In message , Paul
Martin writes:
In article ,
Steve Thackery wrote:

TNP, I'd like to read more about this. Do you have any sources that explain
more about why wind power is expensive in terms of money and CO2?

Wind power is intermittent. You can't call on it when demand needs it.

I continue to fail to see why that keeps being presented as a reason not
to use it when it _is_ there. Yes, you need 100% (or almost 100%)
alternative capacity for when the wind isn't blowing, so anyone who
_relies_ on wind is just plain daft; however, it seems just as daft to
run the alternatives at 100% all the time when the wind _is_ blowing.
(And if you're going to say you were never suggesting that, I'd come
back by saying that the majority of wind advocates never suggested it as
a sole source, either.)

Wind provides power only when the wind blows, and when the wind is too
strong the windmill has to protect itself, which involves turning the
vanes to reduce the cross-sectional area facing the wind (ie. little or
no power extracted).

The energy required to turn the vanes is sufficiently small as not to
enter into the matter. If you were just saying that there are wind
speeds above which they don't work, then fine - that is obvious, and is
the same as saying it sometimes isn't windy. (Though some new
vertical-axis designs - someone posted a link a bit earlier in this
branch of the thread - do work over a wider range [lower _and_ higher]
than the traditional style, apparently.) Still not a reason to never
build a windmill, though.

The coldest periods of UK winter weather tend to be when we have a
static high pressure system, with little wind.

We do indeed have cold, crisp, windless winter days. We also have windy
ones.
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