I read a little about that island and they ARE trying to move to "rape seed bio fuel" but they aren't anywhere near really there. And I don't think their island is big enough to supply enough biofuel to power all their vehicles ... even with only 4000 people on the island. And re the electricity from wind, I'm sure they generate enough electricity over the course of the year to equal their use of electricity, but they're still connected to the national grid and send and receive electricity from it. So when the windmills aren't turning, which for windmills is a majority of the time, they don't shut down all electrical use.
On the subject of Danish windpower in general:
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Danish patsies
Andrew Bolt
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 09:20am
Michael J. Trebilcock, professor of economics at Toronto University, says Denmark’s wind power is a con:
There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions… Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).
Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.” The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery…
Industrial wind power is not a viable economic alternative to other energy conservation options. Again, the Danish experience is instructive. Its electricity generation costs are the highest in Europe (15¢/kwh compared to Ontario’s current rate of about 6¢). Niels Gram of the Danish Federation of Industries says, “windmills are a mistake and economically make no sense.” Aase Madsen , the Chair of Energy Policy in the Danish Parliament, calls it “a terribly expensive disaster.”
blogs.news.com.au
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Dong Energy: 'Clean' Denmark's dirty secretState-owned Dong Energy trades on its green image at home while outsourcing the dirty end of its energy portfolio with coal-fired power stations elsewhere in Europe
Smoke bellows from the chimneys of Belchatow power station, Europe's largest coal-fired power plant. Dong has plans to build coal-fired plants in Germany and Scotland. Photograph: Peter Andrews/Reuters
The Danes like to think of themselves as green. Denmark is home to the world's largest wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas. And today, the giant state-owned energy company, Dong Energy, opens the world's largest windfarm.
But the Danes have a dirty secret. For Dong Energy, while greening its image at home, is busy building coal-fired power stations elsewhere in Europe. First in Germany, and now in Scotland
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guardian.co.uk
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From Danish Greenpeace:
greenpeace.org
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www.greenpeace.dk
Content:
- The government has done nothing to bring Denmark out of the coal age ………... 3
- The government has prioritized purchase of credits rather than domestic GHG reductions ……………………………………………………………….……… 5
- The governments energy policy has been very unambitious ……..……………..… 7
- The government has put Danish wind implementation on a stand still …..………. 8
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The Danish Government's domestic climate and energy policy is black as coal
1. The government has done nothing to bring Denmark out of the coal age
• Half of Denmark's electricity production takes place at 9 central power plants with coal as the fuel. In 2006 - with large net export of electricity – the coal share was 59 percent.
• The burning of coal - the fossil fuels that emit the most CO2 per energy content – is main explanation for Danish CO2 emission per capita being on the world's top-25 list – the higher up the list, the more net-electricity from Denmark. The annual coal consumption averaged over the last 5 years was 8.25 million tons.
• This is the main reason that Denmark can not meet its Kyoto target (21 per cent reduction of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in 2008-12 compared to 1990) through domestic reductions. It is also why the government has prioritized to achieve the target through reductions outside Denmark via buying credits from JI and CDM projects.
• The high coal use puts Denmark on the world's top-15 list of coal consumption per capita1. The last 5 year average annual coal consumption per capita was 1.53 tons - or the equivalent of 4.2 kg coal per Dane per day.
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• Since there is no coal resources in the Danish underground, we import all the coal we use. Normally 8.2 million tons per year, but up to 10 million tons in years with large net exports of electricity. In 2006, it was 9.4 million tons. In 2003 - when Denmark had a net export of electricity of 8.5 TWh - we were the country in the world which had the largest coal imports per capita. In 2006 we were the world number 4, and in 2008 number 5.
• The adjusted2 coal consumption has increased in the 2002-2007 period - after declining every year since 1992. In 2008, it decreased due to the economic recession (Danish GDP decreased in 2008 by 1.2 percent compared to 2007) - not because of government's active policy. See figure 1.
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• After lobbying from DONG Energy the government with the smallest possible majority in parliament decided in June 2008 to repeal the former governments "coal-stop" from 1997. Through a law change DONG Energy was now allowed to apply for converting the coal-free Avedøre2 and Skærbæk3 to coal against a commitment to use up to 700,000 tons more biomass.
• Conversion of two Danish coal-free power plants to coal is contrary to the government's declared vision of make Denmark independent of coal and other fossil fuels. Lifting the restriction on coal at Avedøre2 and Skærbæk3 will lead to increased Danish coal consumption and a corresponding increased CO2 emission. This is openly acknowledged in a memorandum from the Danish Energy Agency.
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.... to back up wind power, traditional fossil fuel plants have to be kept warmed up with turbines spinning. This means that fossil fuels are burned but no ELECTRICITY is produced. I mentioned in a previous post that the largest utility in Germany estimated that 48,000MW of wind capacity was in fact allowing the shut down of just 2000MW of traditional fossil-fuel powered capacity.
A recent article in the National Post argues the Danes are seeing absolutely no substitution from their substantial investment in wind.
There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The European experience is instructive. DENMARK, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its ELECTRICITY, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated ELECTRICITY to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).
Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.” The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery.
Indeed, recent academic research shows that wind power may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions in some cases, depending on the carbon-intensity of back-up generation required because of its intermittent character.
It probably comes as no surprise that the Danes have the highest ELECTRICITY costs in Europe. The article goes on to call wind power in the US a “huge corporate welfare feeding frenzy.”
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