Sunday, January 18, 2009

Chortle of the Day

From the January 10th Telegraph (U.K.):
The Met Office said there has been an unusually long period of high pressure across the UK for the last couple of weeks, causing the cold snap and very little wind.

Since Boxing Day much of the country has suffered sub-zero conditions with frozen rivers and lakes and even the sea in the south of England, at Sandbanks in Dorset. In the last few days temperatures in southern England plunged as low as 17.6F (-8C). However the weather is expected to warm up over the weekend, with wind speeds also picking up.

But sources in the energy industry say that the lack of wind has caused the country's wind farms to grind to a halt when more electricity than ever is needed for heating, forcing the grid to rely on back up from fossil fuels or other renewable energy sources.

In the long term, experts fear that the intermittent nature of wind will force the UK to rely on insecure energy supplies, for example gas from Russia, and are calling for a greater energy mix including controversial nuclear and coal-fired power stations.
What a surprise--windfarms at the mercy of the wind.

(via CCNet-News (email only))

4 comments:

A_Nonny_Mouse said...

So it never, EVER, occurred to them that the wind doesn't blow non-stop?

And we're ALL being urged to sign on to implementation of more of these mindless "do it for your Mother -- Earth" boondoggles?

Let's just wait, guys, and see what happens when the sunspot cycle picks back up again, OK? If we can get data that concretely ties sunspots to warming (thereby discrediting the AGW-is-all-our-fault theory), maybe the libtards will rethink forcing us to slash our standard of living to the point we have parity with the Noble Third Worldians Who Live In Harmony With Gaia...

@nooil4pacifists said...

You ever notice that AGW alarmism began only when communism became discredited after 1991?

OBloodyHell said...

> But sources in the energy industry say that the lack of wind has caused the country's wind farms to grind to a halt when more electricity than ever is needed for heating, forcing the grid to rely on back up from fossil fuels or other renewable energy sources.

*Idiots*

Can I get a big "HELL, YEAH!!!" for Alternative Energy...?

No?

Anonymous said...

This is right up there with being surprised when diverting corn to ethanol production produces higher food prices and more hunger.