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Denmark Hits 116 Per Cent of Energy Needs With Wind Power . . . Australia Orders Halt To Wind Power Investments

220px-GreenMountainWindFarm_Fluvanna_2004European countries continue to put the rest of the world (including the United States) to shame in amazing reductions of their use of carbon footprints and the use of clean energy. Last week saw a particularly impressive achievement for Denmark which managed to produce 140 per cent of the country’s electricity needs. In the meantime, the vehemently anti-environmental Administration of Tony Abbott in Australia cracked down on wind power to prevent further investments by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Flag_of_Denmark.svgThe excess energy is shared between Germany and Norway and Sweden. These countries and the European Wind Energy Association has made investment into clear energy and are now enjoying the dividends of cleaner environments, technology sales globally, and a reduction of the carbon emissions that are threatening the very future of this planet.

While wind levels have been higher than usual, Denmark is on track to reach its goal of producing 84 per cent of it’s electricity needs through wind power by 2035.

800px-Flag_of_Australia_(converted).svgThat is in stark contrast to the situation over in Australia where Abbott continues his determined effort to rollback on environmental protections — an administration that has caused international protests over the damage to pristine areas. We have been discussing the horrific environmental record of Abbott. This includes the decision to dump millions of tons of waste into the Great Barrier Reef. The move that led to international outcry including official condemnation from UNESCO. Much of the criticism has been directed at Abbott putting industry officials in charge of environmental decision-making with predictable results.

Now the Abbott Administration, which has close ties to the mining industry, is moving against wind power. Despite another threat to international investment, Abbott’s government has ordered the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation not to make any new investments in wind power projects. Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann​ have told the Corporation to change its investment mandate to bar new wind funding. The move is viewed as a major blow to the wind industry in the country.

Joe_hockeyAppropriately, Hockey used an appearance on the show of a Sydney radio shock jock to publicly denounce wind farms as “utterly offensive.” Abbott signaled the change with his own objection to the windmill as “visually awful”. Of course, the predictions of global disaster do not appear to be quite as visually offensive for Abbott.

98 thoughts on “Denmark Hits 116 Per Cent of Energy Needs With Wind Power . . . Australia Orders Halt To Wind Power Investments”

  2. Of course, in rural places you might not find queued up batteries ready to pop in to your electric car. The station only has a 2 amp battery charger running off a generator running off the farmer’s tractor’s pto, and the guy says it will take until tomorrow to finish charging. No hotel either, so you have ask the farmer if he will put you up for the night, and he says yes, but if you touch his daughter …

  4. Mystery of Siberia’s 200ft-deep craters solved: Enormous holes were formed by methane eruptions triggered by melting permafrost
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3159067/Mystery-Siberia-s-200ft-deep-craters-solved-Enormous-holes-formed-methane-eruptions-triggered-melting-permafrost.html

    And counting…
    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/23/2601531B00000578-2965385-This_map_shows_the_location_of_the_new_craters_labelled_B1_4_alo-a-34_1424705212608.jpg

    1. Max-1, interesting article about Siberia’s mystery craters. I was pleasantly surprised they did not blame global warming for the melting of the permafrost. They blamed geothermal fissures.

  5. Jimm22
    Europe is ahead of America on energy… why do you think this is?

    1. Max-1 wrote: “Europe is ahead of America on energy… why do you think this is?”

      It sounds to me like you did not follow the links in your Fastned article. Their inspiration is an American company called Tesla.

      Tesla is in Europe too, but it is an American company. I saw many of these American cars in Amsterdam the last time I was there. You can’t deny that Tesla are the leaders in electric cars. They are putting up supercharger stations in a lot of places. Can charge the car in one hour. With newer technology for batteries, they are hoping to get it down to 30 minutes. Right now they have liquid cooled chargers that deliver more power than the current Tesla S cars can handle. It sure will be great when everybody can afford to buy these cars.

  6. Yes, base load. I know, reality sucks. So I assume you are off the grid using only solar and wind too because it is so reliable?

    Wow 15 minutes! Way better than gas. I love the happy shinny propaganda people using the Fastned too.

  7. I had thought that the best fast-charging method would use battery replacement. That would require uniformity on battery size and connections and probably power requirements. I see it as a pit stop, with an arm reaching up, disconnecting and lowering the spent battery, and a new one lifted into place. All in about 45 seconds. Batteries would be recharged and queued up for next use, and recycled as needed. The best part is that no owner would have to endure the anxiety of his very expensive battery needing replacement 1 week after its warranty expired. All that cost would be incorporated into the recharge price.

    1. John wrote: “I had thought that the best fast-charging method would use battery replacement.”

      Great idea. It reminds me of propane exchange stations that we have now.

  8. David

    I plan to install solar panels when the roof gets done. I am for outer space exploration but don’t yet have a rocket ship. Sometimes the input on this blog is woefully lacking in intelligence. The bottom line is that I recognize the future. You are one of those who can’t get your head out of the past., rhymes with.

  10. Jim22

    You are the one who is not in a league of any sort. Base load plants are just that, they provide the base load of an area. They operate on nuclear or coal and put out a set amount of electricity. The spikes or additional loads be they from air conditioning or additional draws are typically supplied by smaller more flexible and much more expensive plants. If you recall, if you were paying attention Enron shut down one of their base load plants at the highest use time of the year, for repairs. They stole 40 billion from the State of California. Read up on it.

    Throughout the Southern and air conditioning needy states there are many, many, square miles of warehouse roofs. A logistics company called Prologic weathered the recession because it could offer lower costs for storage because its roofs are covered in solar panels, it recycles rain water, etc. The first and hardest hit industry was the logistics industry. When nobody buys there is no need for trucks and warehouses. They are economically successful and perhaps the largest logistics company in the world.

    So, cover the roofs with solar panels and feed into the grid. Use the base load plants for the base usage and morph in the solar. The excess solar can be turned into hydrogen to fuel cars. Eventually technology will devise a way to substitute coal fired base load plants with renewable energy powered plants. Natural gas is a perfect stepping stone to phasing out coal. Do some research and perhaps you can join the league of the future. The future is here now in Denmark. The only thing holding us back is the status quo and their stupid arguments and of course those that believe them.

    Solar-thermal or photovoltaic-can produce hydrogen. Hydrogen can power cars. It is doable. The only loser will be the coal, oil, and gas industry. There is far more wealth to be made in renewable energy and it would be spread about evenly in the form of high paying jobs and all the spin offs.

    Jim22, where were you when the buggy whip industry needed a defense?

  14. Base load… Base load… Base load… Base load… Base load…
    Um, hello? Where’s the denialist push back, BASE LOADS?

  17. When there was a proposal to put windmills in the Vineyard Sound, between Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, Ted “Fredo” Kennedy killed that notion quickly. NIMBY!

  19. Bird collectors kill birds. They even competed to kill the last auk.

    Audubon was killing machine.

  20. Teaching high school history, I always incorporated all the social sciences when discussing topics. Here, just a bit of geography is in order. The population of Denmark is 5.6 million people. We have several CITIES larger. The square miles of Denmark is 16k. We have FORTY ONE STATES larger than that. Apples and oranges folks.

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