“Well we don’t get wind power from pin-wheels. We get it from thousands of huge, industrial grade wind turbines, which, for the dim bulbs on the left, are machines.”
Machines are great and wonderful things. I think conservatives need to be just a-okay with wind from an environmental view (the economics are another thing).
I am all for letting the liberals be the NIMBYs on wind and for conservatives to be the problem-solvers.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who touted the fact that Texas leads the nation in install wind power capacity, notes that, after a few generations, we’ll have smarter birds. ;-) And I think its hilarious that the liberals in Cape Cod stopped wind, and now - hey wait a sec - a conservative Texas *oil man* is getting big Govt subsidies for doing something “green”... Huh?!? Only Al Gore was supposed to be in on that scam!!
The scam part is not the technology - it works - or the environmental impact - yeah, its probably noisy, but its noisy in the flat plains where few people live. The scam part is how we have to fund ‘alternative’ and ‘renewable’ energy to the tune of billions via taxpayer money. If it really works, let the free market carry it forward.
Despite its downsides, wind is not too bad and it only proves a conservative point that ANY REAL TECHNOLOGY will have pros and cons. Solar? Chews up a lot of land, expensive, and PV cell production uses lots of icky chemicals. And technology to power 290 million AMerican lifestyles will have steel, electric towers, large-scale plants and run by corporations. Meanwhile the nuclear power the libs love to hate is the #1 worlds source of CO2 emissions free power - safe, reliable, environmentally friendly. Slap a Green Sticker on all those nukes! Build 400 nuclear power plants and say good bye to global warming and hello to energy independence.
They are noisy. Really! Go find one and get out of the car to stand next to it, you’d be surprised.
“Solar? Chews up a lot of land, expensive, and PV cell production uses lots of icky chemicals”
not really
about 1/2 of one house roof produces 100% of the kWh
10 W / SF ; 1 MW = 100,000 SF = 1800 MWh / yr in CA
PV is SILCON mostly, with Aluminum and Boron dopants- all NON toxic chemicals, along with glass and aluminum
the ONLY argument against solar is “its too expensive” - and it IS expensive- but it DOES work ANYWHERE (except AK in the wintertime)
Wind Power does only work large scale- but is cheap , and who cares about the stupid birds?
Nukes are ESSENTIAL ASAP for 24 hr power - Boone P is right - natural gas should NOT be used for electric prod.
Hydrogen is a good renewable fuel that noone is talking about, can be mixed into gasoline, biofuels, nat gas and others at stoichiometric ratios- that is coming down the pike soon with gas @ 4$
We need to :
(1) DRILL DRILL DRILL our own resources
(2) BUILD NUKES NOW at least 100 new plants
(3) switch to hythane (hydrogen - natural gas)combustion / electric hybrid vehicles over the next 25 years
(4) start to convert to liquid H2 for airplanes
(5) incentivize PV with a SREC program like New Jersey , where you get ca$h for your clean energy, that the utilities must purchase to do business in the state
(6) put wind in where it makes sense and improve transmission lines to support the sparse areas
(7) increase energy efficiency and power quality - without FORCING ANYONE TO switch to those stupid CFs
(8) persue ANY other energy technology that makes sense
(9) ELIMINATE EtOH and other STUPID programs
and
TELL THE DEMOCRATS TO SHUT THE H*LL UP AND GO AWAY