Wind Farms

trumptman

I have a wind farm out near where I live. Likewise it seems like an issue that Europe has been jumping on and that the United States should be devoting more resources to as well.



windfarms 1



Wind Farms 2



Does anyone else live near a wind farm?



How have they worked out for your area?



Does the country in which you live support the creation of more wind generation capability?



How much of our energy do you think wind power could provide in the future?



Lastly the most important point...



Would you be willing to support wind power in your area and pay a a little more on your electric bill to get it implemented?



Nick

fellowship

Quote:

Originally posted by trumptman

I have a wind farm out near where I live. Likewise it seems like an issue that Europe has been jumping on and that the United States should be devoting more resources to as well.



windfarms 1



Wind Farms 2



Does anyone else live near a wind farm?



How have they worked out for your area?



Does the country in which you live support the creation of more wind generation capability?



How much of our energy do you think wind power could provide in the future?



Lastly the most important point...



Would you be willing to support wind power in your area and pay a a little more on your electric bill to get it implemented?



Nick

Great thread Trumptman!



This is an issue that is our future and I believe we can learn a lot from those who have experience with such technology.



For example:



In Denmark, wind farm foes have become supporters



I would be more than willing to pay for some initial costs of this to get it going. It is the right thing for the future.



Fellows

scott

Seems to me that every farm should be a wind farm of it's open. Plenty of open space.





If it pays for itself why aren't people doing it?

shawnj

I'm weary about giving away public land to energy companies... which is often the case with wind farms. \ Tough call in many regards.

scott

Why would it be "given away"

fellowship

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott

Why would it be "given away"

The trick is to have a balance with community and service providers.



I think it can be done.



Fellowship

chu_bakka

Apparently even one well engineered windmill can power alot of homes.



Small towns infact.



I think they were planning to build one just south of boston... not a whole farm but one very efficient windmill... but I seem to remember the locals being upset about how it might look...uhg.



What's cleaner than windpower? It's practically free energy!



Solar is clean but I think the production of solar panels produces some toxic waste... but really ...most things do?

shawnj

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott

Why would it be "given away"

Many wind farm projects in my area involve energy companies leasing land from private landowners. I don't think there's anything really wrong with that, unless it turns out that the particular placement of wind turbines turns them into Condor Cuisinarts?. But that's just the thing- there's a place for everything. Some proposals involve giving away public land or resources such as the Nantucket Sound to private developers. Now that thought gives me pause...

scott

Well we could just propose to charge them for it too. But given that people want the government to "promote" this stuff the easy thing the government can do is lease for free something it's not using.



So if they promote it they are giving it away and if they don't Bush is an evil oil baron.

chu_bakka

http://www.capewind.org/



I was way off... it's an offshore windfarm... looks promising...

aquafire

The South Australian Government has just announced Australia's biggest wind farm project to date.



59 Large wind turbines will be set up near Port Lincoln.



Overlooking the Southern ocean at a site called Cathederal Rocks it will generate enough power for 55,000 homes as well as feed power into the national Grid.



I know people complain about them being noisy eye~sores.



But then ( for us at least ) it is either something like this or being forced to build more oil refineries to fuel more oil burning / steam turbine stations..all of which are pretty ugly & noisy too.



I think I know which I would rather live near to.

fellowship

Quote:

Originally posted by Aquafire





I know people complain about them being noisy eye~sores.



But then ( for us at least ) it is either something like this or being forced to build more oil refineries to fuel more oil burning / steam turbine stations..all of which are pretty ugly & noisy too.



I think I know which I would rather live near to.

I agree with you



No powerplant of any sort is not without some flaw as to how it is accepted.

smircle

Quote:

Originally posted by trumptman



Does the country in which you live support the creation of more wind generation capability?

Germany, where I come from, has the highest installed capacity of wind generators worldwide. Currently, over 10GWh of energy can be produced by them (USA: 4.3GWh) providing enough power for about 4mio people.



Wind energy was boosted by the conservative government after signing the Kyoto treaty and since '98 by the leftwing/green coalition. They passed a law that forced energy companies to buy current from renewable source for a price that was initially much higher than the average price (from coal plants, imported energy, nuclear plants). The aim was to jumpstart investments into the technology while providing a yearly degression on the surcharge to not make it an everlasting subsidy.



Overall, the plan has worked. Energy prices have not increased noticeably due to the surcharge (less than 1%), huge demand for wind powered generators has lead to the founding of several national and international companies designing and building the windmills which have been able to bring down costs per installed unit considerably.



On the negative side, the potential for future growth here is small - the best sites are gone. Wind energy now accounts for roughly 4% of electric power consumed over here, which is nice but far from enough to rely on renewable energy.

Personally I like the sleek look of the generators, but a lot of people are a bit peeved because they are literally everywhere.



In a second phase of pushing for eco-friendly energy production, the law now forces energy companies to pay 10x the regular power price to newly installed solar power plants...

der kopf

Well, my government has been battling with plans for an offshore windfarm. Green party government members decided upon it (as they could: theirs was the right Minister). As soon as they were out though (after last elections) all plans were cancelled. The issue is a tough one of course. With only 65 km of coastline (about 30 miles), there is not much to be used for whatever fancy. And of course the fact that they wanted to plant a bunch in front of the most mundain and bourgeois seaside town on our coast (a place preferred by many an influential a-hole). So... Our little country almost full, our sea off limits. What's a little country gonna do? I regret not having more alternative energy, and I regret the vicious discussions they are always accompanied by. Opposers are very often very virulent and caustic.



Anyway, was Australia not working on one of them fancy sun towers in or around Sydney? The principle is very nice: a very large greenhouse (diameter of more than a mile) is made to be as heat absorbing as possible. In the middle of the park, there is a very high tower, which serves as the only escape for the heat building up in the greenhouse. In that tower, turbines are set in motion by the rising heat. That motion is transferred into electricity (don't ask me how), and voila: you're good to go. Of course, to be efficient, Australia's building a field of, what was it, 10 km diameter and a tower of 1000 m high. I even went so far as to fetch you all a link. Be advised.