Wind Power Micro Generators may not be good for your wealth?

Posted by Jonathan on 23 Apr 2007 at 12:45 pm under Wind Turbines

 We have nothing against micro generation using wind turbines, but we am still searching for a case study in lowland Britain that demonstrates a viable return on the carbon and monetary investment. 

There will be many examples of upland generators that are producing a reasonable return on the investment required, but we don’t happen to live on a hilltop, and indeed not many of us do. 

How does one define upland? Check outside and see if it’s blowing a gale. If the answer is yes on more days than not, you are probably living in the “Uplands” Unfortunately even if you are locally in what might be considered an upland location it doesn’t directly follow that a wind turbine will be viable proposition every time – there may be too much wind for too much of the time – these things seem to be just like the rest of us and need a “Goldilocks Environment” to thrive. 

On balance sticking up a wind turbine on top of a hill in a clear air-stream, unaffected by local turbulence is an almost sure winner. Stick it up next to a building in a local hollow and in the turbulence downstream of a copse is not such a good idea. 

Sticking up a micro turbine on a suburban gable end seems to do little more than make a declaration that one espouses the ideal of green renewable energy generation, but the suspicion has to be that the money would have been far better invested in a purpose built wind farm in a much more suitable location. 

Is that an “eat your heart out moment” for David Cameron? 

Our conclusion – spend the money on a scheme that is verifiably producing a real “carbon return” by producing more renewable energy over its lifetime than was expended in its creation. If that doesn’t seem possible buy a container full of low energy light bulbs and give them away? 

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Greenhouse gasses suck!

Posted by Jonathan on 23 Apr 2007 at 12:45 pm under Site

It seems like every day now we pick up our newspapers and read about some latest initiative on Global Warming. Usually these are played out against a background of dire predictions for the future of our planet unless we take action now. So just what can we or should we do?  First of all lets forget the arguments about the reality of Global Warming – it seems to me they are becoming sterile and in any event those that make it to the general news media have probably been hijacked by one interest group or another. We have no wish to replay them or become embroiled in the nuance of the discussion.  Even if Global Warming is not about to become a dire reality it seems to us that it can make economic sense on a number of counts to act sensibly to reduce our usage of fossil fuels and resources.  Why is that?  For one, fossil fuels are finite and the longer they last the greater is our opportunity to find some way of replacing them, or at least the benefits they bring.  In addition, we may live in one the richer countries in the world, but that doesn’t mean that we enjoy being profligate for the sake of it. Conspicuous consumption doesn’t sit well with an upbringing in the North of England during the Fifties and Sixties – an attitude that at least one of my offspring has inherited. That said we don’t intend to give up on the comfortable lifestyle that we currently enjoy by virtue of our incredible good fortune in having been born where and when we were. 

So what’s the point of all this then?  First of all Carbon Free we cannot do. Being made the way we are, even if we just huddle shivering in a corner we will still produce Carbon Dioxide, but we can aim to embrace certain changes in our lifestyle without any major compromise of our comfort level and end up saving money and reducing our “Carbon Footprint”  Carbon Free is, if you like, an aspiration, an unachievable ideal and something to grab our attention. 

Having declared ourselves agnostic on the issue of Global Warming is there any point in continuing?  We think so – it’s a bit like religion, lots of people seem to be less than convinced, but they rationalise that they may as well go along with it just in case there’s really something in it.  In many ways we think healthy scepticism is often better than blind acceptance, take the issue of domestic wind generators as an example.  We have a group in the area where we live that is interested in natural and local history. One of their meetings was devoted to green issues (the Go Zero Initiative). Much interest was evinced at that meeting in the small wind turbine then newly on offer by a major UK DIY chain. Now it didn’t take long to establish that at the average wind speeds experienced by most dwellings in this area the turbine would rarely if ever rotate and would barely produce enough energy to power of couple of low energy light bulbs let alone make any significant impact on the energy consumption of the homes involved. 

We are pleased to note that responsible suppliers are not reluctant to point out that for a wind turbine to be a worthwhile investment it needs to be in a windy place. Most, but not all human habitation tends to be in sheltered places for a very good reason – it’s much more comfortable.  In a suitable location wind turbines are great, but stuck on a gable end in the suburbs they may not even repay the energy (embedded Carbon) invested in their manufacture, and that’s the really scary bit for us. 

So, as “agnostics” in so far as Global warming is concerned, but interested in saving money and moving to a more “sustainable” lifestyle where do we go?  We have no simple answer – for the simple reason it’s not a simple question.  Let’s start somewhere though – we can reduce our consumption within the framework of our current lifestyle, sounds good as it will clearly save money won’t it?  We can replace our energy dependency on fossil fuels with renewable sources – well that seems to depend, but lets look at it.  We can make drastic changes to our lifestyle, not sure about this one, but at least we can think about the possible benefits. 

There are a few ways we can look at these choices;  What is the cost in today’s money terms of our intended investment? Will it be repaid during the useful lifetime of the investment?  What is the “carbon cost” of our intended investment? Will the expected reduction in consumption be enough to offset the carbon embedded in the equipment over its lifetime?  

 

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What can I do?

Posted by JohnC on 09 Oct 2007 at 3:19 pm under What can I do

Well,  just what can I do as an individual wishing to reduce the amount of Carbon Dioxide I create as a consequence of my activities on the planet?

I think the worst aspect of this question is the “rabbit the headlights” syndrome - there’s just too much to think of and its all too big for me - if George Bush can’t handle it what chance do I stand?

If you like that’s the bad news, I believe the good news is there is lots that we can do as individuals and there is also much that we can achieve without too many compromises with our comfortable lifestyle.

Little things can make a difference - remember the “arrival” of chaos theory some years ago? It was sometimes explained as the link between the creation of a hurricane and a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in the rain forest. Or maybe another example would be the straw and the camel’s back.
It seems that we are approaching a number of tipping points in the warming of the earth, if or when we reach these the effects of Global Warming will suddenly accelerate, plunging us all into the dire apocalypse predicted by climatologists.

Ok, so it seems a small effort now may just prevent us from tipping over a precipice. 

What about China and India and the growth of all that polluting new industry? As I don’t have much direct influence on these place my attitude is it’s not my problem, but only in the sense that its bigger than any individual. That’s not to say that we cannot have some influence by lobbying those that can directly influence such places and that becomes a part of what we can do.

Probably the best place to start is by reading up on this Global Warming business, there are lots of great books on the subject, many that I haven’t yet come across or had time to peruse, but here are a couple that made an imprssion on me;

“How to live a low-carbon life” by Chris Goodall. (Pub. Earthscan)

This has lots of really useful information about the Carbon impact of our modern lifestyles, presented in a readily absorbable style. Be aware though that, as always there may be some “double counting” creeping into some of the “calculations”.

“The Weather Makers” by Tim Flannery. (Pub Penguin Allen Lane)

This puts the case for Global warming in an incredibly frightening treatise on the affects of our profligate use of fossil fuels.

The fact that you are reading this probably means that you are disposed to credit some if not all of the dire predictions associated with global warming. May I suggest that knowledge as always is the key to solving a problem. Keep on reading, critically and sceptically, and come back to this site to post your finding and share with us the good, and maybe not so good books you have found.

 

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