This article is Bellamy’s response to Monbiot in a debate regarding global warming. For the entire debate, visit http://www.zmag.org/MonbiotBellamyDebate.htm . For more debates, visit http://www.zmag.org/znet_debates.htm
Dear George
My apologies. I was waiting for a public reply to the question I asked you in the telegraph. As you don’t seem to have understood it I will elaborate.
At the moment Britain has some 1100 wind turbines doing their intermittent best producing meaningful amounts of electricity for only 24.1 % of the year. Together they produced less than four one thousandth of the power used in the UK and saved less than one thousandth of the carbon dioxide produced by our profligate lifestyles. In 2003. Please note those are mathematically provable facts from government statistics. Perhaps you should ask your colleagues at Oxford to disprove them?
There is also the fact that however many turbines are erected there is need for fossil fuel back up that must be kept in repair and in hot spinning reserve (when they work very inefficiently) ready to cut in when the wind isn’t behaving itself.
The Germans have said that no power stations will be shut down as a result of wind power, however many turbines they erect. What is more they have decided to replace their ageing nuclear facilities with gas fired stations.
While at the same time Tony Blair has now named three possible locations for the siting of a new nuclear power station, all in Scotland
As for the cartel how can the so called Greens support WEI, (one of the worlds biggest providers of atomic power, who own Greenpeace’s beloved juice/npower), AMEC (who have just started to flood an immensely important part of Belize etc etc etc), MC Alpine, ( hav’nt you railed against them in the past?). Vesta who have helped Denmark to lead the rush to wind. A country that now produces more carbon dioxide than they did before building their first turbine. I could go on but I hope you get the picture
I would be very interested to see any of the statements regarding the use of my name by the Society of Motor Manufacturers etc etc to Exonn. It seems very strange that these same words were used against the Conservation Foundation over 20 years ago when we launched the Ford Conservation Awards yet we were shown no evidence.
And why are they doing that when many oil companies are cashing in on the wind rush and many industries including Caterpillar, BMW, Renault, Dublin Airport etc, etc are leading the way in the drive for energy efficiency and are finding it saves them lots of money…
I must also ask if our government is really worried about so called people made global warming why are they not taxing Avigas, taking vat off diy insulation materials and why are they continuing to fund the building of coal fired power stations in the developing world none of which are fitted with lean and clean burn technology to which we hold the patents?
I append a copy of a paper recently published the M new scientist. I would ask your colleagues in Oxford to take a look and see if it’s contents shake their faith in what you call global warming in any way.
One final point I think you must be expending your ill informed vitriol against me on the wrong people, for none of the many ngo’s I support have even contacted me on the matter.
Please let me reiterate my question asked in the newspaper
At the moment wind power in the United Kingdom contributes just four-thousandths of our electricity generation and displaces a much smaller fraction of carbon dioxide emission – about a thousandth – because power stations are by no means the only source.
Even with our target of 25 to 30 times as much wind electricity, the proportion of global carbon dioxide emission displaced will not be enough to measurably alter the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, let alone alter climate change. Please get your colleagues to disprove that.
Yours sincerely
David
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