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Considering UK is an island and offshore wind tends to be more consistent than onshore (although with higher cost to build) that doesn't sound like a problem?

by Pxtl 3y ago

tialaramex 3y ago
It's certainly true that Britain has a lot of coastline, and that even allowing for the fact you can't put wind farms in the middle of a shipping lane (unless you don't mind constant collisions because nobody in a large boat can steer worth shit, the UK also has some big rocks, which like wind turbines are marked on charts and don't move yet idiots crash boats into those all the damn time) this works out to mean we could probably more than supply our energy needs from wind turbines + storage. On the other hand, onshore wind is cheaper and would have been viable all along, the Tories effectively banned it (technically they just made it very easy to block planning permission) for years because that wins over a certain kind of NIMBY voter. You couldn't build enough onshore wind to replace all the fossil fuels, but you could make a bigger dent than we did.
- BoxOfRain 3y ago
  I'm not particularly well-versed in the technology but is there any reason the UK isn't utilising tidal power more? We have areas with some impressive tidal ranges including the Severn Estuary which has the second highest in the world. There was lots of talk about building a tidal lagoon in Swansea back when I lived in Wales but I've not heard anything about that since I moved away some years ago.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    I think the reason is that the water keeps surprising people by being really corrosive and otherwise damaging the equipment that's inside it; so it does work, it's just been more expensive to build and maintain than the other options so far.
  - jacobp100 3y ago
    My understanding is that the technology for hydro isn’t really there as of today. Maybe that will change in the future - that was certainly the case for wind and solar
  - youngtaff 3y ago
    The Swansea tidal lagoon was well dodgy… the promoters owned a quarry in Cornwall and they wanted to sell it’s rock at inflated prices (plus producing concrete is hardly carbon friendly) Severn barrage is interesting but would have a quite large impact on the local nature habitat
  - tialaramex 3y ago
    The Swansea project you're thinking of was... controversial. It sure smells a lot more like a scam than you'd ideally like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_Lagoon_Swansea_Bay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_Lagoon_Swansea_Bay

Considering UK is an island and offshore wind tends to be more consistent than onshore (although with higher cost to build) that doesn't sound like a problem?

by Pxtl 3y ago

Considering UK is an island and offshore wind tends to be more consistent than onshore (although with higher cost to build) that doesn't sound like a problem?

tialaramex 3y ago

It's certainly true that Britain has a lot of coastline, and that even allowing for the fact you can't put wind farms in the middle of a shipping lane (unless you don't mind constant collisions because nobody in a large boat can steer worth shit, the UK also has some big rocks, which like wind turbines are marked on charts and don't move yet idiots crash boats into those all the damn time) this works out to mean we could probably more than supply our energy needs from wind turbines + storage. On the other hand, onshore wind is cheaper and would have been viable all along, the Tories effectively banned it (technically they just made it very easy to block planning permission) for years because that wins over a certain kind of NIMBY voter. You couldn't build enough onshore wind to replace all the fossil fuels, but you could make a bigger dent than we did.

BoxOfRain 3y ago
I'm not particularly well-versed in the technology but is there any reason the UK isn't utilising tidal power more? We have areas with some impressive tidal ranges including the Severn Estuary which has the second highest in the world. There was lots of talk about building a tidal lagoon in Swansea back when I lived in Wales but I've not heard anything about that since I moved away some years ago.
- ben_w 3y ago
  I think the reason is that the water keeps surprising people by being really corrosive and otherwise damaging the equipment that's inside it; so it does work, it's just been more expensive to build and maintain than the other options so far.
- jacobp100 3y ago
  My understanding is that the technology for hydro isn’t really there as of today. Maybe that will change in the future - that was certainly the case for wind and solar
- youngtaff 3y ago
  The Swansea tidal lagoon was well dodgy… the promoters owned a quarry in Cornwall and they wanted to sell it’s rock at inflated prices (plus producing concrete is hardly carbon friendly) Severn barrage is interesting but would have a quite large impact on the local nature habitat
- tialaramex 3y ago
  The Swansea project you're thinking of was... controversial. It sure smells a lot more like a scam than you'd ideally like. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_Lagoon_Swansea_Bay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_Lagoon_Swansea_Bay