Windpower

osprey

osprey

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Apr 1, 2009
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I'm curious how you all feel about the increasing amount of windmills going up? The ones closest to me are in somerset county but from what i hear there are plans to put them all over the place. TU has published their position on them and i tend to go along with most of what i read. One thing i think we should consider that wasn't addressed by TU is that if there is a windmill on a site it would be protected from any other development or strip mining.
 
Personally I think they are interesting- but an eyesore.

Obvious merits to this green energy. Hopefully they can be put in the uninhabited desert regions or out of view in the oceans on platforms.

How many would you really need to put to generate enough power in a measurable amount for a large city??? A thousand?

NIMBY
 
I don't understand what makes them such and eyesore.

comparatively, here is are your choices...you decide.
 

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I think they are kind of cool looking. Having grown up in the shadow of Limerick nuclear power plant, I can say that the windmills are preferable.
 
Tom, that is certainly an eyesore- but we would'nt have 10,000 of them. My suggestion was desert region or out to sea.
 
If we truely want to reduce CO2 emissions, the only long term solution is nuclear power. Yes, there may be a large plant with steam coming from the cooling towers but it's not thousands of acres of wind turbines, with large concrete bases (think parking lot and runnoff). Plus you still need something to supplement for when the wind is not blowing.
I just finished some research on a small nuclear "battery". It cost $25 million and supplies power to a town of 100,000 homes. It's life span is 30 yrs, and requires no maitanence. Do the math and your electric bill is less than $10 per month regardless of how much you use. I like the sound of that!
 
What do you do with the battery after that 30 years?
 
It looks like Homer City produces about 1884mw net. That should be enough to power about 1.3 million homes using 500kw/month. Some windgenerators produce 3mw so you'd need 628 of those to = Homer City providing you have enough around-the-clock wind to crank out those 3mw every hour (doubt that is possible). There's a lot of Homer Cities out there so that makes for lots and lots of windgenerators. I have nothing at all against windgenerators. Huge windfarms to replace fossil fuels is a neat idea but those windfarms will need huge new transmission lines to access the bulk power system. I have nothing against transmission lines but lots of people don't want one those in their backyards either--and the capital expense will not come cheap. Nuclear power may be our best option--looking forward. So take your pick--Ya just ain't going to get it all to make everyone happy and keep the beer cold.
 
Well, I aint drinkin' warm beer: throw up the cooling towers!
 
Why does it have to be 100% one or the other. Lessening the demand and prolonging the supply for one by using another to any degree has no down side.

Coal is home grown and I have no trouble using it. But if we can use the wind, which BTW does not need to be mined, shipped, burned and cleaned up after, how can that be bad? Even the coal companies are getting into generating power by other means. Natural gas is another home grown power generator with less harmful effects. You still have to go get it and transport it but it burns much cleaner.
 
First off wind power does not and never will become a real source of energy when compared to a true power plant. Being earth friendly is one thing, fibbing about how wind, solar and electric cars are the only answer to prevent the earth from dying is another thing.

Al Gore and his batch of total lies, has a number of people in this world feeling like we need to return to riding horses, yet he jets around the world collecting money as he tells his tale of fantasy.
 
AlwaysWading........my question wasn't are you a democrat or a republican or if you like al gore or not it was what do you think about windmills.
 
I personally don't mind the wind turbines.There are 40 + near my home and I don't mind how they look.I personally think for electricity we need a combination of a few types not just one or the other.In the erea I live we have the berwick power plant just A few miles away to the north,the Mahanoy City Wind turbines also that are only A few miles to the south and they are still mining coal all around here.I think combining the resources is the best way to go.
 
Jeep.......i think you're a smart AMERICAN........good answer
 
Tom,

you put the spent fuel onto a rocket and aim for the sun. Done.
 
Stevie-B wrote:
Tom,

you put the spent fuel onto a rocket and aim for the sun. Done.

Stevie-B, I always thought that was a good idea, though I'd aim to send it on a one-way trip beyond the solar system. I say I used to like the idea until the Challenger disaster. Maybe one day we will be confident of every single rocket making it out of our atmosphere, but at this point, it could involve a huge risk if something bad happened before all that nuclear waste cleared our gravitational field.
 
Stevie-B wrote:
Tom,

you put the spent fuel onto a rocket and aim for the sun. Done.

If this happens....I am investing in a sunblock company.

We may need SPF-8 (infinity)
 
Just my opinion but I think, as a whole, wind farms are just a big impact in some of the more pristine areas of the state. I have worked on two wind farm projects and I for one, seen what was there and then after they were built, what wasn't there. Each of the projects I been on took thousands of acres of mountain top forests with unique vegetation and vistas that I am sure some folks have never seen. Now there are 200 foot, oil leaking, poor energy producing, steel eye sores. Not to mention 100' wide or wider access roads and for what. If we need wind farms to appease the "environmentalists" and the companies, then use the lands that we have already destroyed like reclaimed coal fields, which 9 times out of 10 are within a couple miles if not next to the farms. We have an energy crisis and it begins with conservation, not destroying what we have left of our landscapes here in the east.

Here is one of PA's current wind farm projects for some more info.
http://shaffermountain.com/index.php
 
Jack,

They can encase the material in containers that can withstand an explosion of that magnitude. Have you seen the railcars currently used to ship this material around the country? They try to destroy them every way possible and can't.

Mo,

if it makes you happy, pick a large, nearby, inhabitable plant. It dosen't make much difference.
 
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