Related Sections: Green Tech Shift
SHIFT: Wind energy — weighing the needs of the many
In the open plains of the United States of America the wind blows, and it blows a lot. As pioneers crossed and settled the Great American Desert, they kept diaries and journals that tell tales of people going crazy from the constant blowing of the wind. Living in Western Kansas, where the wind seems to blow day and night, I've often asked myself, "With all this free energy blowing around, why aren't there more wind farms?" Those that oppose wind energy will hide behind any number of myths, like lower property values, but any inconveniences — real or perceived — pale in comparison to what we're already dealing with. Don't believe me? Take the jump to read what we're willing to put up with.
What I find really amusing is 100 years ago, windmills were vital to pump water for local farms and communities. What's worse is that those same people complaining about their property values being lowered have no problem with coal-fired power plants being built 100 miles away. When I lived in SoCal, my friends and I would often step outside during our work breaks and jokingly comment about the smog we could see in the distance. "Glad it's over there," when we knew full well we were breathing in the very same brown air. Out of sight, out of mind.
By murcielago05 at 7:42 PM ON 06/22/07
I dont mind wind farms...as long as they are not directly next to my house....if they are a mile away....I'm cool with that. I like to see them spinning around, its just kinda cool to think that cities can be powered on the wind.
I live in Sioux Falls (SD) and we have no smog here since the city is a mere 150,000 people. about an hour away from here in a smaller city there are planning on building a 100 turbine (150MW) wind farm...which would pretty much power the entire city.
Oh, and heres some 'inaccuracies' about your post.
theres approx 230 years worth of coal left
the average wind turbine is 1.5 MW
and there is still several decades of oil left, you might be talking about current findings. We are always finding another place with a large reservoir of oil, and were getting the tools you drill deeper for the oil....So really there is still plenty of oil left, a bare minimum of 30 years, but likely there will still be oil on earth half a century from now.
By jamesbdunn at 3:24 PM ON 06/26/07
Windmills provide energy based upon thermal energy provided by the Sun. We can feasibly produce about 1 to 10 gigawatts of energy per square kilometer by using space-based solar concentrators.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/jamesbdunn?p=224
Additionally, the same system can provide control over the weather; Reversing global warming, eliminating droughts, providing predictable rainfall, ...
By grotecakes at 7:33 PM ON 06/28/07
Truly wouldn't mind having my own turbine in the back yard OR front to manage my own power consumption, selling any excess to the mega-corporation and offsetting my usage during periods of calm weather, only a few such days in Oklahoma. Anybody willing to finance the installation and legal fight to get the city ordinances changed?
By flatrocker at 8:12 PM ON 06/28/07
I live in Northeast PA and just happen to have 3 - 200' windmills in my backyard, the closest one is about 800' to a 1000' away. I bought my property after the windmills were built. People who visit my house always ask me how noisy are they. I tell them that I honestly don't hear them anymore, this is my third year here in the new house and I only hear them when people ask if I hear them. I don't mind them at all - they're kinda pretty in a futuristic sort of way.
By rcarson at 11:54 PM ON 06/28/07
If every roof in America was covered by solar panels, and every yard had a windmill, and every car was run by bio-diesel/ethanol we would not care about how much oil was left. Thirty years or three hundred years. Fossil fuels ruin the environment, and the human cost in countries like Iraq only serve to make more money for the oil companies. To ask why-you have to do what my father used to say "If you want to get to the root of the problem follow the money" If you want to know why there is no leadership in this area-Well thats clear. Its time to wake up from the oil stupor, and take responibility in our own communities. Solar/Wind/Thermal/Hydro/Alt_Fuels
By mortree at 5:55 AM ON 06/29/07
A lot of simplistic views and inaccurate or deceptive "facts" and statistics in this complex area of energy. Every approach has its problems.
For instance: Oil and coal are not just for energy but for manufacturing plastics and other artificial materials. And that is longer than a 30 or 100 year need. Though goodness knows we need to get better at recycling.
Bird kills...yes but powerline kills are over 10,000s of thousands of miles. Wind generators are very concentrated areas. Yes someone (birders & conservation groups if no lawsuit won) has to collect carcasses daily or you get more kills as scavenger birds are attracted. But most importantly, wind generator kills concentrate kills more on larger and predatory birds who already have top of food chain toxin problems and reproduce slowly.
Whereas as powerlines are equal opportunity.
The worse thing about wind generators has not yet really been experience and is NEVER mentioned. That is what happens when tornadoes, hurricanes or violent wind storms hit a generators farm. Use your imagination. But let me out that generators blades are practically designed to be the perfect destructive debris (cutting and remaining aloft) and falling towers will have lots of Kinetic Energy when they reach the ground. Wind power needs better planning to fold down for storms or never to be built never populations or in areas prone to violent storms.
Direct solar is probably best. But some fanatic figures are insane. You need more than 100% efficiency to average Gigawatts per square kilometer. You only get a peak of near 1 Gigawatt sunlight per sq. kilometer a high noon near the equator on the clearest days. Of course sunlight is absent during the night, varies a lot during the day, and decreases seasonally with latitude.
