Windmills dismal performance (hydroelectric, climate, charge, energy)

[rlchurch]

[thecoalman]

Yep that's what active mining site looks like, fortunately they have to set aside X amount of dollars for reclamation. In addition to the reclamation of the active site those funds also go towards reclaiming abandoned mine scarred areas that dot the American landscape created prior to regulation where the companies that owned them no longer exist. Some are from before the turn of the century. Without these funds many areas such as the hundreds where I live would remain in a state much like you see in the picture you posted.

This site here probably sat for almost a half a century and they used those funds procured from active mine sites to reclaim it. They started work on this about 10 years prior to the photo being take, if you click on "extra information" the exif data indictates 2004.

Panoramio - Photo of BAMR Reclamation Site





Coincidentally yours truly was on top of this hill about 10 years prior to that and has a picture. This was taken before they finished it off and they had not seeded it yet:




Ironic but where abandoned mining sites are concerned active mining has a very positive impact on the enviroment.

[BIGBOB]

And after those pic's yet another reason for wind as produced in PA. And WVA. For those of us in MD. No clear cutting for miles? No mining? Put in a tower. Wind is the answer.





But what do I know. Clean coal is a misnomer.
Check Websters.

[vec101]

No, in WV we don't want hundreds of miles of scenery like this (photo of area near Cannan Valley - one of the most gorgeous nature destinations in the state). You can't tell very well by the picture but these are atop mountain ridges:







The surface mines are reclaimed and made into useful land.

[rlchurch]

Originally Posted by vec101

No, in WV we don't want hundreds of miles of scenery like this (photo of area near Cannan Valley - one of the most gorgeous nature destinations in the state). You can't tell very well by the picture but these are atop mountain ridges:

The surface mines are reclaimed and made into useful land.

Beautiful. I can almost hear them humming.

[BIGBOB]

The faster we all realise that there is no such thing as "clean coal", the better off we all will be. Coal is not clean, only easy and available.



By the way, pretty pic's of a reclaimed site. Tragic about all the coal that went into the air from that location. And the fish downstream while the site was open. For how many years. Continue to post pic's. You are teaching all the rest about the folly of coal.



Coal is not clean. And technology will not make it so. Enter Wind and Solar. Coal is old news. And no, I do not buy into "global warming". Al Gore is nothing more than a huckster looking for a buck.


No such thing as clean coal.

[glenncz]

Windfarms are a waste of our tax dollars. They are the GREATEST ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS OF OUR TIME!

We have generating electricity for over 100 years using turbines run by coal and hydro. Don't think that wind turbines are some new fangled technology that we have finally figured out. They don't work for commerical power generation anywhere without enormous government subsidies. And they NEVER EVER CLOSE ONE coal or nuclear plant. NEVER!

You have to understand that very often the wind does not blow, not whatsoever, and if you want to watch you TV or run your furnace, you need power. Most of us just take our cheap electricity for granted that we have no idea how easy it would be to screw up such a good thing.

also note: Wind will do nothing whatsoever with foreign oil dependence because we only make about 2% of our electricity from oil.

[GregW]

If we must mine coal in the mountains the best we could do is place a few wind turbines to pretty up the reclaimed mines.

BTW – West Virginia has just about perfect terrain to build the pumped hydro energy storage facilities to provide reserve energy for the time the winds are not available.

Also - we will always mine coal to operate iron furnaces and new production steel mills. Unless we want to offshore that basic industry as well as all the rest.

[my54ford]

The lights are starting to come on for some people here in Mn.... over 3.5 million dollars lost (and trhis only info from one small utility) in the first 4 months of this year due to wind power. The customers are starting to get the bill and boy are they mad!!!

[vec101]

Please tell more. What's going on in Mn?

I see, according to Report: S.D. electric bills may go up 48% by 2015 | argusleader.com | Argus Leader that 76 percent of the electricity generated in the West North Central region - Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota - is coal-fired. Which BTW, they predict
greenhouse gas emissions regs by Feds could raise South Dakotans' electric bills by an average of 48 percent between now and 2015.