Wind power

[jw0ollard]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I personally think the turbines look very cool. Here in Massachusetts the legislature is trying to pass Cape Wind, where some turbines would be built in the Cape Cod Bay. Unfortunately, some of our congressmen have houses there and are afraid it will mar their view of the ocean.

I agree. If an entire farm of wind turbines accompanied my hypothetical ocean view, I'd be very happy indeed.

 

[DrPizza]

The ones I was looking at were quite a ways West of Nunda;

well, how 'bout that... Nunda is closer than I thought to there; I thought it was about 20 miles further than it actually is. Yes, those are the ones.

Edit: for what it's worth, I'm hoping to have my own personal windmill in a couple years. My place isn't quite windy enough for one, so it'll be more for the "geek" factor than anything. (Although, I'm sure I can recoup my investment within a few years.) I won't purchase a commercial windmill though - homebrew windmill ftw. A 500-1000 watt windmill would be nice.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Rogodin2
The windmaps dictate the potential sites for turbine placement. There are very few 4+ energy tops in this country. I live within 30 miles of class 4/5 locations. Katana Industries is a major player in the port of Ephrata.

The infrastruce and machining cost to produce a class A wind turbine is high enough that the placement is crucial.

Rogo

Bingo. And some of the sites that are good enough for wind turbine placement suffer from BANANAism and NIMBYism.

I was actually impressed to see that they had installed some on Maui in a pretty prominent location that is visible from the resort areas. I'm sure many people fought over that. I don't get what is so ugly about them. It's not like it's a giant spinning goatse. I think they look pretty cool, actually.

 

[Chaotic42]

If it was windy here, I certainly wouldn't mind having them around. I don't think I'm in a good wind zone though.

Here is a map. I'm in the worst zone for wind power.

 

[frostedflakes]

Originally posted by: jw0ollard

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
http://www.kitegen.com/index_en.html

Sounds very promising.

cliffs plz tl;dr

This article sums it up pretty well.

http://www.wired.com/science/d...ies/news/2006/10/71908

 

[LordMorpheus]

Originally posted by: K1052
Cost and location mostly. The larger the turbine is the more cost effective they are, this is why they've been scaled up quite a bit in the last few years.

I saw some turbine blades being transported on I-10 in Texas (we are a huge wind power producer - all that west texas land isn't good for much else beside raising cattle), and the blades were enormous.

They were so large it was hard to identify them as turbine blades. We are talking about twice as long as a normal box trailer, much taller and about as thick at the base. I was shocked and amazed.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: Rogodin2
PS

Map

Rogo

It should also be pointed out that many of the best places to put wind turbines also happen to be state or national parks or otherwise very scenic land. IF you look that one good sliver in the southeast is the great smoky mountains national park and several companies have tried to build wind turbines there and North Carolina shot them down. OF course in other news North Carolina is suing TVA for using too much coal, so just another one of those nice little hypocrisies like the cape wind project and many others have.

Wind is currently the only renewable resources (excluding hydro which is already all used up) that can EVER be economical, that is to say that SOME wind farms might actually make money, but many others are just for show (I worked at TVA, they have a 27MW wind farm, it is 100% for show, the funniest part was the wind program ain't under the same department with other generation, its under the PR department! ).

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: LordMorpheus

Originally posted by: K1052
Cost and location mostly. The larger the turbine is the more cost effective they are, this is why they've been scaled up quite a bit in the last few years.

I saw some turbine blades being transported on I-10 in Texas (we are a huge wind power producer - all that west texas land isn't good for much else beside raising cattle), and the blades were enormous.

They were so large it was hard to identify them as turbine blades. We are talking about twice as long as a normal box trailer, much taller and about as thick at the base. I was shocked and amazed.

They are on 35 all the time. And on the train that runs through fort worth.

They are gigantic. You could spear godzilla with one.

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
The ones I was looking at were quite a ways West of Nunda;

well, how 'bout that... Nunda is closer than I thought to there; I thought it was about 20 miles further than it actually is. Yes, those are the ones.

Edit: for what it's worth, I'm hoping to have my own personal windmill in a couple years. My place isn't quite windy enough for one, so it'll be more for the "geek" factor than anything. (Although, I'm sure I can recoup my investment within a few years.) I won't purchase a commercial windmill though - homebrew windmill ftw. A 500-1000 watt windmill would be nice.

yes i live closer to you then you think

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Bibble]

Originally posted by: jw0ollard

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: compnovice
Pros: Non-Polluting, Renewable

Cons: Unreliable, expensive, Turbines act like a zapper for birds..

the bird killer claim is untrue. In the last year or so, there have been a ton of commercial windmills put up about 30 miles from my house. I love taking the back way when I'm heading to Buffalo or Rochester, just so I can see t hose windmills. Spectacular to see (IMHO). The community reactions are mixed: half the people love them, half the people absolutely hate them.

Beat me to it.

That myth doesn't even make sense.. the blades are so small and the turbines spin so slowly, you'd have to throw an entire flock of birds at a windmill to kill what, one or two birds?

Besides, the residential variety are normally labelled "bird-safe" as the turbines are vertical axis and there actually isn't any room for a bird to get stuck in the blades.

