Please click on this chart for an enlarged view

I thought I'd keep a record of today's high winds that are helping to keep the lights on without burning the gas most people need to heat their home..it's 0 degC outside!
 Plus record this comment from Biff
"Yesterday, at 7.04am, a pump on the Zeebrugge-Bacton interconnector
failed and we lost almost a quarter of our gas supply.  The news reports
concentrated on the instant price spike, from ~90 to 150 pence per
therm.  The electricity generation industry reacted accordingly.
If you look at the graphs carefully, particularly the second row - the
weekly figures, you'll see the reduced supply from gas yesterday, coal
going flat out and the shortfall made up, rather luckily, by a windy
day. Things would have been a lot worse yesterday and today without that
5GW of wind."

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust oppose Delph Wind Farm

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust have objected to a wind farm being located adjacent to Willow Tree Fen and Pinchbeck Fen Slipe Nature reserves  LWT Delph wind farm and are encouraging LWT members to object too.
Understandable you might think as their primary concern will be the effects the wind farm might have on the species that inhabit the reserves.
But if you read on to the reasons for the objection you'll discover that 2 of the 3 reasons for objection relate to perceived disadvantages for our species.

The Trust's concerns are:

** Impacts of the turbines on wildlife, in particular birds, through direct collision with the turbine blades and displacement from the nature reserves due to disturbance from the turbines;

** Impacts on visitors to the nature reserves through noise and visual impact. Would the song of the skylark for example still be audible to visitors with wind turbines 200 metres away?

** Impacts on the fenland landscape character and open views.

The EIA undertaken by the developers indicates that there would be little impact to the environment from the development.

"A number of protected species use the site but collision risk impact assessments show that none of these species would be significantly effected by the proposed wind farm"
Wild Frontier Ecology

So we're back to the reluctance of our species to do very much about the serious impact of global warming in the future, if it means compromising our pleasures today.

I'm a member of the LWT and I appreciate all that they do for increasing bio-diversity and protecting habitats but that doesn't excuse this selfish objection which has very little to do with concern for wildlife on a nature reserve that 4 years ago was a field of beans.

Letter to the press ref: R. Helmer

Last week on Radio Lincolnshire Roger Helmer UKIP MEP declared that it was a “downright lie” to bring to public attention the growing scientific consensus that global temperatures will rise beyond “safe” limits unless we make drastic reductions in CO2 emissions.

Mr Helmer is UKIP’s spokesman on industry and energy. The following statements are from UKIP energy policy

Under the heading “Climate change” is so last century” Mr Helmer and colleagues make these statements ; “ We do not however regard CO2 as a pollutant. It is a natural trace gas in the atmosphere which is essential to plant growth and life on earth” followed by “Higher CO2 levels increase agricultural crop yields and “green” the planet”

These statements display a total disregard for the unequivocal science that supports the “greenhouse effect “ i.e. increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, of which CO2 is one, will warm up our planet.

For a more reputable global perspective comes this from the World Bank, a co-operative of senior government ministers from 188 nations around the world.

“Despite the global community’s best intentions to keep global warming below a 2°C increase above pre-industrial climate, higher levels of warming are increasingly likely. Scientists agree that countries’ current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change emission pledges and commitments would most likely result in 3.5 to 4°C warming. And the longer those pledges remain unmet, the more likely a 4°C world becomes.”

Dr. Jim Yong Kim

President, World Bank Group November 2012     Why a 4 degree world must be avoided

The views of UKIP and Roger Helmer should be treated with the contempt they deserve for not only are they anti-wind they are anti-science too.

Here is a link to a radio debate I took part in this morning trying to balance the anti-wind campaign for 5 wind turbines at Temple Hill near Grantham.

My discussion with Paul Miley of the ReVolt group is at 1.06
Follow up comments from Cllr Martin Hill and Roger Helmer are at 2.06
Rod Whiting Show 08/03/13

Pretty much as you'd expect apart from a passing reference in Paul Miley's comments about the Pro wind alliance getting support and money from the wind industry and a text from a member of the public saying that the Lincolnshire Pro wind alliance is funded by the wind industry.

I'd just to make it perfectly clear that this is not the case. To put it plainly, we are not being rewarded to express support for wind farms.

Our view that more wind farms need to be rapidly deployed to help address the challenges of global warming and UK energy security is personal and genuinely held.

Thanks for your support
James