Alnwick Off-grid – peak oil and new possibilities

Dr Barbara Sexon will be speaking on whether Alnwick can live on locally-produced renewable energyat St James Church, Pottergate in Alnwick on Thursday 4th June at 7.30pm.

How many tons of wood fuel would we need, and could we use Hulne Park to produce it? (would the Duke be cool with it?) How many wind turbines would we need, and how high would they need to be? Where could we store the wind energy we produced for the calm times? Barbara’s talk offers an interesting perspective of how we might live sustainably and what Alnwick would look like as a result.

“On any day in The Journal you will find some people complaining about having one form of power station or other. People have got to get their energy from somewhere. I aim to show how we could do it with close to zero emissions.”

Barbara has a PhD in small-scale wind energy, and lives in Thropton. She worked for several years in Sudan producing a small-scale hydropower system which would allow farmers to replace unreliable and polluting diesel generators for irrigation.

Admission is £2 and includes free refreshments.

Letter in support of Wind farms at Toft Hill, Moorsyde and Barmoor

You can send your own letter to Ruth MacKenzie, the Planning Inspector via
moorsyde4us@hotmail.co.uk.

Dear Mrs MacKenzie,

APP/V2913/A/08/2079520 Appeal by Moorsyde Wind Farm Limited for site at Felkington, Berwick upon Tweed TD15 2NR
APP/V2913/A/08/2078347 Appeal by Catamount Energy Limited for site at Barmoor between Ford and Lowick
APP/V2913/A/08/2077474 Appeal by NPower Renewables Limited for site at Toft Hill, south west of Grindon.

I write in support of wind farm at all of the above locations. I am in favour of wind turbines in any location where:

• it is economic to place them
• where fragile ecosystems, which might, for instance be covered by allocating status of SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), are not placed at risk.
• where there are appropriate mitigations for interference with radar systems
• where there is not collateral damage to the wider economy

None of the criteria above are met by the 3 applications, and it is therefore my view that all should go ahead.

On the economics of wind turbine location - previous views have already identified these areas as UK locations with well above average wind speeds, and the fact that several energy companies have already sought to make applications, and have persisted despite 5 years of blinkered opposition from a minority of well-connected residents indicates their commitment.

Nobody has, to my knowledge, claimed that these or any of the other locations being proposed in Northumberland, are host to threatened species or ecosystems, and none of them are in SSSIs.

On the subject of radar, the Ministry of Defence have offered up inconsistent positions, as shown at Wandylaw, where evidence was presented indicating that the MoD had previously accepted that the wind turbines would not cause problems to neighbouring radar stations, whilst the MoD representative himself appeared to oppose the development on the grounds that they would. In the light of this contradictory stance, I would suggest that the UK's future energy needs are not delayed by such prevarications. The recommendation should be to go ahead with the development, subject to certification that radar facilities can be modified, and upgraded if required, to eliminate this concern, which has been hyped up by anti-wind farm protesters who have as little understanding of radar technology as wind turbine technology, the national grid, or threats to bird life.

Finally, on the damage to the wider economy, I have rarely heard more disingenuous rubbish published as fact than on the subject of the impact of wind turbines on tourism. At no point has any reliable evidence been presented that tourism will suffer as a result of wind (a loaded questionnaire on people's intent to travel to an area once a demonic vision of hideous turbines has been presented does not constitute evidence). The south-west of England and Cumbria have both seen increases in tourism following installation of wind farms. Whilst this cannot be attributed to wind farms, no evidence suggests that areas with similar reliance on tourism which have not installed wind energy facilities have received greater numbers.

The final objection thrown at wind farms, about the aesthetics of them. Surveys continue to show that a large majority of people actually find wind turbines attractive. We should not let a vocal majority obscure this fact. I would like to see a longer-term view of aesthetics which considers the option of extreme weather events with ever-increasing frequencies, coastal settlements turned into ghost towns by encroaching seas, and food shortages in the developing world which leads to mass migrations of desperate, hungry people. Now that is aesthetically displeasing.

David Farrar

Why is this man smiling?

He's got a north east strategy for tackling climate change, that's why
The earth’s atmosphere is very thin. If we rolled it up into a ball, and placed it on the surface of the earth, it would only reach from here to Gibraltar.

Adrian Hilton from the North East Climate Change Partnership emphasised the peril of our position with a few more anecdotes, when he spoke to Alnwick Area Friends of the Earth and guests on 26th March.

At the recent Copenhagen Climate Conference, many scientists suggested that even a 2 degree rise in temperature is too high for us, and that we had a less than 50% chance of keeping within that target. With a 6 degree rise, we wouldn’t be here at all (though Nick 'Lord' Stern has pointed out that conventional economics would suggest a 19 degree rise would be required to knock out half of our GDP - but hey, so much for conventional economics - Fred Goodwin would be turning in his bed. His diamond-encrusted 6 poster bed covered in erotic swan carvings).

Adrian’s work is not anti-business. Regionally, he has teamed up with the CBI, Federation of Small Business and British Chambers of Commerce. All have signed the North East Declaration on Climate Change. His work is focused on adapting to the climate change which is already set to happen, trying to mitigate further effects by reducing further emissions, and spotting the economic opportunities (there were some good news stories of local businesses growing rapidly on recycling of heavy-duty PET plastics).

And he remains an optimist. Asked the three things people can do to help, he said (1) increase energy efficiency - you might not lure someone home as readily with a promise to view your lagging as your solar panels, but it helps just as much, at much less cost. (2) lobby your MP – show them that there is a demand for action (3) work together – people can only tackle climate change by working as a community.

