Ken Clarke against on-shore wind power

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 21 Oct 2009, 11:39

Mr Clarke also said mainland Britain was “not suitable” as a site for wind farms – in spite of official Conservative policy that both offshore and onshore turbines were to be encouraged in the cause of boosting the UK’s commitment to green forms of energy.

“My view is that those few wild and open [land] spaces that we have left in Britain should not be used for wind turbines,” Mr Clarke said, adding that he thought those structures should be sited exclusively offshore, where they were much less obtrusive.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0cb41afc-bda8 ... ab49a.html

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 21 Oct 2009, 12:12

Well I happen to believe that Mr Clarke should not be sited onshore, the obvious reason being that he "doesn't look nice"(TM), a second one being that he scares off wildlife.

Of course, even if sited offshore, he should still pay his taxes.

Neily at the peak · Post by **Neily at the peak** » 21 Oct 2009, 15:04

Biff, I still prefer the three that we have got near our village to the 53 of the coast at Skegness, they look industrial to me, where as on a hillside they (IMHO) enhance the beauty of the place. Many people I know would disagree. Ken Clarke has gone down in my estimation now, but I suspected he is misguided. The trouble is he is thinking business as usual and how can we maintain a national grid rather than distributed generation.

Neil

Yves75 · Post by **Yves75** » 21 Oct 2009, 16:15

Neily at the peak wrote: and how can we maintain a national grid rather than distributed generation.

Neil

A national (or even multinational) grid is key to distributed generation, even more so with intermittent, fatal, and non uniform sources such as wind

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 21 Oct 2009, 18:02

Ken Clarke is a twat.

It's obvious he's pandering to the upper middle class idiots in their BMW SUVs who think there's nothing going on and don't want any windmills "ruining" their view.

The same sort of people would complain about you erecting a B&Q home sized turbine on your roof next door.

I wonder if those people will clue in when petrol goes over three quid a gallon, find that their annual holidays in the maldives are now four grand a person and their fresh kiwi's flown in from New Zealand yestersday now cost twenty quid a pound. Then the whining will start.

I wish we had a recession that concentrated unemployment on those type of idiots and the dole office gave them mandatory peak oil classes so they could get a clue.

fifthcolumn · Post by **fifthcolumn** » 21 Oct 2009, 18:04

Alain75 wrote:
Neily at the peak wrote: and how can we maintain a national grid rather than distributed generation.

Neil
A national (or even multinational) grid is key to distributed generation, even more so with intermittent, fatal, and non uniform sources such as wind

Don't forget that we may soon have pretty good batteries that will aid in decentralisation.

Even now in Japan, they are starting to buy batteries from the likes of panasonic that are designed to provide backup power for an entire apartment for a full day.

They're expensive, but not terribly so.
By the time they're NEEDED, say 2016-2017 they ought to be a lot cheaper than they are now.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 21 Oct 2009, 18:24

Co-sign Ed's letter to Dave:

http://www.edspledge.com/miliband-cameron-letter

Yves75 · Post by **Yves75** » 21 Oct 2009, 18:46

fifthcolumn wrote: Don't forget that we may soon have pretty good batteries that will aid in decentralisation.

Even now in Japan, they are starting to buy batteries from the likes of panasonic that are designed to provide backup power for an entire apartment for a full day.

They're expensive, but not terribly so.
By the time they're NEEDED, say 2016-2017 they ought to be a lot cheaper than they are now.

Yeah not sure I would bet on that, and certainly not with our current level of power usage, plus batteries are usually full of nasty stuff

Blue Peter · Post by **Blue Peter** » 22 Oct 2009, 09:43

fifthcolumn wrote:Ken Clarke is a twat.

I wish we had a recession that concentrated unemployment on those type of idiots and the dole office gave them mandatory peak oil classes so they could get a clue.

We tried, but then we chickened out and decided to throw money at them....

Peter.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 22 Oct 2009, 10:25

I wonder if those people will clue in when petrol goes over three quid a gallon,

You are losing touch Fifth!

syberberg · Post by **syberberg** » 22 Oct 2009, 15:28

fifthcolumn wrote:Ken Clarke is a twat.

It's obvious he's pandering to the upper middle class idiots in their BMW SUVs who think there's nothing going on and don't want any windmills "ruining" their view.

The same sort of people would complain about you erecting a B&Q home sized turbine on your roof next door.

I wonder if those people will clue in when petrol goes over three quid a gallon, find that their annual holidays in the maldives are now four grand a person and their fresh kiwi's flown in from New Zealand yestersday now cost twenty quid a pound. Then the whining will start.

I wish we had a recession that concentrated unemployment on those type of idiots and the dole office gave them mandatory peak oil classes so they could get a clue.

Well said Fifth.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 20 Apr 2010, 03:37

I don't believe much said by a person who is so pro the Euro and Europe. He must have a screw loose somewhere to adopt a stance like that.

goslow · Post by **goslow** » 20 Apr 2010, 09:32

KC has been one of the Tories I had time for, I met him campaigning on the street in the last general election and told him I liked him but not his party. Now, not so sure!

Adam1 · Post by **Adam1** » 20 Apr 2010, 11:16

kenneal wrote:I don't believe much said by a person who is so pro the Euro and Europe. He must have a screw loose somewhere to adopt a stance like that.

fifthcolumn wrote:Ken Clarke is a twat.

He is ill-informed about our energy predicament clearly. Like most of his Con-Lab colleagues, he is still too wedded to unfettered 'free markets' for my taste but he is far from stupid.

Ken, just because someone has a different view to you on one topic, doesn't automatically mean they are going to talk rubbish about another one. For me, one of the most interesting things about peak oil is that it highlights precisely that fact. It is illustrated here at PowerSwitch; there are many of us who think broadly similarly about energy but have widely differing views on other issues. Likewise, friends and colleagues I've talked to about peak oil are knowledgeable and wise on other issues but completely impervious to our energy situation and its implications.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 20 Apr 2010, 13:14

goslow wrote:KC has been one of the Tories I had time for

Much preferred his work with the Sunshine Band.....