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Posted on 06/30/2008 1:59:21 AM PDT by saganite
Wind farms are springing up in Midwestern fields, along Appalachian ridgelines, and even in Texas backyards. They're everywhere, it seems, except in the windy coastal waters that lap at some of America's largest, most power-hungry cities. That's partly because the first large-scale effort to harness sea breezes in the U.S. hit resistance from an army led by the rich and famous, waging a not-on-my-beach campaign. For almost eight years the critics have stalled the project, called Cape Wind, which aims to place 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound about five miles south of Cape Cod. Yet surprisingly, Cape Wind has largely defeated the big guns. In a few months it may get authorization to begin construction. Meanwhile, a string of other offshore wind projects is starting up on the Eastern Seaboard, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Great Lakes.
Much of the credit—or blame—for this activity goes to Jim Gordon, the man who launched Cape Wind in 2000. His goal is to provide up to 75% of the electric power on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard by tapping the region's primary renewable resource: strong and steady offshore breezes. He has methodically responded to every objection from Cape Cod property owners and sometime-vacationers, ranging from heiress Bunny Mellon and billionaire Bill Koch to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "This is like trying to put a wind farm in Yellowstone National Park, as far as we're concerned," says Glenn Wattley, CEO of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the opposition's lobbying arm.
Since 2000, Cape Wind's Gordon has burned through $30million of his own wealth, much of it to pay for studies. The result is a four-foot-high stack of environmental reports, including three federal applications looking at the wind farm's potential impact
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
And don’t forget the kangaroo rat who just might be shown to be amphibious. You never know.
LOL! Looks like you’re writing with a broken pencil.
how breathtaking they are. I LOVE them
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I totally agree! When we’re heading out east on the Turnpike, they seem majestic and I cannot help but think each and every time I pass them why there are not more.
Unsightly? Not nearly as unsightly as when I am floating on my boat in the now-clean waters of the Mon and see the ugly gurgle-puff of yellow sulfer belched out of the towers at the Hatfield Power Plant.
Hatfield PA? Near Telford, Souderton, Perkasie?
There’s a power plant there now?
News to me. I lived there for a year (seemed like longer, but that’s another story).
“I was VERY unhappy to see these tall “bird cuisinarts” overshadowing the majesty and beauty of the mountains. The Rockies are a true natural wonder, and to be upstaged by such a trite and shallow work of man is tragic.”
IRCC, the Rockies stretch for approx. 1500 miles in the USA. Surely there’s places with an unspoiled view.
Are you against oil rigs too?
With all of the hot air emanating from Washington DC, we could solve all of our problems if we could just harness it.
Where did you see them? The only windmill farms I know of are on the plains to the east.
No, the plant is down on the Monongahela River almost on the West Virginia border near a little town called Pt. Marion.
Wind is mostly a waste of money and will have no real positive environmental impact and do little to reduce the cost of electricity. For every 10 megawatts of wind power we construct we have to build an additional 8 megawatts of coal/natural gas/nuclear/oil power generation as a back up. This back up power has to run all the time since wind power is intermittent - even if the wind is blowing that day and we’re getting close to 100% wind production the back up has to be running and polluting whether it’s plugged into the grid or not.
Indeed. It's similar to the way many people view oil wells. To me, they are beautiful, especially at night. To others they are an eyesore. It's unfortunate though, that luddites have as much pull as they do in this country.
The folks in the business call it "spinning reserve". It represents the power plants that must stay on line to be ready to fill in when the wind speed drops. It takes most power plants about 8 hours to come up to speed, but the wind can die down much quicker...so the keep some power plants running on standby at all times.
The power of a windmill is directly proportional to the windspeed cubed (to the third power). So if the wind goes down from 8m/s to 5m/s (a 38% drop in windspeed) the power goes down by 76%.
Oil wells and fire stacks remind me of Gideon Prime from DUNE.
Which is appropriate for Elizabeth New Jersey.
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
Wind power is the great lie, the great hoax. Wind produces power but the cost is not competitive. The windees don't have a good handle on maintenance and the costs. The project figures as accurate as global warming projections.
Wind is a true alternative on a desert island or in a country with no other power resources.
One more thing.....Business Weak is a leftist propaganda organ, business for socialists
Of course you never have to buy more wind.
They're working on that:
How about in a state where electricity is generated with oil fired boilers?
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