Protests over wind power farms

[rcpratt]

Indiana has several hundred of them stuck just north of Lafayette right around the interstate, littered in farm fields. I don't know how much power they generate, but I would suspect quite a bit.

Actually improves the view... especially at night.

Most are about 1.5 MW each. I've haven't actually tried to count them all, but it has to be at least 200. Pretty much as far as the eye can see in both directions for about 7 or 8 miles.

And yeah, the view with the blinking red lights at night is awesome.

 

[Texashiker]

You should see the extreme right's side of the same issue of smart meters too. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

That is why I stopped listening to right wing talk radio 10 year ago. It got to the point where I could not live my life without having to worry about "something". Whether it was income tax being illegal, federal reserve, united nations invading the USA,,,,,,, it was always something.

If there are protest about all form of power generation, what are we supposed to do? Maybe go back to the stone age? I bet they would even complain about that.

 

[Brainonska511]

If there are protest about all form of power generation, what are we supposed to do? Maybe go back to the stone age? I bet they would even complain about that.

I think you have to look at the protests individually. Some might have valid complaints. Others might just be bullshit and we should railroad over those particular people. Even if we went back to the stone age, someone would probably find something to protest.

 

[Vette73]

Why not nuclear? Cheaper and more plentiful than wind.

I am guessing getting the equipment there and finding enough land, let alone price, to build it. Even then it would probable cost to much for what you get back on those demands.


If it cost so much there would not solar actually be more cost effective for people to put on their house?

 

[umbrella39]

maybe theres a water god and volcano god that would get pissed off.

This

 

[ShawnD1]

We have wind turbines on Maui and there were a lot of protests before they were built. I think mostly California transplants complaining about ruining their view.

I think they look awesome. I hiked up to them the other day.

Some people are retards and they don't appreciate technology. They would rather have centralized coal and oil plants out of site that spew out millions of tons of pollution and ruin the planet just because the view is better.


I always liked advanced things. There is an oil refinery east of my city and it looks amazing at night because every tower has lights and there's always an orange flame at the highest tower. On those -30 winter days, the steam from the refinery freezes as it leaves the stack and forms clouds that seem to light up the area when light reflects off it. It's more interesting to look at than any tree I've ever seen.

 

[umbrella39]

That's the problem with the environmental left...

U so sad Lambchop... when you are ready to stop blaming the left for everything, just switch hands. This sounds like it's far more about culture than it is about just some leftists environmentalwhackos getting upset again.

 

[Texashiker]

Why not nuclear? Cheaper and more plentiful than wind.

There is this thing called "nuclear waste" that still has to be dealt with.

Nuclear creates waste that will be around long after the human race is gone. And isnt that what we are trying to stop, leaving problems that our grandkids will have to worry about?

 

[PeshakJang]

U so sad Lambchop... when you are ready to stop blaming the left for everything, just switch hands.

I don't blame the left for everything, just the issues that they continually show they have no real idea of how to handle besides demanding perfection and rejecting reality. The fact that this accounts for a majority of their policy is something I can't control.

 

[Throckmorton]

Why do people think they kill birds? They spin really slow. There is no way a bird is going to die because of a turbine.

 

[ShawnD1]

There is this thing called "nuclear waste" that still has to be dealt with.

Nuclear creates waste that will be around long after the human race is gone. And isnt that what we are trying to stop, leaving problems that our grandkids will have to worry about?

Nuclear waste has never been a problem because it's small and it's easy to contain.
We produce probably eleventy billion times as much normal garbage and even that never seems to be a problem. There's always room to put this stuff. It's a really big planet.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html

The volume of the ultimate high-level waste was indeed very small: the contribution of a family of four using electricity for 20 years is a glass cylinder the size of a cigarette lighter

Ok so coal takes maybe a couple pounds per day and we don't have any problem with burning that, releasing tons of shit into the air, but make a cigarette lighter size piece of nuclear waste and there's hell to pay.

 

[lothar]

Why do people think they kill birds? They spin really slow. There is no way a bird is going to die because of a turbine.

http://www.google.com/search?q=wind...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
I just read the 2nd and the 5th link.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies..._Turbine_Kills_10_Birds_and_Bats_a_Day_100806
This was on the next page of that google search.

Vladimir Putin also agrees.
"Windmills, which are so widespread in many European countries seem to be an environmentally friendly kind (of energy), but in fact they kill birds," Putin told a conference of his United Russia party in the Far East.
"Vibration there is such that worms come out of the ground, not to mention moles. This is a real environmental problem," he said, adding that solar energy was the only alternative source that was entirely harmless.

Of course, he's also wrong in stating that solar energy is harmless.
Nothing is harmless.

 

[Texashiker]

Ok so coal takes maybe a couple pounds per day and we don't have any problem with burning that, releasing tons of shit into the air, but make a cigarette lighter size piece of nuclear waste and there's hell to pay.

Have you been fishing lately? Did you see a mercury advisory sign at the lake?

That is what coal does for us - we can not even eat the fish anymore due to mercury.

