Harnessing Wind

[Andre57]

The wind is a natural source of energy and power.

 

[martin]

As you get older you get more wind and less energy, how does that work?

 

[caveman_joey]

True the government has given many grants to the wind industry to create "wind farms" and are also considering off shore wind turbine technologies so that people do not have to give up land for these wind farms or look at the wind farms. The only real problem with wind power is it is really only best suited for certain area's where the average wind speed is 14 mph constant which leaves some areas of the U.S. not to be cost effective areas for wind harvesting. The second problem to over come is transfering this power to the areas away from the source (wind farms) which our current power distribution system is not currently setup to handle, this is also a problem with other large scale green energy options. Wind energy is a great thing as is any form of green energy but until the U.S. deals with the distribution issues with our current power distribution set up to transport the engery generated by green power sources effectively whether they be solar, wind, or geothermal we might as well be pissing into the wind. It's like having that nice built engine setting on the engine stand or dyno machine ..... it looks pretty, its powerful, and can even be efficient if built properly but it is not gonna do anything other than be just a good idea until it is put to work effectively with the proper vehicle.

 

[Nhaz]

are you selling something?

If wind was so awesome. the companies making money off electricity would have put them in 50 years ago. same with solar. Neither form is reliable.

and its DC not AC which means you have to Invert it. you lose anywhere from 15%-30% of the power generated in the inversion process as pretty much heat loss.

 

[Spitfire1975]

The wind is a natural source of energy and power. Wind blows when the land gets heated up by the sun unevenly making the air just above the land, rise and expand. When the hot air above the land expands, its place is filled in by the heavier and cooler air above it. This makes the wind blow. So as long as the sun shines, the wind will continue to blow.

The wind energy can be tapped with the help of wind turbines. The winds created as a result of the temperature difference flows over the blades of the Windmill or wind turbine to make it rotate. The rotating wind turbine helps in turning the generator that produces the electricity. The wind mill or turbine generates wind power by conversion of wind kinetic energy into mechanical.

The wind energy industry has been growing at the rate of 28% a year for the past five years, and if growth trends continue at this pace as is expected, wind capacity will double about every three or four years. By 2010, the World Wind Energy Association expects 160GW of capacity to be installed worldwide, up from 73.9 GW at the end of 2006, implying an anticipated net growth rate of more than 21% per year. All this has led to a huge increase in the wind investments.

I don't get it.

Oh wait, yes I do.
Some people have no shame.

 

[Spitfire1975]

Maybe his investment can put a wind turbine in the back of my Ranger and give me unlimited mileage.

 

[Mac]

are you selling something?

If wind was so awesome. the companies making money off electricity would have put them in 50 years ago. same with solar. Neither form is reliable.

and its DC not AC which means you have to Invert it. you lose anywhere from 15%-30% of the power generated in the inversion process as pretty much heat loss.

Anything has to be cost effective. With coal, gas and oil being so low priced for many years, those were the fuels of choice. The oil sands in Canada have a huge potential of suppling energy but not cost effective with oil under $70 a barrel. First big wind turbine went up in 1941 at "Grandpa's Knob, VT." No I didn't make that name up. Company I worked for made the governor for it.
Dave

 

[Nhaz]

The thing is the cost of power is being artificially raised by people refusing to allow nuclear reactors to be built. which while expensive to build last so long and produce such a abundance of power they pay for themselves and keep the power cheap.

 

[Surrey]

The thing is the cost of power is being artificially raised by people refusing to allow nuclear reactors to be built. which while expensive to build last so long and produce such a abundance of power they pay for themselves and keep the power cheap.

Hell yeah people refuse to let nuclear reactors being built, and that is a GOOD thing. There may be a very very small chance that something goes wrong, but when it does, results can be catastrophic. Chernobyl happened in 1986, and there is still a 30 km exclusionary zone surrounding it.

 

[407Link]

I just saw on the news their putting 3 nuclear ones right near me

 

[TastySloth]

I just saw on the news their putting 3 nuclear ones right near me

... and they'll probably send the power to California too.

 

[PORTnPOLISH]

There is all kinds of wind farms out here by me. 3 friends work in them.

 

[Mac]

Hell yeah people refuse to let nuclear reactors being built, and that is a GOOD thing. There may be a very very small chance that something goes wrong, but when it does, results can be catastrophic. Chernobyl happened in 1986, and there is still a 30 km exclusionary zone surrounding it.

Think we are seeing that right now! What a mess over there.
Dave of the Nord

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The thing is the cost of power is being artificially raised by people refusing to allow nuclear reactors to be built. which while expensive to build last so long and produce such a abundance of power they pay for themselves and keep the power cheap.

They last a long time until a quake throws a wrench in the works...

I never have trusted it, and probably never will.