Non sequitur

A free map containing the most detailed publicly available information on global wind energy potential has been launched this week…

…Lars Christian Lilleholt, Danish minister for energy, utilities and climate, said the new tool will help the wind energy sector to expand by curbing risks and costs for developers around the world.

"The release of the Global Wind Atlas demonstrates the support of the international community to expand global renewable energy to address global climate change, increase electricity access and stimulate economic development," he said in a statement.

 Spot the non sequitur.

Comments

[Keith Willshaw]

So following that logic maps showing the extent of the British Empire before WW2 demonstrated the support of the International community for Imperialism.

[golf charlie]

The Green energy scam companies would prefer a free map showing the location of the most lucrative grants and subsidies around the world. Ability to produce anything useful is irrelevant.

Who would have thought there was any logic in solar farms in the UK with all that untainted sand in the Sahara, and Arabian peninsular?

[Tom O]

I've always thought that wind, when it finds resistance, tends to move. That is consider a wind blowing against a barn. There is resistance to the flow of air, thus the flow of air tends to move to the sides of the barn and on by, presumably at a slightly faster rate to compensate for the increased energy that it would be carrying. The same for a tree. That is, as the wind blows against the tree, some air flows through it but more air flows around it as it "piles up" in front of the tree, shunting air to both sides. Thus the same affect would happen in front of a "wind farm," as the resistance that the blades would be offering to the wind - how else can the thing generate electricity? - would cause air to "pile up" and shunt over or around the resistance. Has anyone noticed an increase in "windiness" near a wind farm? If the above thought bore fruit, if you will, it would suggest that no matter where you place a wind farm, it will be less efficient than it theoretically ought to be since it will, be its very presence, divert the wind to a different space.

[Rick Bradford]

I'll guess that the non sequitur is that an increase in wind energy will "stimulate economic development".

I'll go for double points by suggesting that the massive subsidies required for wind power inevitably suppress economic development.

Send me my prize immediately, as long as it isn't an invite to a day-long Naomi Oreskes workshop.

[Geckko]

Spot the non sequitur? Which one?

That it will increase electricity access?

That the map will reduce costs of wind power?

That the production of this map will create economic activity (and not destroy value)?

That it will "address climate change"?

It is the largest single simultaneous non sequitur I have ever seen.

[M Courtney]

The map clearly shows the UK towards the high end of the wind speed spectrum, with parts of Scotland and Ireland delivering averages speeds of 11 metres per second.

But as we all know, sometimes there isn't any wind at all. The average is of very little use.

A more useful map would be one that showed the average percentage of time in a day that the wind farms will not be able to operate for. That would indicate the requirements for the backup generation capacity.

It would need to be seasonal as well.

[thinkingscientist]

On the same linked page I couldn't help but notice the article entitled:

"Ed Davey warns 'disastrous' renewables rollback will push up UK energy bills"

Clicking through to the article, I saw this quote:

The government has consistently argued urgent cuts are required in order to prevent an overspend of the £7.6bn Levy Control Framework - the spending cap that the previous coalition set for low carbon subsidy spending through to 2020, which is paid for through consumer energy bills

Which means, if I understand it correctly, amounts to about £285.00 per household extra on power bills (based on 26.7 million UK households in 2014).

Sorry for the non-sequitur....

[esmiff]

The question I ask all the time is why ?

' increase electricity access and stimulate economic development'

I believe he's referring to development of renewable energy itself. It's clear that they don't mind if it kills traditional economic development b/c that is going to India and China (at great benefit to the banks who fund new factories).

Any new economic activity including a switch to new energy sources benefits the money lenders (banks).

[tomo]

I note that the map appears to reside in Masdar -> AKA eco-city of the future in the United Arab Emirates - who of course never contribute funds to anybody involved in UK shale gas "resistance" eh?

Not a case of academics following revenue at all....

That said the inclusion of source data metrics / confidence levels is a commendable bit of diligence in a field noted for spewing unsupported assertions.... NASA please note.

[Dung]

My guess is that the fact that saying that this map shows "the most detailed publicly available information on global wind energy potential" does not mean that it DOES.
Secondly IF it did show the claimed info for say last year, it does not follow that next year (or any future year) will be the same.
Think Met Office hehe

[chris y]

I think the non sequitur is here-

"The release of the Global Wind Atlas demonstrates the support of the international community to expand..."

Releasing a document written by proponents of wind, demonstrates nothing about support from the international community.

[ :) That's the one TM]

[tomo]

ahem... non sequiturs at map hosting mega city Masdar...

I rather liked this:

Solar Impulse 2 is the only airplane of perpetual endurance, able to fly day and night on solar power, without a drop of fuel.Solar Impulse 2 is attempting the First Round-The-World Solar Flight in 2015 and beginning and ending its historic adventure in Abu Dhabi.

No mention of goosing up the Li-Po banks for take-off - using you know what - and a positively Spanish attitude to night time solar power mebbe?

[Messenger]

And no mention that Solar Impulse is now stuck in Hawaii until some time in the spring of 2016. Nor the copious drops of fuel used in servicing said solar wonder.

[Beth Cooper]

Meeting energy needs.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2499/133/1600/060627-flowerpower4.0.jpg

[Phillip Bratby]

Is it a coincidence that the Danish minister for energy is promoting wind energy expansion overseas because the Danish wind turbine manufacturers are in deep financial crisis and Denmark is not installing wind turbines?

[michael hart]

Not forgetting that before the Solar Impulse Icarus broke its batteries it was also damaged by a gust of wind, while on the ground.

[golf charlie]

With all this amazing ability to produce coloured pictures about weather anywhere in the world, FIFA still "awarded" the World Cup to Qatar?

Does the printing ink from bundles of cash held in sweaty palms , taint the electronic colour of maps?

[kim]

Were significant amounts of energy drawn from the wind, the weather downwind would necessarily change. The sun, the water, and the wind are natural climate regulators and the more we mess with the natural regulators the more likely we are to adversely affect the weathers and the climates. Damages diffuse, plaintiffs explode and we're all downwind. Nonetheless, I still think the worst of the windmills is the infrasound, disturbing not only to man, but the whole local biome. Oh, yes, and the God Awful waste of money on an intermittent scheme with low power density.

Search for the Boedele Depression. Had a large community needing electricity been situated near the mountain pass to the East of the Depression, through which rushes much wind, and had windfarms been so installed in significant quantity, the Amazon Rain Forest would slowly die, as its sustaining mineral nutrients come from Africa.
==================

[toorightmate]

The map is useless for sailors.
What is it useful for?