Renewable energy fails (From Oxford Mail)

Renewable energy fails

10:00am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Letters

We are in the middle of our coldest spell this winter, with temperatures regularly plunging below zero during a period which has extended for several weeks.

This is the time of year when we reach peak electricity demand, but what has happened to our renewable energy?

There is hardly a breath of wind over the country and all I see are wind turbines standing motionless. The same, of course, would be said for any wave energy machines, if we had them.

Also, because this anti-cyclone happens to be cloudy, solar photo-voltaic cells are producing electricity at their very minimum. And nothing at all, of course, during our long, cold nights.

So, just when we need electricity the most, renewable technology falls flat on its smug face.

I support Friends of the Earth in their aim to reduce greenhouse gases, yet they persist in denying that renewable technology has a fatal flaw.

KEITH DANCEY St Peter’s Road Upper Wolvercote Oxford