B&Q Solar

A chance conversation in the pub yesterday I got in contact with a local amateur meteorologist who is going to install a data recording anemometer on the mast were I would install the wind generator so I will have facts to work with rather then assumptions. This is a picture looking out from the end of the garden were it would be sited.

It is a fairly typical "not actually a lie" quote - a bit like always quoting the maximum output of things like wind farms press releases even if in reality they can't achieve a quarter of it or the mythical W(p) rating of solar panels they can't ever deliver.

If you look at the maps at

It clearly shows that Scotland is very windy and the centre of England isn't.

Because wind power increases as the _cube_ of the wind speed high wind speed means very high energy compared with low wind speed. Logically all the wind turbines should therefore be in Scotland. This would have the added advantage that there isn't anyone there to be disturbed by them.

However, this simplistic map isn't anything like the whole story. If you look at Denmark it appears to be well off for wind, certainly comparable to the UK, but go to the next page to the detailed map linked in the paragraph "Reality is More Complicated".

This displays the effects of "roughness" (buildings and structures) which the greenwashers ignore and local terrain speed up effects. (More detailed maps can be downloaded but they are ESRI Shape Files so not generally useful). You can have good sites in apparently poor areas. You will also have very many poor sites in what are superficially good areas.

This map clearly shows the fallacy of the "30% of electricity from a windmill on your roof" claims. It also illustrates well the effect of wind speed on energy - the coast having >510W/m2 but broken countryside and towns going down to

short :-).

I look forward to seeing the data.

No it's a wee bit higher

This is the graph for the last two and a bit hours

The message from Peter Parry contains these words:

Have looked at the quoted site I think it is a lie.

Europe is not a believable synonym for Western Europe nor even for the European Union (in a geographical sense) and the area covered isn't even Western Europe, it appears that Switzerland and Austria are excluded. Also I flatly refuse to believe that the mountainous regions of Italy and various other mountain regions are the least windy in the whole of area covered.

Can't be, an EU Computer produced it.

The message from Peter Parry contains these words:

I thought Austria was in the EU. :-)

Actually while I don't believe the chart I was referring back to the original lie, namely that the UK has 40% of Europe's wind energy.

Incidentally looking at the distribution of colours it appears on the face of it that Norway, UK and the Irish Republic should account for more than 100% of Europe's wind energy if the UK alone accounts for 40%.

In message , DJT writes

I know you mentioned before you were on the coast, but now we've seen how close, you've almost certainly got a good site for a wind turbine.

Please come back and share your data at some point.

In message , David Hansen writes

Anti what lobby? Anti mis-selling? Anti rip-off-Joe-public? Anti marketing-scam?

As you conveniently snipped from my post, I'm happy that the domestic scale turbines will perform _in the right location_.

Bolted to the side of No 3 Acacia Avenue, below the ridge-line, as suggested by Windsave publicity photos, is not the right location. It IS mis-selling, it IS greenwash, it IS playing the "Save the Planet" card.

The message from Roger contains these words:

I did of course mean the area on the map, not the whole of Europe.

Absolutely right. It's dishonesty of the worst kind and discredits any genuine scientific means of doing worthwhile things (vs. emotive claptrap). I'm seriously considering contacting Trading Standards in my area to see if there is interest in a prosecution. There is certainly a prima facie case. They've taken on Captain Birdseye so this shouldn't be a problem.

In the meantime, I must look out my "Nuke the unborn gay baby whales for Jesus" T shirt while I enjoy my minke burgers.

Oh gawd another unit, 35kph = 20mph = 10m/s (ish).

Bit of a cliff top site. Position will be critical with regards airflow/turbulance.

Oh and most of britain is currently experiencing more wind than "normal" due to a moderate depression centered in the mouth of the Bristol channel at 1800.

Certainly once I have collected enough data The machine doing the recording is an ancient Amiga it was the chaps first introduction to the hobby its been sitting unused for years so he was quite happy to dust it off and put it to use again. Unfortunately the only way I can put data on the net at the moment is by copying a iff image onto a floppy and then transferring it to a PC. Crash course in Amiga operating now required ;-(

Average for the last 5 hours is 41kph=11mps

down south Not were I am

There are plenty of ways of shifting stuff about - but much depends on what hardware you have (i.e. which model Amiga, and does it have a network card, scsi interface, zip/jaz drive etc), what OS version (1.3 through 3.9) etc, how much you want to shift, and how fast.

What do you want to know? ;-)

Andy the owner is coming round Sunday to finish setting it up and install a zip drive which he could not find originally. So he will be able to point out the things that I need to know. I don't really need to shift much data, as this is mostly for my own research use I have no intention of setting up a weather station here.......yet

Regards Dan

Looking at your wind log for the last 3 days im not surprised your average wind speed is so low You must live in a very sheltered location My graph over the last 3 days.

It isn't just shelter that is the problem but surface roughness. The more buildings you put up the rougher the surface, the more turbulence you get and the lower the wind speed. That's why most urban areas are completely unsuited to small scale wind generation. Where I am I can see several miles to the north - but the average wind speed is less than 2m/s. When Heathrow, Luton and Benson are showing 20kt winds it's about 2kts here.

In message , DJT writes

Peter says, introduce surface roughness into the landscape and the wind speed falls dramatically. Had 26mph gusts / 10mph average this morning. Mind, many years ago I used to live up on the west coast of Cumbria. I was _well_ familiar with the concept of horizontal rain while waiting for the school bus in a morning!

From your records, you're gonna be laughing all the way to claiming your first ROC certificate!