A final way of looking at the atmosphere: there are around 7 billion cubic kilometres of it, and 7 billion people. Each of us needs to think very carefully about what we are putting into our 1 cubic kilometre.

• Slides from Climate change and the North East [kind of a big file]
• North East Climate Change Adaptation Study
• North East Climate Change Action Plan
• Sign up for the North East climate change e-zine

Climate change in the North East: Think global, act local

Adrian Hilton, the man tasked with the modest task of developing the North East of England’s response to the challenge of climate change, visits St James Church Hall, Alnwick on Thursday 26th March.

“18 months ago, responding to climate change was sense as an environmental issue. Now it’s seen as a pressing social and economic issue too”. says Adrian the climate change co-ordinator for the North East Climate Change partnership (NECCP).

This means activities have stepped up a gear.

Where previously the whole of the North of England was lucky to form a single square in the climate models being developed around the world, NECCP have commissioned much more granular models which examine the north east's topography, from county to county, town to town.

They’re also looking at the steps which the North east will need to take to reduce the region’s emissions by 80% by 2050, in line with the new UK climate change law. It’s a big ask, but they’ve got some ideas.

Climate change is already happening, and there’s more of it in the pipeline, even if we go carbon neutral tomorrow, dig up Newcastle airport and bike to work. We’re going to have to live with some climate change. NECCP have written an adaptation study. It’s hot stuff.

• Find your way to St James Church Hall, Pottergate, 26th March.
• Find our more about the North East’s Adaptation Study
• Get subscribed to the NECCP’s e-zine (this is a yoof way of saying newsletter, in case you were wondering).

Ugly turbines block view of stunning Willowburn industrial estate

Some weeks ago Ray Farnsworth wrote a letter to the Gazette:
Some time ago I wrote to say that the new wind turbines on the Defra site at the entrance to Alnwick were, in my opinion, ugly. As I write (Thurs Jan 15) I can also say that they do not appear to have moved for over 3 weeks. I can therefore add that, despite having some of the coldest weeks for years, they have made no contribution to electricity demand (even when the wind blows). I can therefore report that they are useless."

Karen Roberts of Defra told me “Routine maintenance activity was being carried out by the company who installed the turbines.” Obviously coal-fired power stations and nuclear installations, which Mr Farnsworth favours, do not receive maintenance. That is why we can enjoy a radioactive leak from a tank at Bradwell power station for a continuous period of14 years.

However such exemplary attention to maintenance does cause a few unexpected outages. In May 2008, half a million people were hit by unscheduled power cuts on Tuesday after seven power stations, including Sizewell B nuclear reactor in Suffolk, unexpectedly stopped working within hours of each other.

Incidentally Defra report that each wind turbine generates 15kW each, and taking a conservative load factor of 15%, that’s equal to 60,000kWh per year.

I can therefore report that Ray Farnsworth is useless.

Don't panic! Open letter to Ed Miliband, Climate change minister

Dear Ed,

Thanks for 80% cuts in carbon emissions and feed-in tariffs. You are obviously making a great start!

Just one more thing, though. Please reject the proposal for a new coal-fired power station at Cambois/Blyth. With indicative annual targets in the new bill; an 80% target for 2050; and no certainty that the carbon capture will work at an effective cost, there seems no reason to go ahead with the plan, which will only make reductions elsewhere harder.

Here are some alternatives you might like to consider to reduce emissions, if you would like to proceed with Cambois/Blyth.

• Insist on all food being local. People would need to eat cabbage all winter and jam for their vitamin C. This would be enforced by law.
• No meat for anyone again. Ever.
• Shiver quarter. Everyone can get together in eskimo parties and stitch one another into their clothes for the winter, as we can't turn on the central heating. No gas is allowed.
• Knit a huge thermal blanket and wrap it around the Houses of Parliament, to maximise the effectiveness of one 2-bar electric heater in the Strangers' Bar.

I hope you will agree that stopping Blyth and other coal-fired power stations is a better way of reducing our emissions.

P.S. I always though you were better prime ministerial material than your brother.

-------

• Read more about People against New Coal Stations
• Send an email to Ed Miliband yourself from the StopClimateChaos website (requires login)

How the other half starves - David Golding at Alnwick Area Friends of the Earth

“Zewdie Tamirat’s eyes were swollen shut through malnutrition and her delicate skin was no longer able to mask the skeleton beneath. Brushing away flies from her face with a small twig, the little girl stood quietly as, in 2000, her father explained how three years of crop failure in Ethiopia had left his family facing starvation. Pitiably, she attempted a smile for the cameraman.”

This is how Dr David Golding CBE, a member of Newcastle University, commenced his address to Alnwick Friends of the Earth on Thursday 29th January at St James’ Church. He explained how he had read statements by the Royal Society that the climate of Ethiopia and many other countries is already been damaged by climate change. This is manifestly unjust – we cause the problem by burning fossil fuels, but people in poor countries suffer the worst consequences. And the situation can only get worse, much worse, unless we change our ways. Dr Golding warned against a taking a hypocritical approach – of railing against complacent and irresponsible government policies, whilst refusing to reform our own polluting lifestyles. But there is also the danger of sentimentality, of rightly doing what we can at an individual level, whilst remaining silent while our government ‘fiddles whilst Rome burns’.

Quoting Professor Ross Garnault, the Australian government’s economics advisor on climate change, he points out that “There are times in the history of humanity when fateful decisions are made” and warned that “the failure of our generation on climate change mitigation would lead to consequences that would haunt humanity until the end of time.” However, he also pointed out the unique opportunity we have, to each contribute to meeting this great challenge and bring about a change which will bring unparalleled benefits to countless billions in present and future generations.”

View the slides from David Golding's presentation - How the other half starves - climate change and the developing world