It is estimated that each year in the USA

* 57 million birds die in collisions with vehicles
* 1.25 million in collisions with tall structures (towers, stacks, buildings)
* more than 97.5 million in collisions with plate glass
* 4 million to 10 million night-migrating songbirds in collisions with telecommunications towers
* household cats in the U.S. are estimated to kill 100 million birds each year

In comparison each wind turbine kills 0 - 2 birds per year at worst.

^ Who knows if this is true, but it's probably pretty close.

Listen to these guys, they are absolutely right.

 

[misle]

The earlier wind turbines used smaller blades and would rotate much faster. Those are the ones that killed birds. The newer ones are huge and rotate much slower and they are no longer a threat to birds. But since they are so much larger, there's a lot of NIMBY going on.

 

[TheSlamma]

My house runs off the wind farms here in Colorado. I pay for a specific amount of blocks for a little extra $ a month.

 

[imported_Tango]

They are not very popular in the US, but they are elsewhere, notably in Germany, Spain, Italy and Denmark (which produces 20% of its energy consumption by wind farm).

 

[BHeemsoth]

Originally posted by: ConstipatedVigilante
I personally think the turbines look very cool. Here in Massachusetts the legislature is trying to pass Cape Wind, where some turbines would be built in the Cape Cod Bay. Unfortunately, some of our congressmen have houses there and are afraid it will mar their view of the ocean. :roll:

Yes, I'm from the Cape, and very much in support of the project.

The shoals where the turbines would be placed are for the most part unpassable by large vessels, and therefore do not pose a risk to safe navigation as many claim.

It really comes down to Teddy and Kerry's homes facing Nantucket Sound.

 

[NokiaDude]

I'm sure everyone wants a giant wind turbine next to their pretty home! It's all about looks. I'm all about solar, they're coming out with this flexible photovoltaic which will be much more pleasing to the eye. I'd rather have my roof covered in photovoltaics instead of a giant wind turbine.

 

[Excelsior]

I'm sure everyone wants a giant wind turbine next to their pretty home!

Maybe I am in the minority, but I think they look pretty cool. I had never seen the massive ones before, but on my recent trip to Canada/Montana, I saw the wind farms and thought they looked impressive. Almost graceful. I wouldn't mind having one or more near my future home.

 

[imported_Imp]

Don't always run, si hueg, it's ugly, noisy, very expensive, ruings the landscape and takes up a lot of room.

Funniest thing is when people are all "environmental", preaching the new fad and then when people want to stick a wind farm near their place, all bets are out the window.

My town has 1 turbine on the lake front. Looks cool, but I wouldn't want to work, live beside it.

 

[Sahakiel]

No one ever wonders what happens downwind from a turbine. Similar to why no one thought of what happens downstream a hydroelectric generator.

 

[BradT]

Program on New Hampshire Public TV on it right now for those in the area

 

[Eeezee]

Smaller models still cost a ton of money. You won't get the investment back for probably 30-40 years since you will be generating very little money; and in the meantime you still had to maintain the damn thing, which just costs more money. If there's a bad storm, there's a chance your wind turbine will break; if there's no wind, your wind turbine is useless. In regions that aren't very windy, wind turbines are just a poor option. Plus, a personal wind turbine is an eyesore.

Solar power is where it's at. At least you don't have this big thing sticking out of your house; just little panels on the roof are enough. Solar power is a lot more economical than wind turbines; maintenance costs are much lower and initial investment is probably lower too.

Solar power > Nuclear Power > Hydroelectric > Oil/gas/coal > Wind Power > Burning trash for warmth

 

[mooglemania85]

Originally posted by: villageidiot111
I don't know of anyone who has a personal turbine, that just sounds weird.

Everyone has the potential to generate "wind power". However, there are still people who do not adhere to the limitations on gas emission established in the Kyoto Protocol.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
The ones I was looking at were quite a ways West of Nunda;

well, how 'bout that... Nunda is closer than I thought to there; I thought it was about 20 miles further than it actually is. Yes, those are the ones.

Edit: for what it's worth, I'm hoping to have my own personal windmill in a couple years. My place isn't quite windy enough for one, so it'll be more for the "geek" factor than anything. (Although, I'm sure I can recoup my investment within a few years.) I won't purchase a commercial windmill though - homebrew windmill ftw. A 500-1000 watt windmill would be nice.

Get SOLAR PANELS

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: misle
The earlier wind turbines used smaller blades and would rotate much faster. Those are the ones that killed birds. The newer ones are huge and rotate much slower and they are no longer a threat to birds. But since they are so much larger, there's a lot of NIMBY going on.

If by "new" you mean "produced in the last 50 years" then yes, the newer ones spin more slowly.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: mooglemania85

Originally posted by: villageidiot111
I don't know of anyone who has a personal turbine, that just sounds weird.

Everyone has the potential to generate "wind power". However, there are still people who do not adhere to the limitations on gas emission established in the Kyoto Protocol.

Technically, not everyone has that option; regions with little wind, for example.

Also, if everyone had a wind turbine, then technically everyone's power output would go down. What happens if everyone has a wind turbine? The people furthest downwind wouldn't get any wind at all, so they would still need some way to generate energy.

Solar power does not have this problem.

 

[intogamer]

Nuclear is more efficent