“The turbines could generate 25GW of power”

I’m not sure these two claims add up.

The UK’s DTI’s estimate of the potential offshore wind generation resource is 4.6 kWh per day per person, from both shallow and deep waters. The UK government announced on 10th December 2007 that it would permit the creation of 33 GW (13 GW more than is being claimed here) of offshore capacity (which would deliver on average 4.4 kWh/d per person), a plan branded ‘pie in the sky’ by some in the wind industry. So, let’s run with a figure of 4 kWh per day per person.

Just so I can be clear, if If you have the kettle on for 20 minutes per day, that’s an average

power consumption of 1 kWh per day.

One ring on an electric cooker has the same power as a toaster: 1 kW. If you use two rings of the cooker on full power for half an hour per day, that corresponds to 1 kWh per day.

A microwave oven usually has its cooking power marked on the front: mine says 900 W, which is nearly a kilowatt; but it actually consumes about 1.4 kW. If you use the microwave for 20 minutes per day, that’s 0.5 kWh per day.

A regular oven guzzles more: about 6 kW (when on full). If you use the oven for two hours every six days, that’s 2 kWh per day. So by the time you’ve made a few cups of tea, and done some cooking you’ve used up all the power generated by those offshore wind turbines and more.

I don’t want to be too negative about renewable energy, but sometimes people need to be reminded of the real numbers involved here.

“The turbines could generate 25GW of power”

I’m not sure these two claims add up.

The UK’s DTI’s estimate of the potential offshore wind generation resource is 4.6 kWh per day per person, from both shallow and deep waters. The UK government announced on 10th December 2007 that it would permit the creation of 33 GW (13 GW more than is being claimed here) of offshore capacity (which would deliver on average 4.4 kWh/d per person), a plan branded ‘pie in the sky’ by some in the wind industry. So, let’s run with a figure of 4 kWh per day per person.

Just so I can be clear, if If you have the kettle on for 20 minutes per day, that’s an average

power consumption of 1 kWh per day.

One ring on an electric cooker has the same power as a toaster: 1 kW. If you use two rings of the cooker on full power for half an hour per day, that corresponds to 1 kWh per day.

A microwave oven usually has its cooking power marked on the front: mine says 900 W, which is nearly a kilowatt; but it actually consumes about 1.4 kW. If you use the microwave for 20 minutes per day, that’s 0.5 kWh per day.

A regular oven guzzles more: about 6 kW (when on full). If you use the oven for two hours every six days, that’s 2 kWh per day. So by the time you’ve made a few cups of tea, and done some cooking you’ve used up all the power generated by those offshore wind turbines and more.

I don’t want to be too negative about renewable energy, but sometimes people need to be reminded of the real numbers involved here.