Posted on 11/27/2018 3:07:03 AM PST by dennisw
In Wisconsin, a wind turbine farm is being decommissioned and disassembled after only 20 years of operation. It turns out that this is typical. My colleague Isaac Orr explains at Center of the American Experiments web site:
Whats really surprising about these wind turbines being decommissioned after 20 years is the fact that people were surprised by it. Youd be astonished at how many people I talk to have no idea that wind turbines only last for 20 years, maybe 25. In fact, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says the useful life of a wind turbine is only 20 years.
This is the point: the federal government produces figures on the levelized cost of energy, comparing coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar and so on. Most people naively assume that the governments numbers are authoritative. In fact, as usual when it comes to energy, the governments thumb is firmly on the scale in favor of crony energy that funds politicians:
The short usable lifespan of a wind turbine is one of the most important, but least-talked about subjects in energy policy.
In contrast to wind, coal, natural gas, and nuclear plants can run for a very long time. Coal and natural gas plants can easily run for 50 years, and nuclear plants can be updated and retrofitted to run for 60 years.
“Because they didnt buy the maintenance plan for $69.95.”
Right. Then they could have just returned it and got a new one, no questions asked.
Went twice. We just walked the 110 mile trek. Had burros for one segment.
Wind is forever.
And it is free
It is because the engine that powers and turns the windmill blades can only last so long. Maybe if they actually let the wind turn the blades they would last longer.
But there is no money in long lasting windmills. Replacing them requires production and installation and as such generates more revenue from government funds.
but they look so nice!!!
>> With time and wear the bearings work past the race and it cuts the grease seal spewing grease over a large area. As I understand it these wind turbines are all foreign made and come with no manufacturer warranty of any kind.<<
Also, from what I hear, some of the contracts and laws governing windmills have no provisions that require the energy companies to remove them when they’re no longer operative.
Then, even more so!
“why isnt the story of the slaughter of birds being told?...” Dr. Ursus, post 12]
“The new towers will be improved Cuisinarts.
It slices and dices more birds then ever.” [minnesota_bound, post 76]
Bird strikes on wind-turbine blades are so numerous that some endangered species are experiencing renewed problems. Especially predator species: eagles, hawks, falcons etc. The killing is so high in some areas that someone coined the term “bird Cuisinarts”, as the second poster picked up on.
Bad as this sounds, there may be worse problems ahead for wildlife, agriculture, and everyone dependent on agriculture - which happens to be everyone in the country.
Bats send out sound pulses to locate prey, and to find their way around - around their home area, and when they migrate (some species do). Wildlife researchers are just beginning to understand the role of bats in fertilization of plants, but it has proven to be greater than anyone previously suspected: bats may be of importance to agriculture on a level approaching bees. Relationships are still being explored. Much is known about bat predation on insect populations, but much remains to be clarified there also.
Rotating wind turbines throw back “bat sonar” pulses but they remodulate them, altering the sound characteristics so greatly that it interferes with the ability of bats to catch prey, and - possibly worse - confuses their navigation, especially when migrating. Any rotating object hit by bat sonar causes remodulation, but wind turbines are much larger than any other moving object bats encounter. And turbine farms, where dozens and hundreds of generators are spread over large swaths of territory, can only make problems worse: confusing bats, and interfering with their abilities to catch insects across very large portions of our productive farmland, is not a smart idea.
Radar uses electromagnetic energy (a radio wave) that echoes from an object to locate targets and assist navigation of ships and aircraft, very much like bats employ sonic energy. Remodulation of a transmitted signal by whirling or spinning blades has long been studied by radar system designers. Spinning propellers on fixed-wing aircraft, helicopter rotors, even the front face of the turbines in jet engines, all throw back the radar beam remodulated in a very specific fashion, and this remodulation has been characterized to permit identification of the targeted aircraft, by the remodulation pattern.
Bats, however, have no knowledge of the wind turbines their sonar hits, and cannot perform research to help them reorient, navigate, and hunt better. Crop yields may suffer.
We drove along the Snake River in Idaho seeing all the turbines strewn across every ridge marring the view. My wife, not at all a fan of any tree huggers, remarked it will be a mess one day when the big blades are in tatters just hanging down.
In Puerto Rico , Hurricane Maria compressed the life cycle load on the wind farm from years into a few hours. See the video of a wind farm stressed out here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAv-ocWnCZo
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.