"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
I could point out that it's China's problem, not ours. Which happens to be
true.

I find it hard to believe that "radioactivity [is] involved somewhere in
the
process" of extracting neodymium -- unless neodymium is commonly mixed
with
ores of radioactive material -- which it apparently isn't. According to
Wikipedia...

"Neodymium is not found naturally in metallic form or unaccompanied by
other
lanthanides, and it is usually refined for general use. Although classed
as
a "rare earth" it is no more rare than cobalt, nickel or copper, and is
widely distributed in the Earth's crust. The bulk of the world's neodymium
is presently [sic -- currently] mined in China."

If it isn't particularly rare, then one might assume other countries will
begin or increase their mining of it, now that China has put export
controls
on it.

Wind power has the potential (sorry) for relatively cheap electricity,
using
hardware that is easily replaced as it wears out.

A long-term solution to food and environmental problems would require a
"population implosion" -- an across-the-board reduction in population to
1/10 or even 1/20 the current level.

"There's... antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium
And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium
And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium
And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium..."



Well, I'm not sure that wind power actually has anything like the potential
to be worth all of its downsides, if you look at the figures for what it's
actually doing in terms of filling any 'holes' in the grid. The latest
figures are for what was actually produced, against what could have
potentially been produced at full capacity, during the last cold spell that
we had here a few weeks ago, and it doesn't make very inspiring reading.
There are two types of weather systems that we get here in the winter in the
UK. The first is, as my dear old high school geography teacher used to tell
us, "All the Ws", which is Warm Wet Westerly Winds in Winter. This is
typified by rather dull overcast weather rolling in on fronts from low
pressure systems that form out in the Atlantic. They tend to be fairly quick
moving, and have warm and moist light winds. Not too bad for wind
generation, but by the same token, because of the temperatures, not really
demanding in terms of energy requirements on the generating authorities,
because there is not a great need for people to heat their homes too much.
Right now, for instance, it's the depths of the UK winter, its 5 o'clock in
the afternoon and well past sunset, and its 50 deg F outside.

The other type of weather that we get involves huge blocking high pressure
systems that sit over northern Europe, and prevent any weather at all from
coming in. These systems are typified by clear blue skies and totally clear
nights. Daytime temperatures are lucky to make it to 30 deg F, and night
time temperatures plummet into the 20s or lower, with sharp frosts. Winds
are light to zero. This is very bad for wind generation. The situation can
last for several weeks at a time, as these high pressure weather systems are
huge and static. This is exactly what we had here a couple of weeks back,
and the energy demand for heating was huge compared to normal. Wind power
contributed almost nothing to the demand, because there simply wasn't any
wind. Realistically, what use is a generating technology which produces
power when you don't need it, and next to none when you do ...

You also need to understand the commercial aspects of wind power here. I
don't know what the situation is west-pond, but here, there are all manner
of financial incentives for organisations to set up and run these windfarms
so, far from the belief by the eco-warriors that they are making a
difference by getting take-up on this technology, it's actually a cynical
exercise in taking piles of money from the government, by companies that
don't actually give a toss whether it's worth it in the long run, or not.

Arfa