Replies

Thanks. I will see if I can find it on line. However, these surveys are usually conducted by and for the wind industry. That said, what would you expect a xx (fill in your favorite New England state) Liberal who voted for Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, and Kerry to say when asked if they are pro-wind? Like most liberals, they are ill-informed on the subject and permit their emotions to decide for them - in this case they wouldn't be caught dead saying they oppose alternative energy sources.

I have seen these polls and, equally important, have read the counters to them (of course the opposition surveys are never picked up by anything but the very local media).

The wind companies go to local public hearings with these bogus surveys (along with the ones that claim increases in property valuations within the viewsheds)and the small townsfolk look at each other and wonder why they don't feel that way. The anti-wind crowd is politely told that they are selfishly trying to protect their own backyard and that they are standing in the way of progress - nothing could be further from the truth.

Wind is simply too unreliable (averaging output at 30-35% capacity) - it is hard to justify placing these massive towers on our New England ridgelines. The gain is simply not there.

You are correct, there are places where wind power makes sense. And N. Dakota is one such place where land is not productive but the wind sure does blow. Even if we turned N. Dakota into a huge wind electricity plant for the US, it is far too remote. Cost of electricity distribution would be prohibitive.

Wind is simply too unreliable (averaging output at 30-35% capacity) - it is hard to justify placing these massive towers on our New England ridgelines. The gain is simply not there.

This is a very frustrating statement for me to keep hearing. I know what you mean but this statement is saying something else. To say unreliable you are saying that the turbines are in disrepair all the time. I know you know this is not the case.

When to comes to their worth, that is a measure of the value of the electricity vs the cost. Even if they had a capacity factor of 10 percent, if the cost of that power was very small, then the value is there. Today windpower is wholesaled at about 3.2 cents per kwhr which is quite competitive. Yes, it gets the PTC which is 1.8 cents. It is expected that in 5 years the PTC will no longer be needed.

You are right about the cost of distribution. That statistic about N. Dakota, Nebraska and Texas is only quoted too show how much energy we are talking with windmills vs the amount of energy used in the USA. After all the hurricanes we've seen this year, we can see that it would never make sense to put windmills in Florida.