UK wind farms

[12noon]

Business Secretary John Hutton says he wants to open up British seas to allow enough new turbines - up to 7,000 - to power all UK homes by the year 2020.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7135299.stm
 
Sounds good to me. Every country should do the same.

[SensoVision]

if things said in article is truth that would be great, wish that our government could act like this...
Here we have constant winds and a lot of empty spaces around which could be utilized for wind generators or solar power stations as we have a lot of sunny days in the year.
I also doesn't mind if some wind power generators would be built offshore to save onshore space.

[Andy]

It sounds too good to be true but would be great if it works. With so many turbines around the coastline there may be some unexpected side-effect such as not enough wind reaching shore and causing some kind of environmental problem due to rising temperatures inland and changes in the cloud formations affecting rain. Just speculating.

They must be very expensive to build out at sea because of the substantial foundations required. Lot's of concrete needed I guess. If they cost £1 million each and say there are 10 million homes, that would be £700 per home, so not too bad I guess. The UK government is notorious for exceeding budgets and wasting money though, so I would expect the cost to escalate to about 70 billion.

What will power industry, government, military and schools etc. ?

p.s. In the UK, there are already a lot of wind powered generators

[SensoVision]

With so many turbines around the coastline there may be some unexpected side-effect such as not enough wind reaching shore and causing some kind of environmental problem due to rising temperatures inland and changes in the cloud formations affecting rain. Just speculating.

Interesting theory and it have sense IMHO... I'm sure it wasn't studied yet and should be investigated before building of wind generators so things wouldn't happen as usually(as when person try to make something good usually he doing only worse).

Lot's of concrete needed I guess. If they cost £1 million each and say there are 10 million homes, that would be £700 per home,

£700 is a lot of cash... wonder if cost of electricity would fall just a bit as wind power should cost cheaper IMHO... or it would raise to cover building cost.

If comes to renewable energy I prefer solar plants as it's believed that they also minimize global warming effect not only by power they generating but also by reflecting some of heat. But unfortunately currently they require a lot of spaces and implementation cost would be higher than wind generators probably...

[Teflon]

There is a wind farm near where i live opinion is divided with some people labelling them an eyesore but i think it is a good thing to at least explore other energy sources.

[SensoVision]

nice to see you back, Teflon!

There is a wind farm near where i live opinion is divided with some people labelling them an eyesore but i think it is a good thing to at least explore other energy sources.

lucky you, I've seen them only onshore through binocular when was sailing across Europe and it was quite far away.
Since you leave nearby can you confirm if building of them cause any weather changes or something?
I've also heard they produce a lot of noise, is it truth?

[Teflon]

Not heard any complaints of weather changes the only real complaint some people have about them is the visual effect they have on the landscape.

As far as noise is concerned i would not say they are particularly noisy in fact you can only hear them if you are in close proximity though they do make a strange noise with the blades almost like a quiet and slow helicopter in slow motion.

[Andy]

The problem with the UK is people are obsessed with house prices and if one of these power generators is in the line of sight from their house they think their property will be devalued. At least that's my theory.

[12noon]

Considering that in the future fossil fuels will run out, we need power and i would rather live next to a wind mill than a nuclear power plant. I wish they looked like the old flour grinding wind mills though.
 

[Andy]

Most people only really need power for their computer. This is essential for survival in the modern home. The computer system provides light (from the monitor), warmth, entertainment, education and communications.

Water and sewerage don't need power to a home. Also, food that requires power to be stored and prepared can be avoided. Cold water is beneficial to the circulation when you bath and is more natural.

So putting up with a few hardships can make a dramatic difference to our energy needs.

[SensoVision]

Water and sewerage don't need power to a home. Also, food that requires power to be stored and prepared can be avoided. Cold water is beneficial to the circulation when you bath and is more natural.

Andy, I guess you've living it Japan village for two long As it's almost impossible to store products in apartments in modern city especially with current warmer climate(in the past in cities you could see metal boxes out of the window, it's was kind of fridge which were using natural frost but now they would work only in coldest regions and in winter).
Regarding cold water not everyone could use it in daily life, here only some people have boilers which let them get hot water, but most of time they wash dishes and hand with cold one, and boil water to take bath.

So putting up with a few hardships can make a dramatic difference to our energy needs.

indeed, but I believe that such sacrifice wouldn't be possible for many people, for me maybe too.

[Teflon]

They will probably locate them out at sea.

[Andy]

They will probably locate them out at sea.

It seems a bit crazy to me. You normally expect generators that work off wave power to be out at sea. Or maybe they will turn the windmill upside down so the blades are in the water. 

Was this the idea of a politician or a scientist? Maybe since the Millennium Dome fiasco is out of the way, they felt the need for some new project costing billions?

[Teflon]

Might be the best place for them nobody can complain about them being an eyesore except maybe the odd fisherman.

[Andy]

How about the tourism industry? They want nice sea views from the beach and hotels.

Scotland would be the best place since there are vast areas of windy land with low population density to the East. But that would be too close to the hunting and golf LOL