Wind Turbines.

[frank rabbets]

Does the power from one turbine add up to enough to make a new turbine? If not we are still robbing the planet of power. Love to know the answer.

 

[flint]

With newer turbines it seems as though it does, but there are lots of variables involved, siting, reliability etc.. The term used is EROI which is the energy returned for the energy invested.

 

[Shayne]

Sure , one every hundred years . Trouble is if you sail past them often you will notice that they must plant 50 in the hope one will actually turn in anything less than a force 9 gale . Ironically while pushing against the tide in the same general area my boats fuel bill might double .

Sink the bloody things and we wouldn't need solid fuel power stations at all .

 

[Towpack]

There is (or used to be) an underwater 1.2 Mw tidal power generator in the narrows of Strangford Lough in NI which generated power 18-20 hours a day. Apparently it's been decommisioned for some reason but harnessing the huge power of the tides is a much better option than wind turbines IMO. They are probably not without some form of enviromental impact but they're practically invisible and tides are reliable, unlike the wind!

 

[chapel gate]

there are three privately owned 50 kw turbines clumped together near us. each owned by a different farm. they are very polluting, visually.
quite noisy close up too.
with the recent high pressure they didnt turn at all for over a week.
there is one that has twice broke one of its blades, i bet there is a hell of a force put on them when the automatic brake is engaged when its too windy. its out of action at the moment, looks like they are replacing all the blades.

little lad likes them though..

 

[Shayne]

Bay of Fundy turbine looks good but doing a little reading about harnessing the tide i'm set to wonder if scientists are unaware that the tide is everywhere and it doesn't need to be in sight of any beach ?
Whack it in the path of the Gulf Stream and it will never stop turning .

I can only imagine the principal which is as old as electricity itself is denied because it is an endgame investment with solid maths to back it up , hence it would mark an end to billions of speculative investment in justifiable nonsense .

 

[chapel gate]

wont there be a big pile of part processed fish on the other side of that thing?

 

[Shayne]

Did you ever see a fish chopped up by a propeller - me neither , same as birds don't crash into windfarms that shouldn't be there .

 

[chapel gate]

Did you ever see a fish chopped up by a propeller - me neither , same as birds don't crash into windfarms that shouldn't be there .

no idea.

i couldnt live much further from the coast.

 

[Shayne]

Well if you think about it the turbine does not alter the ebb and flow or current so for fish it would be exactly the same as us walking around an open manhole , they probably utter something along the lines of "bloody council" as well

 

[chapel gate]

wondering myself, with a quick search, cost seems to be one of the main reasons tidal power isnt more widespread.

 

[Shayne]

Constraint Payments for Wind Turbines: A wind farce which must be brought to an end. Analysis by WEA and REF – Winds Of Justice

www.windsofjustice.org.uk

 

[IRLGW]

Bay of Fundy turbine looks good but doing a little reading about harnessing the tide i'm set to wonder if scientists are unaware that the tide is everywhere and it doesn't need to be in sight of any beach ?
Whack it in the path of the Gulf Stream and it will never stop turning .

View attachment 170526

I can only imagine the principal which is as old as electricity itself is denied because it is an endgame investment with solid maths to back it up , hence it would mark an end to billions of speculative investment in justifiable nonsense .

Ummmm I can't say too much but I designed parts of that turbine....what I will say though is true for many large scale renewable infrastructure projects is that they are neither cost effective nor carbon neutral for their expected life span. Quite often huge wind turbines have to be fed power to keep them turning below a certain wind velocity, otherwise it would take a hurricane to get them started again. Quite often the arrays are coupled together and all sorts of power conversions are required to get the juice ashore. Wind is better developed than ocean but the torque available in Ocean is awesome. I think there has been a huge tidal barrage off the coast of Brittany for many many years. Built into an old Nazi Submarine base iirc

 

[Shayne]

Obviously i'm being blase about it but surely its just a big dynamo so what if you converted a Mississippi paddle wheel boat anchored it in tide and ran a cable ashore to a transformer ?

 

[Grimbo]

Wind Turbines.....

Often placed on the top of inaccessible hills and mountains so require huge infrastructure in the form of miles of tarmac roads and huge concrete bases that are all put in place by diesel driven plant... using huge amounts of materials that are transported many miles by diesel driven trucks , after being mined and processed by diesel driven plant .

This is before you look at the amount of carbon produced during the manufacture of and transport too the site and erecting of said turbine by again diesel driven trucks and plant .

Also the power cables to connect the new turbine farm are dug into often environmentally sensitive areas again using diesel powered plant .

Then you find the turbine blades have a "life" and are in fact not recyclable and are replaced and transported by diesel powered vehicles before being taken away and the old blades buried in landfill by diesel powered plant

And then the turbine is not producing power 24/7 and is often turned off or simply hasn't enough wind to work .

Yet these wind turbines are environmentally friendly and "carbon neutral" ?

I wish the so called experts who do the calculations for the sustainability of wind turbines did my accounts.....

And this is before you take into account the blight on the landscape and seascape that until these monsters were put on the top of mountains or off the coast had remained the same skyline for 1000's of years ....

A bit like the call for "rewilding" and extensification of farming so land produces less food from an ever decreasing amount of available land to feed and ever increasing population...... the sums don't add up .

 

[chapel gate]

Constraint Payments for Wind Turbines: A wind farce which must be brought to an end. Analysis by WEA and REF – Winds Of Justice

www.windsofjustice.org.uk

you dont have to convince me. i cant stand the things. ruining "remote" areas of the countryside more often than not.

 

[chapel gate]

 

[Grimbo]

View attachment 170529

A picture Greta and Co would rather not be seen .....
I don't deny climate change ....as humans we have truly ruined our home but the rush to an all electric based world is short sighted at best .
Corruption and illegal logging , palm oil production , and treating our oceans as rubbish tips has far more impact on our planet than private vehicles .....

Anyone preaching and demanding that we stop climate change should have to agree that they will lead the way by being sterilised and never having children because the biggest threat to this planet is from an ever increasing population.... and if they're not willing to do that then they have no credibility . ;-)

 

[chapel gate]

i agree.

the whole wind thing was a knee jerk reaction.

thing is. governments, big business, we as individuals. can all spin, preach, kid and convince ourselves and others that we are doing something about it, but we cant bull shit the planet.

 

[frank rabbets]

I'm sure we never get something for nothing. Altering the wind with turbines and altering the tides may affect the planet in a way we have not thought of.