You've heard of "performance art"? This is Non-performance art!
Why am I bringing this up again, you ask? It's in the news, baby! Barack Obama is using windbag power to inflate expectations of what wind power will do for the country. Photo op aside, the efficiency and drawbacks of wind power make it unrealistic to save our economy or our ecology. It takes energy to manufacture all those windmills sitting idle, like oil derricks on the crest of the hills. As an old friend of mine was fond of saying:
There's nothing free in Waikiki!
President-elect Barack Obama will call for action to stimulate the economy at an Ohio company that manufactures very large bolts for wind turbine towers, according to announcements by the President-elect's team and information received by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The company, Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., Inc., is based in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and the visit will take place Friday, January 16, as the President-elect travels from Illinois to Washington, D.C., for his Inauguration.
"We are very excited by the selection," said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. "On that factory floor in Ohio, President-elect Obama will see first-hand how renewable energy creates American manufacturing jobs and helps revitalize our economy.
Bedford Heights is very close to where I lived for the last three years. And windmills are what I have been driving by for the last three or four days...windmills that are not turning at all!
When you listen to what Obama says about "stimulating the economy", I want you to remember those hundreds and thousands of windmills sitting in the Altamont Pass producing zero electricity at the moment. There is a place for wind energy as part of the nation's total energy package, but it's by no means the largest part and it's by no means cheap!
Cross Posted at Say Anything
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I see your point, but it's not the wind generators which are useless, but the consultant who decided to install them in an area with insufficient wind. There are plenty of areas in the United States where wind power WILL pay for itself in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, it supports US industry, keeping workers employed.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the money which is being showered on banks these days: what productivity increase can be attributed to the now $ 700 billion which has been released to the banking sector? Will we see some more fat, Wall Street gluttons employed because of this? That money is not being lent out as intended. Credit card companies are still raising their interest rates, so consumers got screwed anyway.
I just regret that the first $ 700 billion bailout did not go towards renewable energy.
In conclusion, it's not a bad technology to spend money on as long as it is APPLIED correctly.
Dennis Meizys
Maryland Green Power Co.
Disclaimer: Yes, if you visit my website you will notice that I do market some technologies which will get a big Federal boost from Obama's spending, so you'll find it hard to believe that my opinion is not biased, but maybe I just chose to sell something that I believe in, something that is effective.
Please put up an RSS feed link so that we can subscribe to your blog.
ReplyDelete"an area with insufficient wind"
ReplyDeleteActually, Dennis, the Altamont is quite windy on a seasonal basis.
In the summer, when air in the central valley of California heats up and rises, wind from the coast rushes in to fill the void.
Even if that makes them cost effective overall, (which, to my mind there's a question) they clearly cannot provide a constant source of year round power. So, to the extent that whatever percentage of the power grid they make up, there has to be at least that much back up capacity.
The initially windmills built in the Altamont were heavily subsidized with tax credits.
Where wind power makes sense, it should be pursued. But, wind power needs to be backed up. And there are costs involved in that, too. Not only is there no "pie in the sky", there's not a lot of pie in the breeze blowing by!