No Wind, No Sun, No Power

Donna Laframboise,(Canada)
"Windmills and solar panels sound wonderful. Except that the UK wind isn’t blowing and the German sun isn’t shining. .......A few days ago I mentioned three reasons why wind power is more difficult and complicated than people discussing it over a glass of wine and a marvelous meal tend to think it is. Andrew Montford, on his BishopHill blog, has since posted a piece titled The Great Still. He reports that, in recent days, so little wind has been blowing in the UK that all its windmills combined are generating about “a tenth of one percent of demand.” Much of the rest of Europe finds itself in a similar situation. The wind just isn’t blowing. In other words, it doesn’t matter how many millions a country spends installing thousands of turbines. If the wind doesn’t blow, there’s no power. If the UK didn’t have access to “dirty” fossil fuels as backup, hospital patients dependent on electronic equipment would be perishing right now."