Posted on 03/19/2012 11:11:16 AM PDT by NevadaPolicyResearchInstitute
From the Reno Gazette-Journal:
Nearly two years after Reno started installing energy-producing windmills at city facilities from downtown to Stead, some have proven to be better at generating electricity than others despite claims made by manufacturers.The city’s seven windmills have so far saved Reno $2,785 in energy costs after generating 25,319 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The windmills were installed between April and October 2010 and cost about $1 million out of a $2.1 million federal energy grant given to the city that was part of the stimulus package approved by Congress in February 2009.
That’s according to data available on Reno’s new “open government” website that tracks the amount of power each windmill generates and the average wind speed from each day.At this rate, the windmills will have paid for themselves by the year ... 2551. But not to worry, these windmills are winning Reno awards and national recognition.
(Excerpt) Read more at writeonnevada.com ...
What we need is some sort of liquid substance that has very concentrated energy stored in the form of chemical bonds. Perhaps this miracle liquid could be oxidized in some kind of machines to produce the electrical energy we need. Where will we find such a liquid?
I am sure it makes perfect sense to government. Just as the program to pay windfarms not to produce electricity.
lol
//sarcasm
I used to live in Reno and I would be more worried about the two to three times a year when the winds hit over 60 miles per hour.
Just 360 more years like this - and that baby will be paid off!!
Oh hey....that’s only another $997,215 million of wasted taxpayer dollars.
No biggie.
There’s plenty more where that came from.
Oh wait.....
Oh hey....that’s only another $997,215 thousand of wasted taxpayer dollars.
No biggie.
There’s plenty more where that came from.
Oh wait.....
They can write those savings off when maintenance expenses kick in. Give it awhile, and Reno will be returning to Washington with their hands out. If wind and solar energy are the best replacement for carbon energy, it’s time to extricate ourselves out of this alternative fantasy, and get back to exploiting our plentiful energy resources, coal, natural gas, oil, shale, deep wells, and off shore drilling. We will progress to new energies and future technologies by utilizing the best energy resources we have have now.
Bump
I went to a seminar on PV solar engineering at NV Energy's HQ a couple years ago put on by an engineer in the PV field. Brilliant guy. On a tour of the grounds he was asked about the wind generator on their grounds. He is a very diplomatic gentleman so he didn't say much except (to paraphrase), "I doubt if it even produces enough power to offset the cost of the energy used by the transformer hooked to it."
Energy sources that use more than they generate can indeed be called alternative, as in an alternative to something that actually works.
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