Comments on: They work and are quick to build: let the wind blow. Daily Telegraph, Thursday, July 16th – Dave Andrews is and independent energy consultant and head of the Claverton Group energy think tank

By: Olivier - ObjectifTerre

Olivier - ObjectifTerre — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:42:00 +0000

This kind or error is common :

” (…) une surface de 300 kilomètres carrés au Sahara, équipée de miroirs paraboliques, suffirait théoriquement à couvrir les besoins en énergie de la planète entière (…)”
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2009/07/13/quand-l-europe-se-chauffera-au-soleil-du-sahara_1218125_3244.html

300 x 300 km is quite diferent to 300 km2

By: David MacKay

David MacKay — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:49:21 +0000

Dear Slap, – yes, and if you read David MacKay’s blog (the one you just linked to), you’ll see that David MacKay also says that the Telegraph sub-editor screwed the article up. Look before you leap. Read before your blog. Don’t trust anything in the newspapers. Have a nice day!

By: admin

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:21:38 +0000

Dear Slap, – if you read the version posted on the Claverton web site (the one you have just commented on) you will see that the stupid Telegraph incorrectely printed what I had writtne . I clearly said ” 70 miles by 70 miles.

Dave A

By: Slap

Slap — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:06:09 +0000

70 square miles is a ridiculously small area in which to generate all of Britain’s power requirements. The inaccuracy of this, which is off by a factor of 70, has attracted a nomination for a ‘Hot Air Oscar’ for ‘most inaccurate numbers in a right-wing newspaper’. For more information see: David MacKay’s blog Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air at: http://withouthotair.blogspot.com/2009/07/most-inaccurate-numbers-in-right-wing.html

By: Herbert Eppel

Herbert Eppel — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:55:32 +0000

I am somewhat surprised about your statement that “we can safely say that no one wants a wind farm in their back yard”.

I suppose a lot hinges on the definition of back yard, and I dare say taken in a literal sense most people’s back yards are obviously not big enough to accommodate a wind farm, but I can assure you that there is plenty of support for wind farms just beyond people’s literal back yards, as evidenced by the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Pro Wind Alliance and similar wind support groups. For details see http://prowa.org.uk/