“Who’s trippin’ down the streets of the city, Smilin’ at everybody she sees? Who’s reachin’ out to capture a moment? Everyone knows it’s Windy.” Except when it’s not. Europe went all-in on wind machines to power the future, and now they may not have one.
It’s the alleged wind drought. A thing that sailors were well aware of for centuries before someone found a way to burn fossil fuels to save them from the whimsy of weather. Ships reliant on the wind could be trapped for days or weeks in open water until steam engines, coal, oil, gas (and even nuclear power). But these energy-dense materials were either too inexpensive or reliable, so the progressives dumped them for intermittent solar and wind power, and now they are paying the price.
In its latest report, the IPCC predicts a drop of 6% to 8% in average wind speeds across Europe by 2050. As wind speeds become increasingly inconstant, the cost of wind energy will become more unpredictable and its provision more unreliable — that is, unless the energy industry invests in massive storage systems that can capture the excess energy produced on windier days and release it when the wind turbines stand idle.
But there is no strategist sun or wind reserve, none on the horizon (or perhaps ever), and according to this report, the wind drought has people worried.
Last year, the load factor — that is, the ratio of actual output to the theoretical maximum — dropped by 13% in Germany and the UK and by 15% to 16% in Ireland and the Czech Republic, Les Echos reports.
The 2021 “wind drought” hit Northern Europe particularly hard, especially those countries relying most on wind energy — notably Denmark, which gets 44% of its energy from wind, and Ireland, where the share of wind in total energy production is 31%. Other European countries relying heavily on wind include Portugal (26%), Spain (24%), Germany (23%), the UK (22%), and Sweden (19%). In France, which gets most of its power from nuclear, it’s just 8%.
But should it have them worried? The sun heating the earth creates wind.
The sun creates wind by heating the ground which heats the air above it which then causes the heated air to rise. The rising heated air creates a vacuum underneath it as it rises so that air from the surrounding side rushes in to fill the hole – this is wind
Mission Accomplished?
You were after a cooler planet. Wasn’t that the goal? A wind drought suggests less warming. But here you are, filling your strategic oil and gas reserves with evil fossil fuels to keep homes and businesses lit and heated. It is a problem you would always have because neither wind nor solar has delivered to projected capacity even when the sun shines and the wind blows.
And Putin did not do that; Europe did it.
The EU can’t say, on the one hand, that they embraced alternative energy to escape Putin’s yoke, then blame him for the problems resulting from too much reliance on “alternative” energy. Putin didn’t tell you to build wind farms instead of Nuclear energy facilities; Europe (and America) did that (with France being the lone exception and on the cusp of decommissioning themselves into the same stranded boat with the rest of the idiots).
A total commitment to wind and solar makes about as much sense as loaning more money to the unreliable uncle who never paid anyone back. He’s unreliable. It’s a given that you are throwing cash down a hole. It’s an investment in loss and planned failure.
And that’s wind and solar but for this critical point. It’s not just about other people’s money. You’ve also thrown millions of families down that hole with it, and they let you do it.
When winter comes, they will burn things to keep warm, and hopefully, the experts whose drought of common sense pushed them headlong into this mess are not among them.
Note: “Windy” was a 1967 Number One hit by The Association.