Wind energy

[DD977GM2]

I work in the utilities industy. I was on a service call near Julesburg today and the local sub-station operator was bullshitting with us and the subject of wind energy came up. He basically said it was a long way from being viable and economically sound. Said it takes $0.85 to produce 1 Kilowatt (KW) of power with the current wind turbine technology.

With a coal plant it takes just $0.03 to produce 1 KW of power. Then he said that there needs to be another power source such as a coal plant to help regulate the fluctuation of voltage and current for the entire time the turbines are producing power or when the wind is not blowing, to allow a supple to the power grid. CO has a plan or idea that would have the entire eastern planes filled with turbines. The idea is that somewhere will always be blowing. This gives the entire grid a 1-3 ratio. Meaning out of 100KW of power for a potential output, only 30-33 KW would actually be made.

Also the turbines will never pay for themselves. Their life expectancy is 10 years (i know some of you will say that the expectancy can be surpassed... I know this and so did the operator) and it takes 12-13 years of service to pay for itself. So basically it is like the VCR......when it can be used affordably, then people will actually buy into it and use it.

Just thought I would share this new tid bit of info that the gov doesnt want us to know about.

[RRD3]

The hole green movement shit is a fraud. Cap and Trade, Global warming and all that crap. Yes there are things we can do to stop pollution and conserve space in the land fills.

It's just funny every time someone tries to pass some bullshit bill they have something to do with the money laundering scam behind it.

Cap and Trade = Al fucking Gore. Al Gore started Generation Investment Management, they sale carbon credits. Go figure.

[Ranger]

You know, these green idiots (hmmm, does that make them Martians...?), won't put an oil rig on a little tiny postage stamp piece of land but they are willing to use up tens of thousands of acres to collect wind power. These guys are nucking futs!

[Elhuero]

if wind energy was an efficient and profitable way to make power it would have been fully developed 40 years ago.

it's an eco pipe dream.

[gnihcraes]

could be, but the wind energy is keeping my family alive at the moment, wife is working directly with Vestas out of Denmark, they are building the "Blades" plant in Windsor, the Towers Plant will be online soon in Pueblo, and the Necell (sp) (generator housing) plant will be built sometime in the future at Brighton... Seems to be a pretty good market in other countries for wind turbines, surpassing 10 years on their usage... Colorado has pumped a bunch of monies and tax discounts to bring Vestas and a lot of jobs to this area, so I hope it all works out... seems viable to me that it produces from the numbers I hear each day from my sources... my 2 cents....

[Irving]

I'd personally like to see wind turbines on top of sky scrapers in the city. Then you wouldn't have to invest so much in a tower because the building is already tall enough. It'd probably be a bit distracting to have a huge blade pass by your windows every few (insert period of time here) though.

[sniper7]

You know, these green idiots (hmmm, does that make them Martians...?), won't put an oil rig on a little tiny postage stamp piece of land but they are willing to use up tens of thousands of acres to collect wind power. These guys are nucking futs!

did you know PETA fights hard against wind turbines?
apparently it kills low level birds in flight when they are hit by the semitruck sized blades

if the birds are that stupid, they deserve to die.

as for wind energy, put some of those fuckers out by my house cause it is howlin right now!

[sniper7]

i like the idea of solar and wind combined. I don't see how the wind energy is over 20 times more expensive. the highest costs are the initial build and leasing of the land. maintenance is a factor as well but it can't be that much more than a coal plant along with the trains that have to carry it and the diesel fuel burned.

solar is being used heavily out at DIA. hell, just look at a lot of mountain homes, they have solar panels as well as propane backup. some don't even have power running to their house from an outside means, they make it work.
I know that isn't realistic in a more urban setting (where the greenies mostly live...like in downtown) but it is a small step in the right direction.

the cost of solar technology is coming down, improving and seeing more widespread use. it will just take time to get things down to a reasonable level.

then we will find monstrous coal and oil reserves and wonder what the fuck we were thinking!

[offgrid]

[quote=sniper7;197877]i like the idea of solar and wind
hell, just look at a lot of mountain homes, they have solar panels as well as propane backup. some don't even have power running to their house from an outside means, they make it work.

I'm in one of those mountain homes, power our home with wind and solar. We are 2 1/2 miles from a utility line. We make no claims to be "greenies", we like the Independence. No utility bill, one less monopoly to fuck with us.
I have to admit I kind of enjoy it when you grid folks (not co-ar15 members of course) lose power from a storm, we always power, na na na na na!

[GreenScoutII]

I think wind turbines and solar are part of the solution to the problem of achieving energy independence. I also believe that domestic drilling and, in particular, nuclear energy, are also part of the solution.

I live out in the country and I would love to be "off the grid" as others here have mentioned. I'm looking at a smaller wind turbine for my own use. The biggest problem I see with them as they exist now is that it will take a very, very long time for the turbine to pay for it's self...

Solar I'm not entirely sold on. At least not at the current level of development of this technology. I do think it will be a significant contributor to our power grid in the future though.