Blowin' In The Wind: Bloomberg's Green Energy Plan (Windmills On NYC Bridges & Skyscrapers)

CBS News ^ | Aug 20, 2008 | Magee Hickey

[thefactor]

well, yesterday i would have said this was a stupid idea. but since then, bloomy agreed to give us a 17% raise.

so he can pretty much do whatever he wants. i'll even vote for him for governor.

[Hat-Trick]

This clown could light up Long Island with just the wind coming out of his soup cooler speaking about "illegal guns".

Wouldn't surprise me at some point if the RNC will want to run him for POTUS.

[OESY]

A NEW YORK POST EXCLUSIVE FOLLOW-UP ON THE FOUL-UP:

WINDY SPIRIT OF ‘76: E. VILLAGE ‘POWER’ HIPPIES BEAT BLOOMY BY 32 YEARS

By JEREMY OLSHAN and MARCIE YOUNG

A group of 1970s hippie radicals was way ahead of Mayor Bloomberg when it comes to windmills - they actually installed one on their East Village rooftop.

In 1976, a band of architects, community activists and volunteers - some of whom had to be plied with beer, one activist recalls - managed to equip a five-story apartment building at 519 E. 11th St. with solar panels and a 40-foot windmill....

TILTING: With Con Ed's plant in the background,
a member of the East Village co-op climbs
the building's electricity-generating windmill.

As for the 11th Street windmill, it stopped working in 1985. Some recall it was because of damage sustained during Hurricane Gloria, but others contend an angry neighbor shot at the turbine with a rifle.

Fitzroy Barnes, who moved into the co-op in 1976 and was its president for several years, blamed lack of maintenance.

“At first you couldn't really tell it was spinning,” said Barnes, who lived on the fifth floor just below the windmill. “But after a while the whole building started shaking. You could feel the vibrations throughout the building.”

Neighbor Carolyn Curran, who moved in around 1986, said she supports Bloomberg’s idea and hopes windmills could operate once more above the building.

Although the solar panels continued to heat the apartment's water even after the windmill stopped working, the weight of the scaffolding and equipment began to damage the structural integrity of the building and last year everything had to be taken down, she said.

“There were cracks in the bricks,” she said. “It was really causing a danger.”


But, there were more cracks in Don Quixote Bloomberg's logic than in the bricks that will fall on pedestrians. Could this be because he wants to divert attention from all of his falling cranes?

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[OESY]

GONE WITH THE WIND: URBAN TURBINES ARE ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ (The Sequel)

By CHUCK BENNETT and JEREMY OLSHAN
August 23, 2008

Mayor Bloomberg’s idea to mount windmills atop city buildings and bridges is blowing nowhere fast - in fact, not even windmill manufacturers think it could work.

Large turbines would put too much strain on skyscrapers or bridges, and small ones wouldn't generate enough electricity to be worth the expense, according to Siemens AG, one of the world's largest makers of wind turbines.

“It is not feasible,” Gerda Gottschick, a spokeswoman for the German firm, told The Post.

“The additional loads imposed by wind turbines of any significant size will typically exceed what existing building structures have been designed for.”

Bloomberg contends the city's future energy woes could be addressed with the windmill. This week, the city asked the alternative-energy industry to offer ideas for providing wind, solar and water power.

But in Manhattan, only small turbines can be used and, according to Gottschick, the industry is trying to go in exactly the opposite direction.

“We are thinking of big turbines, not smaller ones,” she said.

There is also the windmill-chill factor, she said. When turbines were put above skyscrapers in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain, they generated more complaints than kilowatts.

“People were complaining they were too loud when they turned,” she said. “They are out of order now.”

Although Bloomberg still strongly advocates pursuing various forms of alternative energy, including wind and solar power, he has since backed off his quixotic suggestions.

“Windmills are not a solution, they are another thing that can help,” he said on his WOR radio show yesterday. “They aren't the cheapest thing in the world.”...

COMMENT: The sad fact of Liberalism is left-wing politicians repeatedly engage their mouths before their brains—leaving us with costly programs that don't work. Bloomberg is only the latest example. Obama’s pick of Biden promises more of the same.

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[presidio9]

If I remember correctly, the original Freedom Tower design had windmills on the roof.