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We have a Wind Turbine training center at the College I teach, and as a toolmaker I am very keen on the mechanisms.
They are not simple (like a hydro turbine, or Coal)
90:1 step up gearboxes + rotational mechanisms, brakes, AND the generator... All exposed to the elements (prairie weather - snow - dust - broad temp swings...)
300 ft above the service truck...
Taxes? (1x / yr - depreciation and Gov and community tax credits) vs productive revenue generation
(R U a Gov worker?)
Government worker? No I help utilities finance their renewable projects. And yes communities benefit from the property taxes associated with wind and solar farms.
Have you ever actually seen the fuel handling system for a coal fired plant? It makes a wind turbine look simple and very clean. One of the real advantages of wind turbine maintenance is that you can lift the nacelle off of the turbine pedestal and return it to a depot for repair.
Summary-- right now, wind supplies 0.46% of total human energy consumption per year (solar & tide combined another 0.35%). Note- that's total energy, not just electricity.
Energy consumption has grown 2%/yr over the last 40 yrs.
To provide that 2% growth, we'd need to build 350,000 wind mills per yr-- @50ac per mill, that's the area of Great Britain. To continue for the next 50 yrs, we'd have to cover all of Russia with wind installations- just to supply the annual growth in energy needs.
The remainder of the article covers problems of energy and materials production in the building of wind mills.
Perhaps use of wind for power production is another limited niche only practical in particular situations.
You frequently post this all or nothing nonsense about green energy. Its a strawman, and illogical.
Some places have had great success with wind power. Some with solar, other with hydroelectric, some with geothermal and so on. The flaw in the logic is thinking that just because we want more green energy we want a single solution. People who really understand the science and engineering realize that the green energy movement will be a mosaic of many different technologies depending on what works best on a case by case basis.
We call them our 'bird and bat choppers' here, many more killed than they had expected, a sad design flaw. They are a bit of an eyesore as well in a place that is dependent on looking like an unspoiled paradise.
We pay, if not the highest, close to the highest electric rates in the US. I guess we may be paying even more without them but I do hope they expand the solar side of this greening trend and stop putting up more 'choppers'.
You frequently post this all or nothing nonsense about green energy.
.
You apparently read all my posts looking thru your ideological spectacles and usually miss the point. I have repeatedly said that the unreliable solar & wind energy sources have their small niches. Try reading the article and check the numbers.
The article in the OP points out that it is logistically impossible for new wind plants to keep up with even the growth in energy demand, let alone replace existing demand.
That has nothing to do with the cost of solar and wind.
Once again you are talking out of your ass, the direct tax a German consumer pays for renewable energy is currently about 8 cents(US) per kWh. Germany guarantees renewable producers X rate because it's expensive and cannot compete with conventional sources, the wholesale rate is much lower than X. That 8 cents is used to make up the difference or in other words on top of the wholesale rate they are charging. That's before the other financial incentives like the feed in tariff's and the higher costs of conventional power driven by the use of solar and wind.
Quote:
Wind in the US costs less than new coal or nuclear. That why we are building wind and closing coal.
When you have removed the mandates and subsidies, come see me with your arguments.
Last edited by thecoalman; 01-13-2019 at 06:24 PM..
The US is not even close to energy independent based upon petroleum. We import about 10 million bbl/day of crude oil. That's over 1/2 our consumption.
Once again, talking out of your ass.
40% of those imports are from Canada and another 7% from Mexico.. Both domestic production and imports from Canada are are on a upward trajectory and have been for about decade, imports from the rest of the world are going down. The US is now the leading producer of crude oil in the world.
The latest wind turbines pay for themself in 6 months.......
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