A Scrapbook of the Green World
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Smithsonian Reports Spotted Owl In Danger Again
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A Better Beer Bottle Part 2: One Million Beer Bottles Used...
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A Glimpse of the Future of Green Architecture
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Venice Under Water: Deepest Flood in 22 Years
That pic is dishonest and stupid. How many god damned acres of wind turbines are required to replace that one coal plant? And at what cost? Not to mention wind is extremely intermittent, thus can not be relied on at all and will never be any kind of replacement for coal or a nuke. COMERCIAL WIND POWER IS AN UGLY SUBISIDEIZED SCAM. Grow up.
Whilst I don’t agree with the scam part of Nick’s comment, the photos really do not tell the full story. Having previously lived near a wind farm, sure it was better than near a coal power station, but it wasn’t full of rolling fields of green in which to picnic.
This is an interesting question about wind farm subsidies. I looked into it a little bit and here’s what I found: wind is subsidized, but not as much as the coal, oil, nuclear, and natural gas industries. (http://www.upcwind.com/environment/faqs.cfm)
About the beauty of them, sure, it’s just aesthetics. I live underneath a big mountain wind farm, though, and I’ll tell you what: on a clear day, for me at least, it’s breathtaking.
Yes I agree that it does take more then the few wind farms pictures to replace a coal power plant. But, when you think of the chemical process required to turn coal into energy, and the energy that uses versus the minimal amount that wind farms use. I personally would rather live by a wind farm then a coal plant. The coal dust gets into the air, can seep into your pores, cause skin issues, lung issues and who knows what else, whereas with the wind farm there is NO emission at all!!!!!!!!!!! And for those of you who are still coal this and coal that, guess you would want the Hoover Dam torn down since thats en energy producer, granted not a large scale, but it works. And compare wind farms with nuclear power-when was the last time a wind farm blew up and killed people and caused immense health issues (3 Mile Island, anyone remember that? Or the true story that the movie Erin Brocovich is based on) And I agree with Gaven, I’ve driven by the wind farms in west Texas, and they are beautiful and simplistic. Also to the people who complain that the wind farms are an eyesore, honestly, whats the difference between one of those and a plan old telephone pole? All they really are are windmills that are helping to power the country in a CLEARNER way!!!!!!!
They’re proposing a windmill farm in my town. The opposition is quite vocal and rather large. One of the main arguments is that windmills will ruin the town’s “rural character”. Huh, I never knew that having ATV’s and snowmobiles and dirtbikes wizzing around all the time constituted “rural character”. Ah, and how about that lovely low-income housing and trailer parks that are going up everywhere? Yep, nothing more bucolic than a row of duplexes.
No, I rather think that the windmills with help preserve the rural character because developers are snatching up as much land as they can to build hideous houses and other offensive structures where open fields used to be. The windmills will occupy these spaces and will produce energy at the same time, not just suck energy.
I hope it goes through, Steve. When I look at the windmills outside of our town, it reminds me of human ingenuity at its best. It also feels reassuring that we really are working to come up with better solutions to energy demand than mountaintop removal, tar sands, and coal plants.
ugly has nothing to do with it…it is obvious that coal is deteriorating our ecosystem. Wind will never be able to take over for coal, but it can reduce it a hell of a lot. And no these pictures are not telling the whole truth but it is not that far. Be honest friend, (nick) it makes sens that you would say that, north America combined produces a hell of a lot more Co2 then the EUROPEAN COUNTRIES that are paying for those wind mills to be in North America…grow up.
Don’t forget that excluded from the coal fire power station picture is the COAL MINE.
Open pit coal mines can be HUGE. It should be included with a picture all by itself to the right
‘Nick’says: “Grow up.”
That’s irony.
I do have to love the, it’s not a perfect solution so we shouldn’t even bother trying argument.
Sounds like you’re the one that needs to grow up.
Why don’t you go live near a coal plant then ask your lungs about the cost.
I can’t believe how ignorant Nick from LA is. Wind isn’t very intermittent near the coast, or near mountainous areas. Also, wind power shouldn’t be the sole replacement for current energy sources. It should simply be an important part of the overall solution.
I would like to know actually how nick feels that wind farms are a scam?
hahahhaahhahaaa
you guys are hilair!!!!
ahahhahahahahaha
Haha true jessie
i think these people do feel quite strongly about the subject. as an RSY nic i feel strongly about it too but you know browsing around for my physics case study this site is help full but not doing much for the environment teeeebz
xx
Naomi,
I’m curious to know more of your views.
I didn’t quite understand your meaning and it would be helpful to know. Thanks.
i think all of you like to argue to much
First off you realize that all these carbon emissions make up less than 1/300th of a percent of the air we breathe. and another thing, wind energy is the most inefficient one….so what makes an economy successful? well i’ll tell you one thing, it doesnt happen by putting your financial resources into things that are inefficient
While it’s fun to be optimistic, a cutesy pic is hardly a logical position. What’s missing in the picture? Well, how about the statistics of how many turbines it would take to replace a single plant? How much land would have to be cut and paved to build and service them? How much more land would need to be clear cut to provide the new transmission lines? Most important, how much will all this cost as a comparison to a single coal or nuclear plant and does it really matter if since wind turbines don’t have an effective capacity value, there would still need to be a traditional production plant nearby? There needs to be a reasonable accounting of all the closely related costs & benefits in order to make any sort of sensible case. Unless of course you believe that the costs don’t matter in which case why not build giant solar panels to cover the entire arctic and save us all from global warming at the same time?
It’s awfully telling when a mediator removes comments for which he has no convenient rebuttal.
please disregard last comment, it was meant for a different topic, my apologies.
Well… I looked at the messages asking “Would you rather live by a coal plant?”. I do, as a matter of fact 7 miles. I can see it from one of our hills. It is a very clean site and all that comes out of the stacks is steam. There is a great bass fishing lake they built for cooling the station and is open to the public.
CO2 is not changing the climate, so said 35,000 scientists and the head CNN meteorologist (if you imagine that). It’s a tax scheme to make the UN and Al Gore rich while controlling what you do, what you consume, what you make and what you eat.
Oh by the way, do a better job with photo shop next time.
Screw you I’m from Texas
Ray Wylie Hubbard
I’m doing a paper on wind energy vs. coal energy right now. Personally, I’m a wind energy fan. I drive a diesel car. I use Blackle instead of google. I can’t stand ignorance in people who think they know what’s happening to our environment and voice their opinions about what others say. Factories are eyesores, that’s my opinion. I’d rather see a wind turbine farm than a factory down the street any day. For those people who oppose wind turbines, do me a favor… Do some reasearch on how long fossil fuels are going to last us and the effect it has on our environment then voice your opinion.
Oh, by the way Ray.. I live by Lake Erie and it’s polluted to a point of pure disgust. Why do you think it’s polluted? check out this website and tell me what you think (http://www.great-lakes.net/teach/pollution/water/water5.html)