Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumWhy there's only one honest objection to wind farms
The daft claim that wind subsidies have driven 50,000 people into fuel poverty exemplifies the dishonesty of most objections
There are 320 onshore windfarms in UK, a third of them in England, with a similar number awaiting both construction and planning permission. Photograph: David Lawson /Alamy
Here's a little gem that exemplifies the fundamental dishonesty underlying all but one of the objections deployed against onshore wind farms. The Sunday Telegraph reported that "subsidies paid to windpower companies are forcing up to 50,000 households a year into fuel poverty, according to analysis of government figures by the House of Commons Library."
This statement is at best daft, as I will argue below. The analysis is believed to have been requested by Conservative MP Chris Heaton Harris, who led the 100 Tory MPs demanding big cuts in subsidies for wind farms. The House of Commons Library does not publish its work for MPs, but I now have a copy of the short analysis, which is reproduced in full at the end of this post so you can all admire its idiocy.
The essence of the calculation is as follows. Wind power subsidies - both onshore and offshore - cost energy bill payers about £10 a year, less than 1% of the average annual bill for gas and electricity. Of the 4.75m people suffering fuel poverty in the UK in 2009, 40,000-50,000 (less than 1%) were up to £10 below the threshold for fuel poverty, which is crossed when more than 10% of income is spent on fuel. Therefore, wind subsidies pushed 40,000-50,000 people into fuel poverty.
It's difficult to know where to start unpicking this simple-minded nonsense, but let's begin with one of the three elements of fuel poverty, energy bills themselves. Between 2004 and 2010, dual fuel bills rose by £455, of which £382 was due to soaring gas prices. That's where the real blame lies, quite possibly driving a million or two into fuel poverty, and more renewable energy is the solution, not less.
Another element of fuel poverty is...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/jun/21/wind-power-subsidies
joelz
(185 posts)we better get serious about the planet, but this short news clip raises 3 or 4 points about how deadly wind energy can be.
Blanks
(4,835 posts)At first I thought it was a Fox news segment. Until the guy ate the coal 'candy bar'.
Of course when they were talking about solar power sucking the energy out of the sun; they didn't seem to be on the level.
When dude ate the candy bar; I knew they didn't expect anyone to take it serious.
FogerRox
(13,211 posts)Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)Blanks
(4,835 posts)Given the choice; I'd ban house cats before I'd ban wind mills.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)when the wind farms are in path of migratory birds.
Blanks
(4,835 posts)I know they put netting on bridges to prevent certain migratory birds from building nests on them. There is bound to be a way of diverting the birds.
I don't want birds to be killed unnecessarily, but most of the alternatives to wind farms are worse on the environment.
FogerRox
(13,211 posts)The netting on bridges is so birds dont shit on the beams, it accelerates corrosion.
I hope you're kidding, bridge contractors whine and piss and bellyache because if they don't get the netting up before the birds start nesting; they delay their projects by months.
Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)I'm ALL for wind power...was just mentioning bird deaths were one thing that bothered me.
Wind and solar are the only way to go....plus electric cars.
caraher
(6,278 posts)And compared to house cats... there's no comparison. And more importantly, nobody puts up a big wind farm these days without there first being an analysis of migratory patterns. Projects have been moved or canceled over the results of such studies. Given that we're nowhere near "maxed out" on our wind resources, worry about birds should not be a significant concern.
BTW - has anyone figured out how many birds die because of the effects of fossil fuel-powered electric stations? Bird kills per kWh for different methods of generation? It seems like worry about birds is a unique complaint about wind, mainly because it's so hard to think of things that go wrong. (And I think because birds are prettier than bats.)
FogerRox
(13,211 posts)diane in sf
(3,913 posts)FogerRox
(13,211 posts)Sorry I get too distracted.......
:~ )
Blanks
(4,835 posts)windmills, than any other cause.
OK, I just made that up.