“They insist that wind turbines are preferable. They do not seem to care about the tens of thousands of birds killed annually by these giant windmills. They are oblivious to the high decible hum that emanantes from these devices. Nor are they willing to admit that the production of enormous steel and aluminum structures requires vast mineral resources and a manufacturing process that destroys the environment in which these monuments to fantasy are created.”
Something else that has always troubled me about wind turbines, etc. There is no free lunch in this world. If you harness one source of energy from the environment, you affect the environment in some way by removing energy from it for other purposes. Let us say that we build giant areas of wind turbines...in what way does the depletion of energy in air movement, to make electricity, in a large area cause an effect on weather? The movement of air, even close to the surface, affects/determines the climate. If we disrupt normal surface air flow, how much do we alter the climate? Is it a good or bad change? If it is a good change in the local area, what change does it cause in a larger area....weather patterns are interconncected.
It may be a miniscle thing to remove energy from air flow....I don’t know. However, has anyone actually considered that it might?
Going to another area....let us say that massive areas of land are covered with photovoltaic (sp?) cells. In other words, sunlight is converted into electricity. That sunlight would have normally affected/determined the climate in that area along with other factors. How does diverting a large amount of solar energy to make electricity affect the climate? Does it cause cooling in that area which then changes adjacent weather patterns? Is the change good or bad? What effect would the slight cooling of Death Valley due to diverting energy delivered to the environment there in sunlight to electricity to be used elsewhere affect things? How will cooling Death Valley affect other weather patterns? There is not free lunch.....disrupt the flow of energy in or out to an area, you disrupt the natural climate which affects larger areas.
I am not knocking alternate energy sources, I’m just asking what effect does harnessing them cause. All things are interconnected. Does releasing the stored energy in the form of oil & gas cause more adverse change to the climate than taking away (diverting) energy delivered to or already in the environment in the form or sunlight or wind?
I don’t know, does anyone? I don’t have any conclusions, just questions. I just assert that a system like weather patterns will be affected by taking away or adding energy to the system. Which is least disruptive?
With a fraction of the effort wasted on unless dirty and deceptively destructive "green' efforts, oil can be used even more efficiently than ever.
Easy as pie.