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Windfarms? We might as well use hamsters on treadmills
Mail Online ^ | 9/7/2009 | Peter Hitchens

Posted on 09/11/2009 8:27:29 AM PDT by Saije

A weird and irrational cult has us in its grip. If the Mormons or the Moonies started taking over the BBC and the Government, which then harangued and persecuted us into wearing funny underwear or getting married in mass ceremonies, we would – I hope – rise in revolt.

But the ‘Man-made Climate Change’ fanatics are applauded and praised, even as they force us to abandon perfectly sensible electric lights, and instead subject ourselves to strange, flickering substitutes, simultaneously worse and more costly than the ones they replace.

There is worse to come. The same people wish to compel us to rely for our power on windmills, million upon million of them, as if we had never discovered more efficient and reliable ways of generating electricity.

And they are succeeding. Few areas in Britain are now unthreatened by deranged projects to install intrusive, gigantic wind-farms on prominent sites.

This must be one of the first instances of a civilisation voluntarily and consciously going backwards. We might as well rely for our economic and industrial future on tens of millions of hamsters pattering frantically round treadmills. Hamsters only do this by night. Windmills only make electricity when it is windy. See the problem?

For most of us, the truth has yet to sink in. Our old lightbulbs still function, or we have stockpiled a few. And the nuclear and coal-fired power stations which keep our country going have some years yet to run before they wear out or a Brussels decree shuts them down for ever.

But the time is not far away when we will find the irrational opinions of these maniacs being forced upon us unpleasantly in our daily lives. The lights will be too dim to read by.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: economy; energy; globalwarming; hamsters; hitchens; wind; windenergy
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1 posted on 09/11/2009 8:27:31 AM PDT by Saije
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To: Saije

Maybe the Kia Soul Car commercial hamsters are available?


2 posted on 09/11/2009 8:29:15 AM PDT by Freedom56v2 ("If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait till it is free! "~ PJ O'Rourke)
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To: Saije

The UK has to get out of the EU to save itself.


3 posted on 09/11/2009 8:31:31 AM PDT by PGR88
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To: Saije

never be allowed to happen. the new regulatory chief would nix this in fear of offending the hamster union.


4 posted on 09/11/2009 8:31:38 AM PDT by tm61 (somewhere in chicago, a ward is missing it's crook)
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To: Saije
When did Gaddafi start dressing like Michael Jackson?
5 posted on 09/11/2009 8:38:34 AM PDT by bitterohiogunclinger (America held hostage - day 163)
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To: Saije
Did someone say, "hamsters?????"


6 posted on 09/11/2009 8:43:25 AM PDT by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
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To: Saije

As I have mentioned before. There is only so much wind on any given day. If we take that wind and convert it to electricity, what impact could it have on the environment? Even more global warming? Wouldn’t wind help cool the planet?


7 posted on 09/11/2009 8:46:26 AM PDT by TruthBeforeAll (Honesty is like a knife... Used without love, it can do a lot of harm.)
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To: Saije

While driving through Indiana on I-65 on Monday, we drove by the enormous field of numerous dormant wind turbines. WTH is going on with that project?


8 posted on 09/11/2009 8:52:52 AM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
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To: Saije

All the wit of his brother, without the marxism. I enjoy reading this Hitchens.


9 posted on 09/11/2009 9:01:52 AM PDT by Defiant (Baby Boomers: The first generation in human history to not want to become adults, and they haven't.)
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To: TruthBeforeAll
Wouldn’t wind help cool the planet?

Yes, mostly by carrying surface heat away through water evaporation which results in more clouds that reflect incoming sunlight back out to space. Extracting energy from the wind causes desertification and global warming. Fighting global warming with wind farms is one of the more stupid ideas.

10 posted on 09/11/2009 9:02:40 AM PDT by Reeses
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To: SERKIT
enormous field of numerous dormant wind turbines.

That's because the tax credits ran out. Once a wind turbine is fully depreciated, it costs more to operate than the electric company is forced to overpay for the fickle electricity.

11 posted on 09/11/2009 9:06:07 AM PDT by Reeses
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To: Saije
Hamsters? Naw!


12 posted on 09/11/2009 9:12:02 AM PDT by LRS (Just contracts; just laws; just a constitution...)
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To: Saije; All

I would not be a big fan of a windmill in my backyard, but this is a bit silly.

Yeah, they make it when it’s windy, but it doesn’t take much wind. Hardly ever is it truly calm. Even then, it stores what was made.

I just think this is silly. Why not make some use out of the wind for our purposes...doesn’t seem backwards to me at all!


13 posted on 09/11/2009 9:25:17 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: TruthBeforeAll

You do realize they don’t actually take the wind itself....it still blows. All that is done is the movement is converted to electricity through the turbine’s motion.


14 posted on 09/11/2009 9:28:04 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: Saije
We might as well use hamsters on treadmills

Except in San Francisco, where they would use gerbils.

15 posted on 09/11/2009 9:28:08 AM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: Saije
Russian windfarm circa 1910


16 posted on 09/11/2009 9:29:09 AM PDT by fso301
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To: rwfromkansas
You do realize they don’t actually take the wind itself....it still blows.

The wind is a key player in the climate. If a wind turbine slows the surface wind speed down 25%, evaporation will be reduced 25%. The desertification caused by wind turbines is more than the CO2 emissions it replaces.

17 posted on 09/11/2009 9:49:10 AM PDT by Reeses
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To: Reeses

I hadn’t thought about that, but I took an intro met class and do recall the wind played an integral role. You may be onto something there, a pretty shocking fact if true!


18 posted on 09/11/2009 11:33:06 AM PDT by rwfromkansas ("Carve your name on hearts, not marble." - C.H. Spurgeon)
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To: Saije; Defendingliberty; Genesis defender; WL-law; Normandy; TenthAmendmentChampion; FrPR; ...
 



Beam Me to Planet Gore !

19 posted on 09/11/2009 5:12:15 PM PDT by steelyourfaith ("Power is not alluring to pure minds." - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: rwfromkansas
Yeah, they make it when it’s windy, but it doesn’t take much wind. Hardly ever is it truly calm. Even then, it stores what was made.

It takes quite a bit of wind, usually at least 12 mph steady which is quite rare in the summer most places. As for storage, there is no storage. That's why Texas had a huge blackout when the wind went down unexpectedly over a large part of the grid.

20 posted on 09/12/2009 7:53:42 PM PDT by palmer (Cooperating with Obama = helping him extend the depression and implement socialism.)
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