Comments on: Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind! http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/ Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:43:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Smart British Energy Gas http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-4/#comment-10939 Smart British Energy Gas Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:15:33 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-10939 Pretty great that some European countries are giving the example when it comes recycleable forms of energy. If Spain gets that much from their wind turbines, imagine how much US can produce. It would be good that Britain started to follow some of the steps countries like Spain are giving towards energy production especially taking advantage of Great Britain's weather conditions. We might not succeed in having solar panels as we are known from our rainy days but definetly I personally think it would be a great move by building up more wind turbines alongside Britain's gorgeous seaside. I hope our government does not fall aspleep onto this environmental aspect and soon start to put into action, some of the plans that are already being taken place in some parts of Europe by neighbour countries. Thanks for the post Tom, will recommend it.Cheers Pretty great that some European countries are giving the example when it comes recycleable forms of energy. If Spain gets that much from their wind turbines, imagine how much US can produce. It would be good that Britain started to follow some of the steps countries like Spain are giving towards energy production especially taking advantage of Great Britain’s weather conditions. We might not succeed in having solar panels as we are known from our rainy days but definetly I personally think it would be a great move by building up more wind turbines alongside Britain’s gorgeous seaside. I hope our government does not fall aspleep onto this environmental aspect and soon start to put into action, some of the plans that are already being taken place in some parts of Europe by neighbour countries. Thanks for the post Tom, will recommend it.Cheers

]]> By: Nick Donnelly http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-4/#comment-10914 Nick Donnelly Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:41:11 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-10914 This is so misleading. Wind power is fundamentally flawed for the simple fact - its not always windy & its very hard to store power at scale - so wind turbines have to be backed up with gas power stations. How much electricity is generated at peak times is laregely irrelivant if it can't be stored at a large scale - the flip side, what happens when its not windy, is the problem. The article does mention hydro storage - but what storage capacity does Spain have in hydro (it doesnt say)? This is also only possible where hydroelectric facilities are already in place (or massive investment is required). The reality of wind power is far more nuanced, complete and potentially polluting that it seems on face value - the flip side of this story needs to be told. Im not saying increasing wind power usage is bad - but its not the easy win many think it is and the disadvantages are rarely reported. This is so misleading.

Wind power is fundamentally flawed for the simple fact – its not always windy & its very hard to store power at scale – so wind turbines have to be backed up with gas power stations.

How much electricity is generated at peak times is laregely irrelivant if it can’t be stored at a large scale – the flip side, what happens when its not windy, is the problem.

The article does mention hydro storage – but what storage capacity does Spain have in hydro (it doesnt say)? This is also only possible where hydroelectric facilities are already in place (or massive investment is required).

The reality of wind power is far more nuanced, complete and potentially polluting that it seems on face value – the flip side of this story needs to be told.

Im not saying increasing wind power usage is bad – but its not the easy win many think it is and the disadvantages are rarely reported.

]]> By: monkchips http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-4/#comment-8570 monkchips Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:11:35 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8570 nice catch aron and shaddi... its hard enough explaining the peak load, but energy clearly != electricity. nice catch aron and shaddi… its hard enough explaining the peak load, but energy clearly != electricity.

]]> By: Aron Roberts http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-4/#comment-8560 Aron Roberts Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:05:27 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8560 Shaddi writes: "The linked article is a bit ambiguous, but remember that electricity is a subset of a country’s total energy needs." True. Is it possible that there is some confusion introduced, in this blog post, between Spain's electricity requirements and total energy requirements? The end of the first sentence, "Spain set a new record, hitting 53.7% of its energy requirements being supplied by wind energy," refers to total energy requirements, but the second sentence, which refers to "the amount of electricity being supplied by wind," refers only to electrical energy. Even if at the relatively short-lived, peak moment or period cited, 53.7% of Spain's *electricity* requirements were supplied by wind energy, that is still an impressive total, but that's a manifestly different assertion than stating that wind supplied 53.7% of Spain's *energy* requirements. At least in the USA - I'm not sure how applicable this may be to Spain - electricity consumption is an important but minority fraction of total energy consumption; one handy overview can be found at: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories "Energy Goes With the Flow" Science & Technology Review, September 2009 https://str.llnl.gov/Sep09/simon.html Shaddi writes: “The linked article is a bit ambiguous, but remember that electricity is a subset of a country’s total energy needs.”

True.

Is it possible that there is some confusion introduced, in this blog post, between Spain’s electricity requirements and total energy requirements?

The end of the first sentence, “Spain set a new record, hitting 53.7% of its energy requirements being supplied by wind energy,” refers to total energy requirements, but the second sentence, which refers to “the amount of electricity being supplied by wind,” refers only to electrical energy.

Even if at the relatively short-lived, peak moment or period cited, 53.7% of Spain’s *electricity* requirements were supplied by wind energy, that is still an impressive total, but that’s a manifestly different assertion than stating that wind supplied 53.7% of Spain’s *energy* requirements.

At least in the USA – I’m not sure how applicable this may be to Spain – electricity consumption is an important but minority fraction of total energy consumption; one handy overview can be found at:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
“Energy Goes With the Flow”
Science & Technology Review, September 2009
https://str.llnl.gov/Sep09/simon.html

]]> By: Smart Grid Blog » Blog Archive » Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind! — GreenMonk: the blog http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-4/#comment-8276 Smart Grid Blog » Blog Archive » Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind! — GreenMonk: the blog Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:53:21 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8276 [...] via Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind! — GreenMonk: the blog. [...] [...] via Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind! — GreenMonk: the blog. [...]

]]> By: Patrick M. http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-3/#comment-8148 Patrick M. Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:53:11 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8148 Very misleading headline!"Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind ..... for a few nano-seconds!" What percent of energy over the past YEAR was generated by wind? - that is more relevant and important. Looking at what happened at 5:30am one morning is meaningless. Very misleading headline!”Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind ….. for a few nano-seconds!”

What percent of energy over the past YEAR was generated by wind? – that is more relevant and important. Looking at what happened at 5:30am one morning is meaningless.

]]> By: Christians dagbok – 2009-11-14 | En sur karamell http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-2/#comment-8130 Christians dagbok – 2009-11-14 | En sur karamell Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:03:19 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8130 [...] Shared Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind*. [...] [...] Shared Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind*. [...]

]]> By: Weekend Reading Assignment « laurence turner http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/comment-page-2/#comment-8088 Weekend Reading Assignment « laurence turner Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:33:50 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=1658#comment-8088 [...] wind in the sails of the Green Movement? Perhaps… Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind!, greenmonk.net / Sarah Palin Suggests Coin Conspiracy In Wisconsin Speech, huffingtonpost.com / [...] [...] wind in the sails of the Green Movement? Perhaps… Spain gets 53% of its energy from wind!, greenmonk.net / Sarah Palin Suggests Coin Conspiracy In Wisconsin Speech, huffingtonpost.com / [...]

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