Posted on 07/25/2008 8:23:14 AM PDT by twistedwrench
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain travelled to Oregon in mid-May to deliver the definitive climate change speech of his campaign. He spoke in Portland, at the U.S. headquarters of Vestas Wind Systems AS, a Danish company that markets wind turbines around the world. He started on a self-deprecating note. “Today is a kind of test run for this company,” he said. “They've got wind technicians here, wind studies and all these wind turbines. But there's no wind. So now I know why they asked me to come and give a speech.”
It was perhaps his most perceptive statement of the day. Five sentences later, Mr. McCain made perhaps his least perceptive. “Wind,” he said, “is a predictable source of energy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
So if I understand correctly, the cost of decommissioning is built into my 12 cents/kw hour bill? If so then I am fine with nukes.
We are just East of the Great Plains. My husband is a sailor. I can vouch for the fact that in summer, we vary from virtually zero wind to thunderstorms with heavy gusts. A clear day with 10-15 mph winds is not that common.
We also have a lot of overcast days, for the solar enthusiasts.
Telling us to Wait Until Eight to use conventional power ignores business and the facts of living everyday life. You cannot put everything off until evening. It isn’t possible.
The entire point of being able to produce and use power at will is to increase productivity and make life a little easier. The alt energy folks could care about such mundane things.
It would add considerable to the cost of the cars charging system because it would require the addition of and inverter to change the battery’s DC voltage back to AC and a control system that the utilities System Control Center could use to put the batteries on the grid.
The computer system to make this possible would be pretty complex because each battery would have to be addressable. The System dispatcher would have to be able to put each battery on-line individually so as to keep the load balanced. The computer would also have to be able to keep track of each car as to were it was plugged in and what the battery’s capacity was from second to second.
It sounds like a great idea on the surface but the devil is in the details. With today’s technology I don’t think it is practical.
bump to a little light on the wind power equation
McCain isn’t pandering to anyone on environmental issues. He’s a true believer.
That is not correct. If additional power is supplied to the grid with additional increase in load, the existing operating generators will provide less power.
“Telling us to Wait Until Eight to use conventional power ignores business and the facts of living everyday life.”
“Wait Until Eight”....what a slogan!....that sounds like a third world country to me....some little backwater where the electric only runs a couple hours at night....hard to believe that it’s come to that in America.
Occupational hazard; I work for an electric utility.
There are a few of these around including TVA's Raccoon Mountain pumped storage hydro facility: Raccoon Mountain
We have a plant like that here in CA, called the Helms project. 2 lakes, one uphill from another, connected by a tunnel through a mountain. During peak load periods, water is released down the tunnel and through turbines. When loads are lower, water is pumped back uphill to the upper lake, using... power from Diablo Canyon!. Funny how when they want RELIABLE power, they turn to the nukes again and again. I suppose that wind power could be used, if enough was out there. They could re-open the Altamont setup (it’s dead because it kills birds) and use the Pacheco Pass wind turbines also.
My guess is he has $15,000 into the system. Giant solar panels and the wind turbines are about a grand each installed. Payback has to stink. Guy just hates the power company. BTW I cannot tell you how many hours he has tinkering with the system - it is large. Guess it is more of a hobby.
Not all of them.
Saw a schlockumentary the other day and the first words were:
"Wind energy is free... ...maintenance is not."
Refreshingly honest and understated.
Stupid remark and irrelevant.
California, 163,700 sq mi
Denmark, Denmark, 16,600 sq mi
Typical transmission losses in CA - 50%
That seems like a pretty low ball figure unless he installed it all 20 years ago.
I would expect a system you describe to take a house off the grid to run around $50 to 75,000 if you do much of the work yourself and around $100,000 if you hire it out.
In areas where there is plentiful wind and water, semiburied large water tanks can be used for pumped storage. Water could be pumped when the wind is blowing, day or night. Since windmills are usually installed on hilltops, all the water storage from an unlimited numers of windmills could be tied together to a common pipe and generators installed near the bottom of the hill, for use during peak demand.
Electricity doesn't care about uphill/downhill.
Please explain your insult.
And the sun will eventually die - question is not if - but when.
Our energy crisis is now.
Idiot congressmen said we can't get oil out of the ground for 10 years -- ten years ago.
They were absolutely right.
If --- and only if --- that homeowner is a long distance from commercial powerlines.
Wind and/or solar with battery backup, power cells and maintenance, is what? a $50k investment and $400 a month maintenance?
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