Juan Cole: Wind powered all of Scotland in October & other Renewable Success Stories

Juan Cole writes that Wind powered all of Scotland in October & other Renewable Success Stories.

Wind turbines in Scotland during the month of October , driven by unusually strong gales, generated enough electricity to supply 99% of the country’s power needs, taking into account residential, industrial and business sectors! And if we just looked at the residential market, the wind turbines could have powered 4.5 million homes! One catch: Scotland only has about 2.45 million households!

99%!

Still, the average Swede emits over 4 tons of carbon dioxide a year. That is better than Europe’s average 6 tons and ‘way better than the US average of 16 tons per year per person (!!!). But 4 tons a person is still huge, given that CO2 is like setting off atomic bombs in the atmosphere. The new Markbygden ETT wind farm will be an important step toward carbon-free Swedish electricity. Of course, that has to be combined with switching to electric vehicles and adopting low-carbon agricultural and building techniques if we are to move to a net carbon zero civilization.

Emphasis Mine

Energy storage reliability is the next hurdle we have to overcome. The pumped-water storage system cannot be deployed everywhere. Future water shortages will make existing ones vulnerable as water is diverted to more critical uses.