Wind Power
Don Surber has some interesting facts on just how viable wind power is.
From Don's
blog at the UK Daily Mail:
14,000 abandoned wind turbines
As Jimi Hendrix may have put it: �And the wind cries bankrupt��
Minnesotans for Global Warming report that in the last 30 years, the United States has had 14,000 wind turbines abandoned. Apparently, once the subsidies and the wind run out, these 20-story high Cuisinarts are de-bladed and retired. This means more bats and migratory birds will live.
From Minnesotans for Global Warming: �The symbol of Green renewable energy, our savior from the non existent problem of Global Warming, abandoned wind farms are starting to litter the planet as globally governments cut the subsidies taxes that consumers pay for the privilege of having a very expensive power source that does not work every day for various reasons like it�s too cold or the wind speed is too high.�
Andrew Walden of American Thinker explored nearly 2 years ago the demise of the 37-turbine wind farm at Kamaoa Wind Farm in Hawaii: �Built in 1985, at the end of the boom, Kamaoa soon suffered from lack of maintenance. In 1994, the site lease was purchased by Redwood City, CA-based Apollo Energy. Cannibalizing parts from the original 37 turbines, Apollo personnel kept the declining facility going with outdated equipment. But even in a place where wind-shaped trees grow sideways, maintenance issues were overwhelming. By 2004 Kamaoa accounts began to show up on a Hawaii State Department of Finance list of unclaimed properties. In 2006, transmission was finally cut off by Hawaii Electric Company.California�s wind farms � then comprising about 80% of the world�s wind generation capacity � ceased to generate much more quickly than Kamaoa. In the best wind spots on earth, over 14,000 turbines were simply abandoned. Spinning, post-industrial junk which generates nothing but bird kills.�
When an honest history of this period in the United States is written, it will no be kind to the corporate cronyism that preyed upon public ignorance of earth science to create a crisis -- global warming -� to exploit and loot the Treasury.
Commenter Roger says it:
Wind power is impractical with current technology. Visit south Point on the Big Island of Hawaii and you will find the remnants of a large wind farm. The wind blows constantly at this location and Hawaii has one of the highest electricity costs in the country. If wind power cannot e profitable here why would anyone think it is practical anywhere.
Indeed -- wind and solar do not yield one kW of power given the energy they take to build, the traditional plants that need to be kept on hot-standby to cover changes in wind strength and the overall cost to the economy of the huge subsidies.
If this were a level playing field, they would simply not work and there is no huge improvement in efficiency "just around the corner" -- the blades and the generators are already running at 70-90%efficiency (when the wind is blowing at optimal speed) and there is little or nothing that can improve on this cost effectively. Double the already high cost for a 2% increase in power? Didn't think so...
Posted by DaveH at November 20, 2011 1:49 PM