Greens vs Windmills: Overcome Legislative roadblocks to clean energy

Hawaii Free Press ^ | 3-24-09 | Lt Gov Duke Aiona

[AndrewWalden]

But now, when collaboration and continued support is most needed to get us over the hump, some politicians have taken it upon themselves to propagate misinformation and distort a very clear record of accomplishment.

For those politicians and cynics, I have a message: Hawai‘i will be a world leader in clean energy, with or without you.

The only question is when. Will our children and grandchildren look back at this time and wonder how we could have squandered this golden opportunity?

If we reduce our dependence on oil by just 10 percent, we could keep as much as $700 million flowing in our local economy. That is because we send up to $7 billion overseas to import oil. By reducing our dependence on oil to 30 percent or less, as projected in HCEI, with as much as $4 to $5 billion remaining in our local economy, stimulating growth and creating jobs.

[marron]

The obsession with “clean” energy doesn’t do anything at all to reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies. Wind and solar only replace coal and natural gas, resources we have plenty of domestically.

And a natgas plant is a very clean source of energy. The idea that it isn’t is superstitious bugaboo. Its clean and it takes up a very small footprint. Wind and solar, on the other hand, are enormously wasteful of real estate. It takes square miles of land for solar or wind to match what a natgas plant does in a few acres.

[steelyourfaith]

Jason Lewis, substitute host for El Rushbo, August 11, 2008 on the E.I.B Network:

"The federal government has to subsidize windmill production through production tax credits of about 1.8¢ per kilowatt. Wind Farms also receive an accelerated depreciation. Wind farms are also land intensive. They produce a fraction of the energy of a traditional power plant but they require 100 times the acreage.

From the National Center for Policy Analysis: to produce a 1000 megawatt power plant a wind farm would require 192,000 acres or 300 square miles. A nuclear plant would need about 1700 acres (or 2.65 mi²), and about 3 mi² for a coal fired power plant. The transmission lines for the wind turbines would be massive, 12,000 miles just for the array."

 

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[apocalypto]

These windmills are UGLY! The old time windmills were attractive. There is no need to make everything so ugly.

[Dionysius]

The most we can hope for is 5% and that would take ten years.

[steelyourfaith]

Agreed. They lack the charm of the windmills of old.

I think maybe we should just drill ANWR & the offshores ... and mine the coal in Utah that Slick Willie Clinton put off limits, just for starters ... rather than erect these energy-inefficient, land-gobbling, visual abominations.

[50mm]

[50mm]