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OK, so who isn’t talking about renewable energy these days? One thing‘s certain and that is that wind farms are becoming increasingly more controversial because they cost a bomb and arguably they are a blot on the landscape. If current plans go ahead, the UK will have around 10,000 of these ‘farms’ by 2022 in order to contribute to European targets for the reduction of Greenhouse gases. Just keep your fingers crossed that one of them does not end up beside the electricity pylon at the bottom of your garden. So what’s the problem with wind farms? There are no renewable energy generators that look attractive except perhaps Shakira riding a bike with a dynamo. Well put simply, the problem is that most of these wind farms have been built in areas where there is no ahem, wind! Incredibly, only around 8% of wind farms operate at an efficiency of 30% or more and these are considered to be our star performers! You might think that things could not get much worse but you would be wrong. The wind farm at Blyth harbour in Northumberland operates at less than 5% efficiency or more simplistically, for 3 minutes in every hour! It seems reasonable to assume that checking the local wind patterns would be a fundamental part of deciding on a suitable site for a wind farm but the overall poor efficiency ratings would suggest that this is not the case. The most obvious reason why projected efficiencies are not deemed to be as important as they should be is the existence of the ‘Renewable Obligation Scheme’. This scheme is funded to the tune of £1 billion per year (yes, per year) by British consumers. It is this scheme that subsidises wind farms on an ongoing basis. It makes no difference whether or not the farms are efficient because there are no efficiency targets to meet in order to qualify for subsidy payments from the scheme; it is quite probable that when subsidy is factored in, it would be overwhelmingly financially advantageous to close most of them down. Despite this, at least the concept of wind farms is sound; nobody can dispute that wind is both free and renewable. Furthermore, wind farms have nowhere near the environmental and ecological issues associated with nuclear energy. It is however an unfortunate fact that at the times when energy is in most demand, the weather works against wind farms. When the weather is freezing and icicles are hanging off the roof there is generally little or no wind. Conversely, when the weather is uncomfortably warm and air conditioning systems are working flat out there is also generally little or no wind. On balance, there is little doubt that wind farms are here to stay but we urgently need to introduce efficiency related targets that must be met before wind farms qualify for subsidy payments from public funds. This will ensure that examples of such as Blyth Harbour whose charm has been pointlessly blighted will not reoccur and that in future, the public will get value for money.
Article Source: http://www.onlinearticlessite.com
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