Solar and wind energy are not sustainable

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Wind and solar are neither green more sustainable. They are stone age technologies.



By Pierre Desrochers, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.



Wind and solar — the myth of 'green' energy



These days, wind and solar power are constantly depicted as desirable "energy alternatives" to fossil fuels, but many Albertans and Canadians are unaware of their environmental impacts.



Sure, the blanketing of scenic coastlines with skyscraper-size wind turbines are rather obvious, but turbine construction and installation also depends on fossil fuels.



There's the diesel-powered heavy equipment, which clears sites, digs foundations, transports components and assembles them.



The coal or natural-gas-fired kilns that bake the concrete, additional coal to forge steel for foundations and towers, and the hydrocarbon-based fiberglass for their blades.



Solar panels also affect the environment in similar ways, be it extracting resources for their manufacture and transportation, devoting land to their installation, and maintaining, decommissioning and ultimately disposing of them.



And crucially, there's no adequate storage technology for the electricity wind and solar produce.



As noted in a recent study published by the Fraser Institute, most renewable energy capacity in Canada comes from wind turbines, which produce very little electricity even when there's adequate wind.



Hundreds if not thousands of them (and all their concrete, steel and other materials) are required to produce as much electricity as a single coal, natural gas or nuclear-powered plant.



Moreover, standalone turbines must connect by powerlines to the electricity grid, which obviously requires much more infrastructure than when electricity is generated in a single power plant.



(And to preserve their "green image," powerlines are often buried, adding considerably to the cost and environmental impact.)



[size=150]Because of the need to produce electricity when the wind and the sun are not blowing or shining adequately, other power sources, often new natural gas-powered plants, must be turned on and off — and ramped up or down — when required. However, the challenges and costs of "balancing" a grid by keeping gas-powered plants idling so they can be brought online always result in the suboptimal utilization of expensive assets — in other words, greater wear-and-tear and maintenance costs, and unnecessary additional CO2 emissions.[/size]



This being said, [size=150]wind and solar power has provided politicians with an excuse to dispense favours — including taxpayer-funded subsidies and tax preferences to a supposedly "green" industry — while appearing to do something for the environment.

[/size]

And yet, despite more than two decades of massive subsidies, tax preferences and purchasing mandates from governments, wind and solar power still represent barely more than a rounding error of global energy production.



In jurisdictions where renewables enjoyed strong but ill-considered political support, consumers and taxpayers now face much higher electricity bills and less-reliable power.



And despite promises to the contrary, countries such as Germany, which have significantly increased wind and solar electricity production, have seen no meaningful reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.



In the end, however, politicians cannot defy the laws of physics and economics.



The promise of wind and solar power will always clash with the need for electricity that is low cost and reliable.



That's why voters routinely punish politicians who pursue flawed renewable energy policies across Canada and beyond.



Rising electricity costs due to increased wind and solar power damage the economy by making businesses that consume significant volumes of electricity less competitive and by leaving less money in the pockets of consumers.



Far from being a miracle cure-all for the shortcomings of conventional power generation, wind and solar power exaggerate the symptoms they pretend to address.

[Anonymous]

Wind and solar usually mean higher electricity costs.

[Anonymous]

Renewable energy companies, industries, and advocates are notorious for hiding, minimizing, obfuscating, or misrepresenting their environmental and human health impacts. They demand and receive exemptions from health and endangered species laws that apply to other industries. They make promises they cannot keep about being able to safely replace fossil fuels that now provide over 80% of U.S. and global energy.



A few articles have noted some of the serious environmental, toxic/radioactive waste, human health, and child labor issues inherent in mining rare-earth and cobalt/lithium deposits

[Anonymous]

Old Herman sure as hell doesn't want some big waste of land wind farm near my farm.



https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/469870-hawaii-protests-show-why-wind-energy-cant-save-us-from-climate?fbclid=IwAR3IdPZoqe-1Rno8k87mD0V4ueI26_D_IdmAZx-JwmXKPsHLQOR-yyV7swc">https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-envi ... OR-yyV7swc">https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/469870-hawaii-protests-show-why-wind-energy-cant-save-us-from-climate?fbclid=IwAR3IdPZoqe-1Rno8k87mD0V4ueI26_D_IdmAZx-JwmXKPsHLQOR-yyV7swc

Since mid-October, some 128 people on the island of Oahu have been arrested while protesting a wind energy project being built near the small village of Kahuku. The project is planned to include eight turbines standing 568 feet high. Many of the arrests occurred after protesters blocked trucks carrying equipment to the site. The protests continued on Nov. 1, when about 30 anti-wind protesters occupied the office of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell for three hours.



The refusal of all-renewable advocates to consider the cartoonish land requirements of their schemes and how those plans are affecting ordinary people in rural areas is perhaps the single biggest disconnect in the current energy debate. How cartoonish? Last year, two Harvard researchers found that meeting current U.S. electricity needs with wind would require covering a land area twice the size of California with wind turbines. That's beyond Looney Tunes.

