[exDemMom]

I wonder how much electricity those windmills actually provide. And how many birds must die to produce that electricity.

[rktman]

Weird, they must have forgotten the friendly 2nd amendment situation there.

[rockrr]

Not much. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) Is the largest player in the windmill game in Washington state. They invested heavily because they could use them to offset profits from gas and electricity. They erected them in the middle of nowhere in eastern Wa.

They can’t run them when there’s no wind (obviously) but they can’t run them when the wind is too strong either. A massive percentage of the generated power is lost to the physics of electricity traveling over vast distances.

Leftist enviro-weenies are in charge and the power companies know which side of their bread is buttered. They had tons of hydro-electric and huge natural gas. Almost all of the cheap, reliable hydro has been decommissioned in favor of the whirligigs.

[Califreak]

Every time I see windmills I think of all the birds those things have killed and it never fails to piss me off.

[redshawk]

I wonder how much electricity those windmills actually provide.

---

And the solar arrays. For 6 months out of the year, winter, solar gain is all but zero. Summer months get about 4sun hours per day. What a waste of money.

[Boomer]

I wonder how much electricity those windmills actually provide. And how many birds must die to produce that electricity.

Amen! And how "clean" is the energy it take to produce them. Plus, one or three don't look too bad on a hillside, but a forest of them look like crap. Butt ugly.

[zeestephen]

Re: I wonder how much electricity those windmills actually provide.

I scanned through the entire article and did not see a number - for solar or wind.

Here in Seattle, solar is an absurd power option.

We have very few sunny days during the Fall and Winter. We are also at 47.6 degrees latitude, more than half way to the North Pole, so our sun angle is terrible, and we barely have 8 hours of daylight during late December and early January.

Nationally, wind and solar provide less than 5%, and they require conventional back up generators or massive electrical storage systems when sunshine and wind are not available.

Every year, Washington state is also tearing out dozens of old, small, hydro-powered generators to save the salmon, or the ancient fish gods, or baby Orcas, or something else.

Nuclear generation is the only technology that can replace hydro and carbon based fuels in Washington.

I am NOT optimistic about our energy future.