Scotland Showing The Way
The small country of Scotland, with a population of about 4.5 million, has forged ahead with renewable energy at a much faster pace and to greater effect than most other industrialized countries. Virtually all of its electricity consumption can now be met from wind, solar, or hydro, though because it exports some of that electricity to England, the grid mix in Scotland itself is not actually 100% renewables.
We don’t get this News in our MSM
James Murray at BusinessGreen reports that 17 new massive offshore wind projects have been authorized off Scotland that collectively would generate 25 gigawatts of power. Note that the total offshore wind capacity as of 2020 in the whole world was only 35 gigawatts, so this one set of “ScotWind” projects will almost double the global total. Some 75 percent of offshore wind-driven electricity is presently generated by the UK, China and Germany. England itself has many gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the pipeline, and just one of the planned projects will generate five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Source: Scotland alone to nearly Double all the Offshore Wind in the World with new ScotWind Facilities
A Scottish court on Wednesday gave activists the green light to continue their effort to use an anti–money laundering statute to investigate the financing of Donald Trump’s golf courses in the country.
Any residual argument for Scotland to stay within the United Kingdom meets its counter-argument in Boris Johnson. Westminster politics has always been the preserve of a remote enclave, on average massively richer and more privileged than those they claim to represent, especially in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But now that they’re dominated by a prehensile ogre grabbing all that his donors will give him while queues at the foodbanks lengthen, why should anyone north of the border consent to be ruled by his insouciant decree?
Source: That creaking sound? It’s the United Kingdom starting to break apart | George Monbiot | The Guardian
Never has the prospect of an independent Scotland seemed more plausible. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s approval ratings in the region have dropped to all-time lows. Brexit, deeply unpopular in Scotland to begin with (the region voted 62 percent to 38 percent to remain), has become even more so. Independence campaigners comfortably lost their 2014 referendum. But fourteen polls in a row have shown a plurality of its residents now support independence.
What Next for Scotland? | Washington Monthly
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Scotland generated enough wind power from onshore wind turbines in October to fuel electricity for five million homes, that is, virtually the entire country. By the end of 2017, renewable energy generated nearly 70% of Scotland’s electricity. That percentage continued to grow this year, led by wind projects. The next big thing in Scotland is likely to be offshore wind, which is less than one percent of generation now Wind is so obviously the future that the utility Scottish Power has sold its gas plants and will concentrate entirely on wind.
Source: Scotland was first Industrialized Country to Run wholly on Wind in October
WHAT AUSTRALIN CONSEVATIVES DON”T TALK ABOUT
In general, the world invested more in solar energy than in coal, gas, and nuclear combined last year. The Portuguese, Scottish and Costa Rican advances are not even very dependent on solar, which suggests that a whole new wave of further renewables implementation is around the corner.
via Three Countries show how Near a 100% Green Grid is | Informed Comment
Two tidal turbines in part of a Scottish firth are reported to have generated 700 MWh of electricity in August.
Source: Tidal turbines in firth ‘set world record’ for production – BBC News
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