Cowboys and Wind

Opposition to wind farms has joined employment, education, taxes in the collection of issues known as politics.  Whilst I offer no opinion on politicians, I feel comfortable in a system which can accommodate this debate and a willingness to tolerate the outcome of elections (albeit grudgingly).  Oddly, for an enthusiast of sustainable energy, I think I see where the opposition to wind farms is coming from, together with similar technologies they are seen as driving up energy costs with no short term benefits for the consumer.  Added to this is the perception that the renewables sector is becoming part of the financial services industry where investments are fuelled by guaranteed energy prices.  Rooftop PV has been sold as an "investment" with gave rates of return greater than that available for standard saving products.

I would like to see a more integrated approach to renewable energy, whilst the unit cost of energy is the headline grabber, it is the total amount spent on energy which is the bottom line for most people.  Promoting energy management and conservation technologies and targeting them in such a way that some people get cost reductions would go a long way to changing the perception of  the sustainable technologies.  This is not a trivial undertaking, but neither was the development of nuclear energy.  At the household level, a few well sited LED lights have cut our electricity cost and I'm hoping that zoning the heating system next year will do the same for the gas bill.  There are ideas out there for politicians to grasp and some of them might even generate jobs and wealth.

A factor in the opposition to wind farms it that the turbines are seen as industrial machines in a pastoral setting, The railways faced similar opposition during the 19th century as the benefits of things like nationwide newspaper and postal distribution became established, they became accepted.  In the 19th century wind power was a mainstream technology with milling and seafaring being more or less respected trades.

Books pile up in our house and there is only so much space available for shelves.  For a book to be saved from the charity shop it either has to have the sort sentimental value that comes from having being a travelling companion (regardless of the fact it was never read) or that it has earned it's place by having been read more than once. One such book is a history of Texas.  About half way through, the author makes an observation that it was only when wind powered water pumps provided drinking water for cattle on the high plains that ranching expanded.  The Aermotor wind pump is as iconic as the nodding donkeys of the oilfields.  Until well into the twentieth century, wind power was a mainstream technology.  Within walking distance of my home there are the surviving structures of three windmills and street names and pub signs hint at the existence of others.  The Dutch have long used wind pumps to drain the low lying parts of their country, a technology they bought to the fenlands of East Anglia.  Today, wind energy is a growing industry in Texas, I recently read that the state produced about 10% of its electricity from wind (figure not checked).

A large, three masted sailing ship like those engaged in the tea trade between Asia and Europe might have been developing the equivalent of 2,000 and 5,000 horsepower when making 14 knots under full sail.  This level of power is comparable to steam and diesel, however, its availability is seasonal and a high level of skill was needed to coordinate agricultural production, maritime transport and marketing.