[Thiel]

Old Herman sure as hell doesn't want some big waste of land wind farm near my farm.



https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/469870-hawaii-protests-show-why-wind-energy-cant-save-us-from-climate?fbclid=IwAR3IdPZoqe-1Rno8k87mD0V4ueI26_D_IdmAZx-JwmXKPsHLQOR-yyV7swc">https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-envi ... OR-yyV7swc">https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/469870-hawaii-protests-show-why-wind-energy-cant-save-us-from-climate?fbclid=IwAR3IdPZoqe-1Rno8k87mD0V4ueI26_D_IdmAZx-JwmXKPsHLQOR-yyV7swc

Since mid-October, some 128 people on the island of Oahu have been arrested while protesting a wind energy project being built near the small village of Kahuku. The project is planned to include eight turbines standing 568 feet high. Many of the arrests occurred after protesters blocked trucks carrying equipment to the site. The protests continued on Nov. 1, when about 30 anti-wind protesters occupied the office of Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell for three hours.



The refusal of all-renewable advocates to consider the cartoonish land requirements of their schemes and how those plans are affecting ordinary people in rural areas is perhaps the single biggest disconnect in the current energy debate. How cartoonish? Last year, two Harvard researchers found that meeting current U.S. electricity needs with wind would require covering a land area twice the size of California with wind turbines. That's beyond Looney Tunes.

Wind is so expensive, and inefficient. It requires a massive land footprint for a small amount of energy. It's wasteful.

[Anonymous]

Canada wants to copy Europe's expensive failures.



https://stopthesethings.com/2019/03/13/europes-wind-industry-faces-total-collapse-no-new-wind-farms-built-since-2017/?fbclid=IwAR3vZzCKI1d1V00IBibGGFYaE4pUCBTQvDfTo-xJEh0Ot9VYpZOhs5iduCk">https://stopthesethings.com/2019/03/13/ ... ZOhs5iduCk">https://stopthesethings.com/2019/03/13/europes-wind-industry-faces-total-collapse-no-new-wind-farms-built-since-2017/?fbclid=IwAR3vZzCKI1d1V00IBibGGFYaE4pUCBTQvDfTo-xJEh0Ot9VYpZOhs5iduCk

Europe's Wind Industry Faces Total Collapse: No New Wind Farms Built Since 2017



RE zealots tout rapidly increasing wind power capacity as 'success'. Except, in Europe a dozen countries haven't erected a single turbine during 2018, and that coincides with a massive slowdown in construction elsewhere.



As you tread your way through the following article, be sure to ignore the usual rubbish about this wind farm 'powering' hundreds of thousands of homes. What they meant to say, of course, is that – on those rare occasions when wind conditions are perfect – and the turbines are actually operable, heavily subsidised wind power will knock conventionally generated electricity out of the market, for a few hours at a stretch. Until calm weather sets in and coal, gas, hydro and nuclear picks up the tab, once again.



Propaganda aside, the message from the article is pretty clear: with an almost total collapse in new construction, the wind industry has had its heyday in Europe.

[Anonymous]

ac_lmfao



A half-built $200 Million wind farm in Ontario cancelled by environmentalists

https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestnews/a-half-built-200-million-ontario-environmentalist-project-cancel-by-environmentalists?fbclid=IwAR1Nt3zVfJorelfP_nAfSSeCXQwXEpy4NKolcnlIwaGH2oRNDo5jMbTNbWM">https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestne ... o5jMbTNbWM">https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestnews/a-half-built-200-million-ontario-environmentalist-project-cancel-by-environmentalists?fbclid=IwAR1Nt3zVfJorelfP_nAfSSeCXQwXEpy4NKolcnlIwaGH2oRNDo5jMbTNbWM

https://external.fyxd2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?w=540&h=282&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F5dd964580b17da177eb954ea%2F5dd96507ee3ebb607ac47ecf%2F5df082c49e81783182600aff%2F1576472757899%2Fphoto_2019-12-10_15-36-36.jpg%3Fformat%3D1500w&cfs=1&upscale=1&fallback=news_d_placeholder_publisher&_nc_hash=AQCCiZF9VQVd1zJP">

[Anonymous]

ac_lmfao



A half-built $200 Million wind farm in Ontario cancelled by environmentalists

https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestnews/a-half-built-200-million-ontario-environmentalist-project-cancel-by-environmentalists?fbclid=IwAR1Nt3zVfJorelfP_nAfSSeCXQwXEpy4NKolcnlIwaGH2oRNDo5jMbTNbWM">https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestne ... o5jMbTNbWM">https://www.thenewtelegraph.ca/latestnews/a-half-built-200-million-ontario-environmentalist-project-cancel-by-environmentalists?fbclid=IwAR1Nt3zVfJorelfP_nAfSSeCXQwXEpy4NKolcnlIwaGH2oRNDo5jMbTNbWM

https://external.fyxd2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?w=540&h=282&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.squarespace.com%2Fstatic%2F5dd964580b17da177eb954ea%2F5dd96507ee3ebb607ac47ecf%2F5df082c49e81783182600aff%2F1576472757899%2Fphoto_2019-12-10_15-36-36.jpg%3Fformat%3D1500w&cfs=1&upscale=1&fallback=news_d_placeholder_publisher&_nc_hash=AQCCiZF9VQVd1zJP">

It's hard to sell properties near Pincher Creek's massive windfarms.

