Making the news today....

[Stere]

Dunno whats is so bad about wind turbines?

 

One problem atm is blades are non recyclable that needs some fixing but supposedly they are gonna do that in future

 

National grid has interconnects with the EU to balance power demand and generation also u can use pump storage systems like Dinorwic

 

Demark has a system that thet must be some share of community ownership of them i think.

 

Wether all the contracts to go to foreign companies is a seperate issue .

 

Smaller turbines are less efficient - the local ones have being upgraded to larger versions on the same site

 

But no reason you can't have both small and big.....

[GarethM]

They are bad because they need like 500+ ton of concrete for the base that's not for these new super turbines!.

 

The miles of rebar before you even get out of the ground. Nothing is free.

 

If it so great, zero subsidy and then you can decide how great they are before heading off to be scrapped.

 

Just because I've seen a garden ornament with a man cutting logs powered by the wind isn't an argument to base a whole power network upon.

Edited January 17, 2023 by GarethM

[coppice cutter]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

Smaller turbines are less efficient - the local ones have being upgraded to larger versions on the same site

Bigger ones being more efficient isn't much of a benefit when the operators still have to be paid to stop supplying the grid on a regular basis.

 

It's not about the generation, it's about the utilisation.

 

If you read about some of the smaller communities that have successfully gone totally off-grid there is always a degree of collective responsibility involved. Using less at peak times or when supply is low and making best use when it's plentiful.

 

With the best will in the world that degree of collective responsibility becomes more difficult as you scale up, and totally impossible at national grid level.

 

As it stands the national grid has just become a huge power soak for all the renewable suppliers, large and small, with the consumer now starting to pick up the tab.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

Dunno whats is so bad about wind turbines?

Unlike bigger countries you cannot get away somewhere to kid yourself you are in the wilderness, so they spoil the view, same as with electrification of railways.

 

In the past even in SE England most buildings and infrastructure were hidden by trees, not so with Turbines or overhead wires.

 

Still it has to be done and should have started fifty years ago rather than 20.

 

The objections about non schedulability are spurious because until we actually achieve surplus RE we remain dependent on fossil fuels and existing  CCGT are very good at load following as are turbines easily curtailed.

 

As to cost there is little doubt in my mind that wind and solarPV  are currently the cheapest electricity with nuclear running last and way back in the race. In fact bearing in mind our nuclear fleet are owned by the french government as are the two under constriction by the chinese and I am chauvinistic enough to think the money would have been better spent on domestic PV and srorage.

 

I too like small scale and as a result only buy some electrcity for for 4 months of the year, even in those 4 months I self supply 50%.

[GarethM]

And that's before we even get discussing the privatised national grid and the billions that goes abroad.

Edited January 17, 2023 by GarethM

[Johnsond]

Striking teachers need a harsh lesson on the true value of their pay packets

APPLE.NEWS

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Union figures ignore the value of generous defined benefit pensions

Whilst I understand may of the grievances I do wonder if a spell of self employment would be an eye opener for many of the huge pubic sector workforce. 

[GarethM]

They said yesterday it was 90% voted in favour with a turnout of 50% at one union.

 

I'd love a breakdown of that 50% by age, as most of those I trained with briefly before escaping back to industry had never had a real job in their lives.

 

I will also say they do a lot of paperwork hours, so I'm not totally against them but your union should be doing something about that as apposed to strikes.

[Puffingbilly413]

1 hour ago, Johnsond said:

Striking teachers need a harsh lesson on the true value of their pay packets

APPLE.NEWS

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Union figures ignore the value of generous defined benefit pensions

Whilst I understand may of the grievances I do wonder if a spell of self employment would be an eye opener for many of the huge pubic sector workforce. 

Turning it round, I imagine a spell teaching in a state school would be a real eye opener for many self-employed. My wife teaches primary and is regularly punched, sworn at and has even had one kid threaten to cut her head off (not quite sure how a 7 year old would manage that but still). She does 8-6 Mon-Fri and still has to work at home regularly. Working conditions are fairly shite and this is an ok school.

 

On the face of it, the salary is ok after you've done a decent bit of time but when you factor in hours worked it's not so great. As for the pension and deferred wages slant, I guess 'experts' can massage the figures to support a point of view but I'd only describe the teacher's pension as 'ok'. If you can stand a full career at it then you'll be ready for the knacker's yard by the time you're eligible to claim it.

 

I wouldn't go into teaching that's for sure.

 

[Johnsond]

2 hours ago, Puffingbilly413 said:

Turning it round, I imagine a spell teaching in a state school would be a real eye opener for many self-employed. My wife teaches primary and is regularly punched, sworn at and has even had one kid threaten to cut her head off (not quite sure how a 7 year old would manage that but still). She does 8-6 Mon-Fri and still has to work at home regularly. Working conditions are fairly shite and this is an ok school.

 

On the face of it, the salary is ok after you've done a decent bit of time but when you factor in hours worked it's not so great. As for the pension and deferred wages slant, I guess 'experts' can massage the figures to support a point of view but I'd only describe the teacher's pension as 'ok'. If you can stand a full career at it then you'll be ready for the knacker's yard by the time you're eligible to claim it.

 

I wouldn't go into teaching that's for sure.

 

In the current soft woke excuse for everything world we live in no i would not want to be a teacher under any circumstances. I’d love to be looking  at a good pension at the end of my time though. There are some very well looked after people in the public sector in general but you makes your choices as they say. 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Johnsond

[Mark J]

Majority of Britishvolt's staff made redundant after company enters administration

NEWS.SKY.COM

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After once having ambitions to place the UK at the "helm of a global green industrial revolution"...

This doesn't bode well for UK electric vehicle manufacturing.