increase LNG storage capacity and I’m assuming converting coal plants to gas). Gas was always meant to be a bridge fuel. Energy technology improves every week…and at least we’re not yet drowning in seawater.
 
Honest question: is this satire?

"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."

Oxford Schmoxford, that makes no sense...
 
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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.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/eminent-oxford-scientist-says-wind-power-fails-every-count

There's a very fundamental flaw in his swept-area calculations for power density.

It's not linear.

Since you're suggesting that you understand the science, I'm gonna wait and see if you can explain why.
 
So, what he is saying, wind farms only work in area's with wind. That is a thought provoker.
does put a damper on getting energy produced in area with very little wind, but in area that have wind the energy will be produced.
So don't rely on wind powered energy where this isn't a wind, try solar or other forms of energy in an effort to cut down on the effects of fossil fuel and the need to dispose safely the nuclear waste from nuclear power plants
 
For the grids to work properly there needs to be more dispatchable, base load, energy available than is needed. Playing around with off/on, unpredictable boutique energy is farcical.

Fact is US is being subverted away from reliable energy by enemies with the most to gain. Even Hillary complained about that

"“We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians …” https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-...covert-funding-of-us-anti-fossil-fuel-groups/

The full plan is to use the artificial climate hysteria to crush the economy and borders, and bring millions of "refugees" to US (new voters).

The kooks have already decreed the "North American Union" and are going to spend billions on foreign "reparations"



"Task Force Report to the President on the Climate Crisis and Global Migration A Pathway to Protection for People on the Move"

"Although most of the EO focuses on implementation of the current U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, Section 6 of the EO requests that the National Security Adviser deliver a report to the President within 180 days that includes “options for protection and resettlement of individuals displaced directly or indirectly from climate change” as well as options for policy measures on a range of related objectives. This directive presents a historic opportunity to advance U.S. policy and global efforts. While climate change is increasingly recognized as a driver of global migration, governments, international organizations, and civil society have yet to develop comprehensive measures that 1) effectively target at-risk communities that may want to adapt, 2) ensure that those on the move do so safely and with dignity, and 3) enable those who need to cross borders to obtain adequate protection and respect for their basic rights."


 
Gotta feel bad for the OP. Life is passing him by and he’s not taking it well 😂

irony GIF
 
I do see a guy in the Villas in Cape May who has a wind turbine in his yard, would be interesting to see how much power he gets from it

Depends on the size and age, but generally somewhere between 600w and 3kw.

If you're someplace where there's wind most of the time it really makes a huge difference.

Personally, I think they should turn 80% of Wyoming into a wind farm. There's nothing there. There's no people there, it's mostly ranch land. The wind never stops blowing. Huge potential.
 
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Depends on the size and age, but generally somewhere between 600w and 3kw.

If you're someplace where there's wind most of the time it really makes a huge difference.

Personally, I think they should turn 80% of Wyoming into a wind farm. There's nothing there. There's no people there, it's mostly ranch land. The wind never stops blowing. Huge potential.
It feels like it on parts of I-80.
 
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I'm old enough to remember the proponents of nuclear telling us power was going to be so plentiful it would no longer be metered. No electric bill! Just pay for the production and transmission infrastructure.

I wonder if there has ever been an honest evaluation of the cost/benefit of the ACUA wind turbines. These are the five you pass on Route 30 as you enter Atlantic City.
no of course not just like the mining going on for precious metals for batteries. How many unregulated mines so the greens can say net zero?

lol, no they have never done a real evaluation or it would kill the narrative.

only Nuke offers what we need right now
 
Oh well if one guy says it then it must be true. Never mind if 100 other qualified people disagree.
 
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LOL Oil has it's uses in energy production.
Lubricating the moving parts on windmills is one of them and the picture of a The Windmill oil leak pictured in this thread was probably because of a cracked gear box.
But was not part the energy production , just lubrication
 
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There's a very fundamental flaw in his swept-area calculations for power density.

It's not linear.

Since you're suggesting that you understand the science, I'm gonna wait and see if you can explain why.
Now you have me curious. It looks like Allison is using the right equations for power density (varying with the cube of wind speed, so it's not linear), but maybe I'm missing something.

More importantly, perhaps, much of what Allison is railing against with regard to wind power is way overblown and has already been largely addressed in power grids with better wind/solar forecasting (since solar is also a key renewable), better grid supply algorithms and demand agreements, and better power storage and backup supply options. It's not like managing with variable supply is a new thing, as fossil fuel and nuclear power plants also have significant down times that need to be managed. For me, the best indication that this can all be managed well is this excerpt from the link below. And renewables have none of the potential catastrophic impacts associated with nuclear energy gone bad.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/three-myths-about-renewable-energy-and-the-grid-debunked

The indicator most often used to describe grid reliability is the average power outage duration experienced by each customer in a year, a metric known by the tongue-tying name of “System Average Interruption Duration Index” (SAIDI). Based on this metric, Germany — where renewables supply nearly half of the country’s electricity — boasts a grid that is one of the most reliable in Europe and the world.
 
You just nailed it with Nimbers
when one supplies a source, that's someone willing to back up what he said.
Just posting something trying to prove a point might just be misinformation,because the person has an agenda that the facts don't support.
 
One thing is clear. The political agenda to force a one size fits all energy future are misguided.

The only solution that allows for our consumption rates and future growth, and is sustainable is a truly diversified energy policy. We should be developing every possible energy source, including nuclear. Especially nuclear.
 
One thing is clear. The political agenda to force a one size fits all energy future are misguided.

The only solution that allows for our consumption rates and future growth, and is sustainable is a truly diversified energy policy. We should be developing every possible energy source, including nuclear. Especially nuclear.
understand the point you're trying to make and it's a good one.My problem is the waste product derived from nuclear energy and how it is being stored in nuclear waste sites without being treated instead of being recycled to be reused.
 
He wasn't referring to me - don't you ever get tired of being so badly and publicly wrong?
He should be , it’s true Wet Market Guy 😆🤣😂

“We’re In!”

You haven’t been right on anything , you’re spending too much time on pornhub

I’ve been bullseye on just about everything
 
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One thing is clear. The political agenda to force a one size fits all energy future are misguided.

The only solution that allows for our consumption rates and future growth, and is sustainable is a truly diversified energy policy. We should be developing every possible energy source, including nuclear. Especially nuclear.
I believe that is a prevailing opinion of many who have posted on this issue.
 
understand the point you're trying to make and it's a good one.My problem is the waste product derived from nuclear energy and how it is being stored in nuclear waste sites without being treated instead of being recycled to be reused.
They need an answer to what to do with nuclear waste
 
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