Norway Wants to Be Europe’s Battery

[The Spartan]

So fill 1/4 with windmills and let the birds have the rest.

Or paint them pink, or use it as an object lesson in biology when all the stupid birds die out.

Wow that's a bit harsh isn't it? Nature has been a source of inspiration for the human race remember the Wright brothers?

[JRCT]

So fill 1/4 with windmills and let the birds have the rest.

Or paint them pink, or use it as an object lesson in biology when all the stupid birds die out.

We could also put some signs up so that the eagles know which part of their vast territory has these turbines, so they know to stay clear.

We could concrete the ground so that golden plovers, grey plovers, godwits, oystercatchers, lapwings, curlews, whimbrels, redshanks, woodcocks, snipes, jack snipes, dotterils, sanderlings, knots, skylarks and many, many more ground nesting birds get the message and p off.

Interestingly, the RSPB have suggested in the past that the best colour to enable birds to see these turbines would be purple. But, of course that would look hideous.

[d000hg]

Wow that's a bit harsh isn't it? Nature has been a source of inspiration for the human race remember the Wright brothers?

Conservation has its place. But every square meter has something interesting in it, so by that argument we'd never do anything.

A species that has such a vast territory is not really viable in terms of conservation. You can hardly declare the whole of Scotland off limits because some birds are determined to fly over every inch of it.

We could concrete the ground so that golden plovers, grey plovers, godwits, oystercatchers, lapwings, curlews, whimbrels, redshanks, woodcocks, snipes, jack snipes, dotterils, sanderlings, knots, skylarks and many, many more ground nesting birds get the message and p off.

Yeah great argument. But that would serve no purpose whereas putting turbines in uninhabited expanses does.

[minestrone]

What about climate change? And the prosperity of future generations?

Does not matter what happens in Europe, China and India will think nothing of burning coal until it runs out.

[TykeMerc]

Does not matter what happens in Europe, China and India will think nothing of burning coal until it runs out.

That's true, in "Global Warming/Climate Change" terms if you believe the CO2 arguments.

However if (not unlike Norway has done) we could provide a significant proportion of our electrical power requirements without fuel costs with lots of hydro.

If wind and/or wave generation ever become seriously viable having multiple hydro storage facilities would be an absolute must because of the erratic nature of the generation, at least Norway has the foresight and guts to use their resources wisely.

[scooterscot]

Does not matter what happens in Europe, China and India will think nothing of burning coal until it runs out.

We lead be example, not default.

[d000hg]

Does not matter what happens in Europe, China and India will think nothing of burning coal until it runs out.

Probably, but having an infrastructure which is less coal-dependent could be nice when that happens - not only for keeping our lights on but in terms of selling that expertise to those countries. Being the country the world comes to for renewable tech could revive the UK's standing in the world order!

[Sysman]

we just need to build lots of dams and hydro electric storage, of course the devastation of wildlife would upset the populace.

The newly privatised water companies sold a load of dams off in the nineties.

A fair few of them are now housing estates.

Standpipes. What standpipes?

[vetran]

We lead be example, not default.

we could lead by tariffs if we wanted.Only buy products produced by clean energy and good employment practices.

[scooterscot]

we could lead by tariffs if we wanted.Only buy products produced by clean energy and good employment practices.

Could we survive if you just tried to buy goods with 'made in Britain' labels?

Our shiny new nuclear power station will have a 'made in china' label.