wrote in :

harry writes:

On Jul 20, 12:23Â*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Jul 19, 7:02Â*pm, Frank wrote:





On 7/19/2011 6:12 PM, HeyBub wrote:

Warning: It's not pretty. Summary of a report based on power
usage by about 1/3rd of the nation's consumers (110 million)
over three years.

"For years, it's been an article of faith among advocates of
renewables that increased use of wind energy can provide a
cost-effective method of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The
reality: wind energy's carbon dioxide-cutting benefits are
vastly overstated. Furthermore, if wind energy does help reduce
carbon emissions, those reductions are too expensive to be used
on any kind of scale. "

And in conclusion:

"The wind energy business is the electric sector's equivalent of
the corn ethanol scam: it's an over-subsidized industry that
depends wholly on taxpayer dollars to remain solvent while
providing an inferior product to consumers that does little, if
anything, to reduce our need for hydrocarbons or cut carbon
dioxide emissions. The latest Bentek study should be required
reading for policymakers. It's a much-needed reminder of how the
pesky facts about wind energy have been obscured by the tsunami
of hype about green energy."

http://www.forbes.com/2011/07/19/win...-carbon_2.html

The report overlooks the fact that wind energy is for the
children.

Nice, clean windmill sound nice but energy consumed in building
them and the need for back-up diesel generators are not
considered.

Nor the noise and dead birds.
if in a cold weather place,they may freeze up or the blades may ice over
and throw big chunks of ice when they break loose.

They may or may not be putting them offshore here in
Delaware and you can imagine the compounding cost of installation
and effect of salt water on them, Â*They don't use above ground
transmission lines either and cables have to be run under the sea
surface.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/2...107170308-Hide
quoted text -

All power plants have maintenance costs.

PV?

Pretty low maintenance costs.

solar uses a lot of water,gotta keep the panels clean.
then there's inverter maintenance,and if storage batteries used,battery
maintenance.
Plus,the hazards of battery chemicals and lead,along with fire hazard.

Wind turbines need more maintenance,being rotating machinery.


Bell Labs just put up a PV farm not far from me.
These are in a field about 4 feet from the ground.
I'm curious about how they are going to cut the grass or
keep plants from growing in there.

I thought they might use mulch or a ground cover, but so far
it doesn't look like it.

They used to just mow the area with a big ride on mower.
Now the panels are in the way. Maybe they can be tilted out
of the way.

Anyway, it mostly just sits there and pours electricity into the
grid. Pretty cool, especially with this heat, you can imagine
all the air conditioners it's running.


"POURS" electricity? how big a plant is it? how many MW?


It probably runs THEIR AC and maybe the building lights.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com