The Windmills Of My Mind

Did you miss me? Thought not. I've been away for a few days to say hi to the latest addition to my wife's family - a beautiful 9 week old girl whom is, on many accounts, something of a miracle. OK, she just eats, sleeps & defecates, but she does it all with a little charm & a lot of style; she even cries at a volume & pitch that doesn't resonate in your eye sockets like most kids do. Her big brother, for example, who has two settings: angel child & spawn of Satan. But if any of you think I'm getting a bit broody, then you're wrong - I'm quite happy to hand them back when the nappy needs changing.

That said, seeing them made me even more aware that I am definitely getting old - I've taken to wearing a vest (hey, it's cold up here) and I really need my sleep. Our 1800 flight home last night was cancelled; the later flight we were bumped to didn't take off until about 2300. I crawled into a cold bed at 0045, so when the radio alarm clock went off at 0630 it sounded like the klaxons of Beelzebub rammed through a rock concert PA system. I bet no-one has listened to KT Tunstall & thought that before. I feel even worse for my doctor wife who is starting a new rotation in A&E today - some sick people could be getting crabby care today!

I'm digressing. I meant to come up with some pithy link between my niece's primary output & wind power, but I'm just too tired to come up with anything coherent. I was under the impression that microgeneration would be come a common & important thing, but this has made me rethink a little. Now, I live in a rather picturesque exposed spot on the Aberdeenshire coastline, hence can reasonably expect a better than average return from the wind turbine I'm considering (assuming I ever manage to pick my way through the 'conservation area' planning laws). But is it all a bit of a pipedream?

I've been known to bang on about how renewables are not the answer to carbon emissions. A practical example would be how power grids simply cannot cope with having a large proportion of their supply from unreliable sources like the wind - Germany had some real problems around Christmas last year when the wind suddenly dropped over a large areas of the country. There are some people trying to build big batteries to get around this, but fundamentally electricity cannot easily be stored so supply needs to be smooth; otherwise we could build big metal spikes to harness power from thunderstorms. That said renewables do have a part to play, and perhaps it's just important to recognise the limitations - there's seldom a still day chez moi, so maybe it's my duty to blaze the windmill trail.