Here is a little quiz for you…….

Just read the following text carefully, and then you will be asked a simple question.

The graph clearly shows that wind energy on its own is not capable of providing a reliable supply of electricity. Coal-and gas-fired power stations are required to smooth out the fluctuations in wind power output and need to be ramped up and down constantly as wind power output fluctuates. This shortens their service life and causes them to consume more fuel-in much the same way as a car in city traffic. The higher specific fuel consumption produces higher emission levels, thereby negating some of the environmental benefit of wind power.  The wind does not blow constantly, with the result that wind turbines have a very low capacity factor.

By contrast, coal-fired power stations can generate at 100 percent of their rated capacity at all times apart from when they are shut down for routine maintenance. That's anything up to 8000 full-load hours a year, depending on the load band they are operated in. By contrast, wind turbines achieve only around 1,800 full-load hours a year. They are therefore economically unviable without subsidies.

In Germany, the Renewable Energy Law (EEG) provides that operators of wind turbines can charge feed-in tariffs of about 9 eurocents per kilowatt-hour-about three times the amount charged for power generated by coal-fired or nuclear power stations. As a result of these high subsidies, wind turbines are now appearing in unviable, low-wind regions, as high-wind sites have been fully developed. Wind-turbine subsidies should be limited to those geographic areas that are high in wind potential.

An increasingly common sight in the north of Germany: wind turbines wherever you look. And the turbines themselves are not the only things that detract from the landscape; the supporting infrastructure can be unsightly too.

Wind turbines detract from the visual quality of the landscapes
Whether or not a particular location is a pleasant place to live depends on air quality, the level of noise pollution, and, to a very large extent, the visual quality of the landscape. Wind turbines and the high-voltage lines that go with them detract considerably from the appearance of landscapes. And unlike large-scale power stations, wind turbines are typically located right in the middle of areas with a high recreational value. They are commonly the only obvious human intrusions on otherwise pristine-looking landscapes. Not surprisingly, opposition to the continued development of wind power is steadily mounting among local communities.

Creators of unwelcome noise and shadows
Wind turbines emit noise: the whistling of the wind through the rotor blades and the mechanical hum of the gearbox and generator. Also, depending on the position of the sun, they throw shadows and create flickering effects, further impairing the visual quality of landscapes, particularly when the sun is low in the sky and the moving shadows are cast through the windows of nearby houses. As a result of these unwanted side-effects, German law now stipulates minimum clearances between new turbine developments and residential areas

QUESTION: Where do you think this text originated?

If you thought the text originated from an anti-wind campaigner, then you are WRONG

THE ANSWER:   E.ON Kraftwerke GmbH which  operates the E.ON Energie Group's conventional power stations
Strange old world, we rest our case!!!!