Vocal Voices

Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire will produce its last megawatt then be decommissioned.

It's sad but also good and necessary for climate reasons. We are now in the windmill and solar age and in just a decade they have picked up most of the slack from fossil fuels, 40% today. We still get 25% from gas so there is still some way to go, but we are getting there.

The downside is that the UK's energy prices are the most expensive in the developed world. That hurts us, the consumers, and also the economy, but we are the first to get rid of coal. Others will have to follow, that's inevitable, and we have a lead over them so it might be good news.

Also the blast furnaces at Port Talbot shut today. Thousands will be out of work.
The old order is certainly changing.

And Scunthorpe steel is under threat moving to just one furnace going over to electric hopefully

Worrying things are Newton's laws of motion - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

We are about to take out terra Watts of energy from the wind. Do we know what global effects this will have down the line, and for the future? Studies by DEFRA and the USGS on local installations are not exactly positive for plants and wildlife - or us.

Going green is not as simple as some make out, there are big problems.

No change in use is without problems. That being said harvesting wind is not as likely to cause problems as adding 50% to the CO2 volume in the Atmosphere.

Hobson's choice, do something or suffer the consequences.

Time will tell what is the right thing to do.