[Anonymous]

Wind farm 'needs 700 times more land' than fracking site to produce same energy

Shale gas site 'creates the least visual intrusion' compared with wind or solar farm for same energy, according to Government's former chief scientific advisor on energy



A wind farm requires 700 times more land to produce the same amount of energy as a fracking site, according to analysis by the energy department's recently-departed chief scientific advisor.



Prof David MacKay, who stood down from the Government role at the end of July, published analysis putting shale gas extraction "in perspective", showing it was far less intrusive on the landscape than wind or solar energy.



Prof MacKay said that a shale gas site uses less land and "creates the least visual intrusion", compared with a wind farm or solar farm capable of producing the equivalent amount of energy over 25 years.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/fracking/11034270/Wind-farm-needs-700-times-more-land-than-fracking-site.html">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/ ... -site.html">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/fracking/11034270/Wind-farm-needs-700-times-more-land-than-fracking-site.html



Wind is antiquated and unsustainable.

[Anonymous]

World's most powerful greenhouse gas on the rise 'due to green energy boom'



The most powerful known greenhouse gas has been leaking into the Earth's atmosphere due to the green energy boom, it was reported on Friday night.



Sulphur hexafluoride, or SF6, is widely used in the electrical industry to prevent short circuits and accidents.



It is 23,500 times more warming than carbon dioxide (CO2), and just one kilogram warms the Earth as much as 24 people flying London to New York return.



Emissions of the gas in the UK and the rest of the EU in 2017 were the equivalent of putting an extra 1.3million cars on the road.



"As renewable projects are getting bigger and bigger, we have had to use it within wind turbines specifically," Costa Pirgousis, an engineer with Scottish Power Renewables, told the BBC.



"As we are putting in more and more turbines, we need more and more switchgear and, as a result, more SF6 is being introduced into big turbines off shore.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/13/worlds-powerful-greenhouse-gas-rise-due-green-energy-boom/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... ergy-boom/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/13/worlds-powerful-greenhouse-gas-rise-due-green-energy-boom/



Wind turbines increase emissions.

[Anonymous]

Wind farm 'needs 700 times more land' than hydraulic fracturing site to produce same energy

Shale gas site 'creates the least visual intrusion' compared with wind or solar farm for same energy, according to Government's former chief scientific advisor on energy



A wind farm requires 700 times more land to produce the same amount of energy as a hydraulic fracturing site, according to analysis by the energy department's recently-departed chief scientific advisor.



Prof David MacKay, who stood down from the Government role at the end of July, published analysis putting shale gas extraction "in perspective", showing it was far less intrusive on the landscape than wind or solar energy.



Prof MacKay said that a shale gas site uses less land and "creates the least visual intrusion", compared with a wind farm or solar farm capable of producing the equivalent amount of energy over 25 years.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/hydraulic">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/energy/hydraulic fracturing/11034270/Wind-farm-needs-700-times-more-land-than-fracking-site.html



Wind is antiquated and unsustainable.

Natural gas has the smallest land footprint of any type of energy.



Good find Seoul brother. These articles will make the forum rounds.

[Anonymous]

Wind Turbine Blades Can't Be Recycled, So They're Piling Up in Landfills



A wind turbine's blades can be longer than a Boeing 747 wing, so at the end of their lifespan they can't just be hauled away. First, you need to saw through the lissome fiberglass using a diamond-encrusted industrial saw to create three pieces small enough to be strapped to a tractor-trailer.



The municipal landfill in Casper, Wyoming, is the final resting place of 870 blades whose days making renewable energy have come to end. The severed fragments look like bleached whale bones nestled against one another.



Tens of thousands of aging blades are coming down from steel towers around the world and most have nowhere to go but landfills. In the U.S. alone, about 8,000 will be removed in each of the next four years. Europe, which has been dealing with the problem longer, has about 3,800 coming down annually through at least 2022, according to BloombergNEF. It's going to get worse: Most were built more than a decade ago, when installations were less than a fifth of what they are now.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-11/permian-s-gas-burning-black-eye-is-30-worse-than-thought">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... an-thought">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-11/permian-s-gas-burning-black-eye-is-30-worse-than-thought



Wind power creates a lot of waste.

[sasquatch]

The article also says this,...



quote: "Eight years ago, while researching who was behind an unscientific, misinformation campaign against farmed Canadian salmon, Krause "came across these three little words: oil sands Campaign" in the tax forms of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (which, ironically, made its billions from oil and gas)."



As a conservationist myself, false information about the environment worries me. Actually it GREATLY upsets me.



Both sides of politics are known to corrupt information.

I believe you are a genuine conservationist..



The international billionaires trying to keep Canada's oil from competing with OPEC, the USA, and Russia are not.

Well, there's certain groups trying to stop the united states from competing with OPEC as well, but they have been way less successful because their laws weren't written by fucking monkeys and bleeding hearts.