• Trouble logging in? Send us a message with your username and/or email address for help.
New posts

full time

Beach Fanatic
Oct 25, 2006
726
90
The primary wind corridor in the US is in the plains. The US population is mostly clustered on the east and west coast. The cost for the transmission lines is staggering, say nothing of the legal and environmental issues. Wait until you find a woodpecker, lizzard or turtle (or a poor rural community) where you plan to run the lines. That's why Gore's decade plan is such a joke. Don't forget, you still have to rely on fossil fuel buring plants for when the wind dies, those plants are the quickest start-up - otherwise, you can't turn on your AC when the wind farms have some calm days. The US has an alternative energy policy - it's called nuclear. When the cost of fossil fuels is such that political leaders have the political cover to implement the policy, it'll get done.
 

Here4Good

Beach Fanatic
Jul 10, 2006
1,264
529
Point Washington
With all due respect, I can find fault with every single method of providing alternative energy sources - serious faults, showstoppers. It's easy to do.

There is no 100% solution, and there is no solution without change and sacrifice. This plan doesn't pretend to cover all of the needs of all of the country. It does suggest that we should use the resources we have in each region to their highest and best use.

My real interest, though, is that it is a PLAN. It is not political posturing, it is not a speech, it is not a protest, it is a plan that you can read, analyze, put some numbers to, use the parts that are useful and reject the parts that aren't. You can expand upon it.

It beats the hell out of anything either political party is offering.
 

Will B

Moderator
Jan 5, 2006
4,551
1,313
Atlanta, GA
Interesting to note that last year when I rode my motorcycle to Colorado and back there were billboards all along I-70 in CO, all of Kansas, and most of Missouri that were aimed at blocking wind farms.

Seems that NIMBY is the word of the day out there...

Maybe that's because of the high concentration of corn growers...
 

rapunzel

Beach Fanatic
Nov 30, 2005
2,514
980
Point Washington
The Oil PR machine is all over this, and their arguments about cost of building infrastructure could easily be applied to new drilling in the gulf and ANWR requiring a massive investment in infrastructure.

The best approach is obviously a diverse alternative energy market, not focusing on one source. That, and some faith in American ingenuity and innovation. I'm so sick of hearing, "NO, we can't" about everything except more drilling and opening up coastal drilling and ruining our beaches.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,810
1,923
The Oil PR machine is all over this, and their arguments about cost of building infrastructure could easily be applied to new drilling in the gulf and ANWR requiring a massive investment in infrastructure.

The best approach is obviously a diverse alternative energy market, not focusing on one source. That, and some faith in American ingenuity and innovation. I'm so sick of hearing, "NO, we can't" about everything except more drilling and opening up coastal drilling and ruining our beaches.

I agree. Especially since according to The Rocky Mountain Institute, Amory Lovins, and the U.S. Air Force locally (in the news yesterday) there are apparently HUGE national security issues with both ANWR and the Gulf of Mexico.

For ANWR the vulnerability of the pipeline makes it a risk that Lovins says most "in the know" people would not approve; and the Air Force says they need the structures to stay out of the testing area in the Gulf.

So, I find it interesting that the people who claim to be the biggest supporters of national security and the military, are advocating drilling that would do harm to both. Once again: what is wrong with this picture? It is so frustrating.
 
Last edited:

Here4Good

Beach Fanatic
Jul 10, 2006
1,264
529
Point Washington
Indeed, SC. You should google each alternative energy source, then google it again with the word " objections" appended. It's staggering - legions of experts on both sides of each argument, all with their own websites and statistics.

I had to laugh, watching Stephen Colbert as he was interviewing a wind proponent the other night, when he said that he was waiting for the environmentalists to protest wind power because "The wind should roam free".

You can become convinced of anything, reading the arguments. It leads to analysis paralysis.
 

full time

Beach Fanatic
Oct 25, 2006
726
90
With all due respect, I can find fault with every single method of providing alternative energy sources - serious faults, showstoppers. It's easy to do.

There is no 100% solution, and there is no solution without change and sacrifice. This plan doesn't pretend to cover all of the needs of all of the country. It does suggest that we should use the resources we have in each region to their highest and best use.

My real interest, though, is that it is a PLAN. It is not political posturing, it is not a speech, it is not a protest, it is a plan that you can read, analyze, put some numbers to, use the parts that are useful and reject the parts that aren't. You can expand upon it.

It beats the hell out of anything either political party is offering.

Why would wind and solar make more sense than nuclear (very clean burning), natural gas and coal (of which the US controls 25% of the world's reserves)? Support for this stuff is based upon receiving billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies (is that what you mean by sacrifice because if so, no thanks, I've already given to the corn ethanol hucksters). And before the global warming folks get up in arms, the guy who brought global warming to the forefront, now says that after years of sending thermostat laced weather baloons into the atmosphere, scientists can locate NO hotspots.
 

hnooe

Beach Fanatic
Jul 21, 2007
3,022
640
My real interest, though, is that it is a PLAN. It is not political posturing, it is not a speech, it is not a protest, it is a plan that you can read, analyze, put some numbers to, use the parts that are useful and reject the parts that aren't. You can expand upon it.

It beats the hell out of anything either political party is offering.

Thanks you for those comments, those are my feelings exactly.

Maybe the private sector can help push (shame) the political bureaucracy into an action plan!
 
Last edited:

Gypsea

Beach Fanatic
Jul 10, 2005
1,497
111
Pittsburgh, PA; Watercolor
The primary wind corridor in the US is in the plains. The US population is mostly clustered on the east and west coast. The cost for the transmission lines is staggering, say nothing of the legal and environmental issues. Wait until you find a woodpecker, lizzard or turtle (or a poor rural community) where you plan to run the lines. That's why Gore's decade plan is such a joke. Don't forget, you still have to rely on fossil fuel buring plants for when the wind dies, those plants are the quickest start-up - otherwise, you can't turn on your AC when the wind farms have some calm days. The US has an alternative energy policy - it's called nuclear. When the cost of fossil fuels is such that political leaders have the political cover to implement the policy, it'll get done.

I drove from LA to Austin, TX this spring and was amazed by the number of wind farms in both California and Texas. The following is from Wikipedia:

Wind power in Texas consists of many [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_farm"]wind farms[/ame] with a total installed capacity of 5,316.65 [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megawatts"]megawatts[/ame] (MW) from over 40 different projects.[1] [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas"]Texas[/ame] produces the most [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States"]wind power[/ame] of any U.S. state, followed by [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California"]California[/ame] with 2,438 MW.[2] Wind energy accounts for 3.3% of all the energy used in the state and is growing, while large portions of wind energy produced in Texas also goes to markets in other states.[3]
 
New posts


Sign Up for SoWal Newsletter