Posted on 10/05/2018 7:47:07 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Those ugly, unreliable, heavily subsidized windmills that dot the landscape in increasing numbers not only kill millions of birds, but actually increase global warming, if you buy into the assumptions used by the warmist cult. We have this on the authority of scientists bearing the imprimatur of prestigious universities. From Technology Review, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology:
[A] new study by a pair of Harvard researchers finds that a high amount of wind power could mean more climate warming, at least regionally and in the immediate decades ahead. The paper raises serious questions about just how much the United States or other nations should look to wind power to clean up electricity systems.
The study, published in the journal Joule, found that if wind power supplied all US electricity demands, it would warm the surface of the continental United States by 0.24˚C. That could significantly exceed the reduction in US warming achieved by decarbonizing the nation's electricity sector this century, which would be around 0.1˚C. ...
The core problem is that wind turbines generate electricity by extracting energy out of the air, slowing down wind and otherwise altering "the exchange of heat, moisture, and momentum between the surface and the atmosphere," the study explains. That can produce some level of warming.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My issue has always been the low efficiency of wind power. At best about 30% efficient. Would I invest in technology only 30% efficient with little if any hope for improvement?
It was in the beginning, no more than salesmanship that sold technology that went the way of the buggy whip close to 80 years ago. Rural electrification spelled the end of wind chargers back in 1930`s America.
Back then electricity was such a blessing that you hardly needed salesmanship, and as soon as it turned into AC power over power lines, you did not need a salesman to get people to dump their wind charger for the more efficient system.
There are plenty of great sine wave inverters and the efficiency are over 90%. Take a look at the Tesla Power Wall for an example of state of the art available today.
Pretty much what I said. Not good for large applications.
Heat water? sure. Run an entire house completely? Nope.
This is from eight years ago:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/04/08/wind-power-is-a-complete-disaster/
I’m not sure this is valid. Our biggest argument is that the actions of man are minuscule compared to the actions of nature and the sun. Besides, air movement is caused by pressure differences between high and low pressure systems which again are caused by the sun. That windmills could affect the weather is about as preposterous as saying too many trees will slow the movement of air.
Correct. Yes direct solar heat is very smart design.
I remember some 40 years ago hippy vans often sported bumper stickers saying “Split Wood Not Atoms”. In those unenlightened days wood was considered a renewable resource with no concerns about global warming from burning it. Ironic how those forrests of windmills blighting our landscape are now being seen as contributing to the global warming hoax. Perhaps the corn ethanol boondoggle will soon be recognized for its contribution to the degradation of the environment.
“... by extracting energy out of the air”.
The one-word summary of that is “cooling”.
The gas passing through the turbine of a jet engine cools many hundreds of degrees in a small fraction of a second.
PTC, Production Tax Credit, $25.00 for every Mega Watt Hour generated.
We Pay for that.
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