"Green Energy" No Matter the Cost?

[Bailey Guns]

Saw this interesting STORY on the FoxNews website:

Wind Farms Disrupting Radar, Scientists Say

Wind farms, along with solar power and other alternative energy sources, are supposed to produce the energy of tomorrow. Evidence indicates that their countless whirring fan blades produce something else: "blank spots" that distort radar readings.

Now government agencies that depend on radar -- such as the Department of Defense and the National Weather Service -- are spending millions in a scramble to preserve their detection capabilities.

"Look there’s a radar here -- one of our network of Homeland surveillance radars -- and [if you build this wind farm] you essentially are going to put my eyes out in the Northwestern corner of the United States,” Beloite related during a web conference in April.

Spinning wind turbines make it hard to detect incoming planes. To avoid that problem, military officials have blocked wind farm construction near their radars -- and in some cases later allowed them after politicians protested.

Shepherd’s Flat, a wind farm under construction in Oregon, was initially held up by a government notice that the farm would “seriously impair the ability of the (DoD) to detect, monitor and safely conduct air operations."

Then Oregon’s senators got involved.

...

In addition to the cost of the radar development, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in subsidies for the construction of the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm, according to a 2010 memo from Larry Summers and two other White House economic advisors.

I'm not necessarily against wind farms or other alternative energy sources. However, I'm not really keen on US taxpayers subsidizing private energy operations. Especially with wind farms that really don't produce an economically viable source of energy at the present. Not to mention when we're on the hook to a couple of bankrupt alternative energy firms to the tune of well over a half a billion dollars.

And when it comes to jeopardizing national defense capabilities and the ability of the NWS to offer accurate radar data, I'm pretty much gonna be on the side of "build it somewhere else".

“It all comes down to money and who's going to pay for it,” he noted.

Meanwhile, top radar scientists are working on developing a fix that works for weather radar.

“It's slow progress, and they say it's extremely difficult -- that they need more money and more time. The solution, I would say, is probably five years down the road, Ciardi said.

Doesn't it always come down to more money when the .gov is involved?

[mevshooter]

It's Bush's fault.

Yep... def-definitely Bush's fault.

Ridiculous.

Let's jeopardize our defense capabilities and the ability of planes to operate safely EVEN further.




AWESOME.

[spyder]

So... You are telling me that all the enemy has to do is build wind farms to defeat our militaries eyes in the sky huh? All of this radar defeating technology and the money spent on it, and all we had to do is put a few giant wind turbines around our fleet and we would be invisible... So, what other bs stories is the government gona come up with so they can spend money?

[SA Friday]

I'm not buying this for a second... There has to simply be more to the story not being told. This story is saying that our capability to detect incoming aircraft can be defeated by a wind farm? BS! I can see is possibly causing dead spots with Doppler radar, but that is easily solved by putting another doppler detector up in the opposite side of the wind fans.

This sounds like under-the-table funding and nothing more.

[Delfuego]

The Mod's got it right again... Big A** Fan defeats American defenses

And when is wind power un-American and un-capitalist? That is ridiculous. We can have it both ways this is America after all. We can figure about solutions to our problems, we have in the past. Climate and polution is not a political issue! We all breath the same freakin air.

Fox new is joke! When was the last time they had anything about the environment that wasn't a scare tactic? or some BS about Climate-Gate?

Don't **** where you eat. I want clean air and water, call me crazy...

[ChunkyMonkey]

The Mod's got it right again... Big A** Fan defeats American defenses

And when is wind power un-American and un-capitalist? That is ridiculous. We can have it both ways this is America after all. We can figure about solutions to our problems, we have in the past. Climate and polution is not a political issue! We all breath the same freakin air.

Fox new is joke! When was the last time they had anything about the environment that wasn't a scare tactic? or some BS about Climate-Gate?

Don't **** where you eat. I want clean air and water, call me crazy...

Let's go with Nuclear then.

[Delfuego]

Let's go with Nuclear then.

Can we store the waste at your house?

[ChunkyMonkey]

Can we store the waste at your house?

Can we built those buzzing wind tower over your house?

[Zundfolge]

And when is wind power un-American and un-capitalist?

When it exists ONLY because there are government subsidies paying for it.

I have no problem with wind power if it produces enough power to justify its costs. It doesn't.

[spyder]

When it exists ONLY because there are government subsidies paying for it.

I have no problem with wind power if it produces enough power to justify its costs. It doesn't.

Wind and solar is the a lot less expensive than nuclear. They just need to find something better than what is available...