Oh you can have solar generator arrays receiving an average of 1-10 Gigawatts per square kilometer if you cheat. But solar concentrators (mirrors etc) and solar power satellites beaming to earth are bad ideas just like unlimited oil. Doesn't anyone think a "magnifying glass" can kill or blind anything but ants? How about birds? What happens if wind or any earth tremor etc moves the focus from the power cell area a kilometer away to a school? Even in the absence of accident and error, power from space will heat the Earth (duh). So put your high power industry in space first.
By neiferone at 10:38 AM ON 06/29/07
I am one of the biggest supporters of alternative energy sources, and certainly wouldn't mind a wind power farm near my town. However, my major concern is one that wasn't addressed by this author. As he stated: "the turbines need access to high-energy power lines." Aren't these the same kinds of power lines being blamed for increased rates of cancers and many other detrimental effects on the health of those living near them? That's my concern -- not the aesthetics (I agree that they are actually very pleasant to look at, and no more noisy than a local highway) but the prolonged effects of exposure to the high-energy power lines. Here in the Northeast, they have been discussing building a wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, but the environmentalists are concerned about the effects of the high-energy power lines on the underwater ecosystem. Having one in your backyard is different from having a farm of them requiring this type of high-energy power lines. Why not mandate that every new home built in the U.S. must have solar panels, or a wind turbine, or both, to offset it's use of publicly provided energy?
By GerardManley at 12:18 PM ON 06/29/07
People afraid of the alternative energy movement are usually afraid of the ridiculous idea that it will put lots of people out of work. (Well, other crazy guy up there who stipulates that solar energy will fry everybody - dude, have you even SEEN a solar panel?? Do you have even a friggin' clue how it works?? Do like I did and take a class. There are no plans to use gigantic magnifying glasses or the like.) The "put people out of a job" tac is what the oil lobby uses as an arguement, but it's extremely weak, because it's the same exact arguement people used for factory machines during the industrial revolution and for computers in the late seventies and how many people lost jobs? I still use typewriters. As for this crazy BS about wind turbines making too much noise - hell, I live right outside of a freeway! You know how much noise THOSE jackasses make? And how many people live next the freeway?I would gladly tear down the freeway and live next to a wind turbine any day of the week and twice on Sunday. If it's quieter than the freeway - AWESOME! If not, what's the difference? I've seen pictures of the generators, they're definately prettier than rush hour traffic.
By repair4man at 7:31 PM ON 07/01/07
If people's objection to wind power is primarily property values, why then don't the developers offer property value protection?
On a bigger note, all this talk of renewable energy sources often boggles my mind when I look deeper into it. Ethanol production now requires up to 3 gal of water and is just barely better than break even for the energy input to produce it. Where does the energy come from to produce it? Conventional sources. The 40% efficient solar panels are space panels and are incredibly expensive. One researcher in China has a goal of producing solar panels at 80 cents per watt. When I ran numbers using the average US cost of electricity of 9.5 cents per kilowatt, the break even point using sunlight data for my area of the country, it would take 11 years to break even and the solar panel would have to have a 40,000 hour mean time between failure (which they don't come close to meeting). Last is hydrogen. Cheapest way to produce H2 is by steam reformation of natural gas. By product is lots of carbon dioxide, just what we're trying to avoid. The other method, electrolysis requires much more energy input than you get back out, so that method is not commercially feasible. I haven't researched wind turbines, but I fear other issues may make wind not economically viable to solve the nations energy issues.
By mediumsteve at 7:06 AM ON 10/10/07
If wind and solar became widespread we would see other countries producing enough power of their own to be able compete with us more effectively.
And there's the seed of your biggest conspiracy-theorist nightmare.
By Victor54 at 5:50 PM ON 01/26/08
Wind and Solar power is freedom from the greedy oil companies. Hydrogen is the new oil and will be sold by, guess who...the oil companies. The new multi-frequency solar panels are cheap and flexible. The horizontal wind power systems can be hidden on everyone's roof. The net result will be energy independence. Do you think that congress or your local authorities will allow something thay cannot tax? Not in your lifetime.
When local governments design roads to slow traffic to increase their fuel taxes, what do you think a license will cost for a solar panel or wind turbine when the fuel taxes dry up?
Government has no need for independent citizens. If we do not need them, they will change laws so that energy production is against the law, except for corporations, who buy their politicos like they buy their limos.
Bootleg power stations will be hunted down and destroyed like some moonshine stills in the past.
Should we use solar and wind power to save the planet...yes. But will be be allowed to do so? Your guess is as good as anyone's.
Solar power to make electricity and to heat water is safe and easy. Wind turbines, if used in smaller sizes can be the extra push we all need for total independence from the big money companies.
Everyone needs to start looking at who to vote for - for a future free from energy woes.
Beware the sellouts and the greedy.
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