 

[Brainonska511]

Nuclear waste has never been a problem because it's small and it's easy to contain.
We produce probably eleventy billion times as much normal garbage and even that never seems to be a problem. There's always room to put this stuff. It's a really big planet.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html


Ok so coal takes maybe a couple pounds per day and we don't have any problem with burning that, releasing tons of shit into the air, but make a cigarette lighter size piece of nuclear waste and there's hell to pay.

That's extremely poor logic. A dose of about 2 mg of ricin will kill the average adult, but it would take about 204g to kill someone with NaCl. Different toxins have different lethal dose levels and different long-term effects.

 

[Throckmorton]

http://www.google.com/search?q=wind...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
I just read the 2nd and the 5th link.

http://www.allgov.com/Controversies..._Turbine_Kills_10_Birds_and_Bats_a_Day_100806
This was on the next page of that google search.

Vladimir Putin also agrees.
"Windmills, which are so widespread in many European countries seem to be an environmentally friendly kind (of energy), but in fact they kill birds," Putin told a conference of his United Russia party in the Far East.
"Vibration there is such that worms come out of the ground, not to mention moles. This is a real environmental problem," he said, adding that solar energy was the only alternative source that was entirely harmless.

Of course, he's also wrong in stating that solar energy is harmless.
Nothing is harmless.

According to this article there are still old fast spinning wind turbines that do kill birds, but that has nothing to do with the current ones. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds1.htm

I'm not sure how anyone can look at the turbines we have here and say "those things kill birds".

 

[K1052]

Hawaii seems like a prime place for photovoltaics too. I imagine they provide incentives to homeowners who equip their houses with grid tied systems.

Once they get enough capacity online they can use the surplus to make hydrogen for energy storage and dump oil entirely.

 

[Vette73]

According to this article there are still old fast spinning wind turbines that do kill birds, but that has nothing to do with the current ones. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-birds1.htm

I'm not sure how anyone can look at the turbines we have here and say "those things kill birds".

Maybe they should rephrase it "those things kill stupid birds..."

Of course my sliding glass door kills stupid birds as well. :awe:

 

[Throckmorton]

Hawaii seems like a prime place for photovoltaics too. I imagine they provide incentives to homeowners who equip their houses with grid tied systems.

Once they get enough capacity online they can use the surplus to make hydrogen for energy storage and dump oil entirely.

Yeah they do. It's not as great as you'd think though, because you still have to pay the basic fees to the electric company, which are pretty high.

All new houses are required to have solar water heaters on the roofs.

 

[Throckmorton]

Maybe they should rephrase it "those things kill stupid birds..."

Of course my sliding glass door kills stupid birds as well. :awe:

OK, the tips can move up to 300ft/sec. Still, that's not much more of a risk to birds than cars driving down a highway.

 

[Elias824]

the best source of alternative energy, harvesting the souls of the environmentalists. Maybe if that dosent work then we can just force them to run on a big hamster wheel tell them they are running for earth.

 

[sandorski]

Maybe they should rephrase it "those things kill stupid birds..."

Of course my sliding glass door kills stupid birds as well. :awe:

From my limited experience(just over 1 week), it seems Florida thinks open sliding glass doors kills Children!

We couldn't leave the fuckin door open longer than 10 seconds(or some low amount)before some fuckin alarm would go off! :thumbsdown:

 

[EagleKeeper]

Maybe they should rephrase it "those things kill stupid birds..."

Of course my sliding glass door kills stupid birds as well. :awe:

Only if you use Windex!

 

[Kanalua]

I know a little about this:
Lanai is 98% owned by one company, Castle & Cook. These would be built on private land. Most development in Hawaii is opposed. Some by mainland transplants who want to preserve Hawaii the way it was when they moved here. Some by environmentalist (protect birds, blah-blah). Some by Native Hawaiians (preserve ancient burials, etc).

Geothermal: Gotta save Pele

Mass transit rail: burials.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

I've heard that geothermal isn't practical in Hawaii, for whatever geological reasons.

Wind is good here because the trade winds blow so much of the time. Of course you can't have 100% wind power but it can supplement solar and fossil fuel.

The leeward sides of the islands are sunny the vast majority of the time, so solar is even better here.

Wind and solar are the hippy answer but if that is all we have, what do you do on a windless night?
Nuclear power is cheaper and safe.
If the French can do it safely and make so much that they export electricity, we should be able to do it in America.

 

[Throckmorton]

Wind and solar are the hippy answer but if that is all we have, what do you do on a windless night?
Nuclear power is cheaper and safe.
If the French can do it safely and make so much that they export electricity, we should be able to do it in America.

Nuclear isn't cheaper and it's not safe. It takes an enormous investment to build a nuclear plant. And nuclear waste is difficult to dispose of (we have nowhere to bury it in Hawaii), and nuclear waste are like nuclear warheads-- they'll always be in extistence and available to any future government/terrorist organization/whatever to weaponize.

How much faith do you have in the current relatively stable world governments to last into the future?


Fossil fuel power generation is safe and cheap, and if you use it as a backup to renewable it's pretty clean.