The New York Times today has a story about a possible wind farm in New York. Because of rising gas prices and the high cost of being dependent on the Middle East for energy, we clearly have to develop our own energy here at home. But today's article points out some of the reasons wind hasn't saved us yet, despite the American Wind Energy Association and other advocacy groups' insistence that it's the answer: Industry experts say offshore wind farms are rare in North America because of the difficulty of finding suitable locations, the cost of running transmission lines to shore, and the thicket of environmental regulations. Shipping lanes also need to be considered, as well as a shortage of equipment available to plant turbines in deep water. Nearby residents often object to offshore turbines because of aesthetic concerns, as was the case with the Jones Beach proposal, which also exceeded initial cost estimates.
Does anyone have wind turbines near them? What's it like? And what's wrong with nuclear power? Sure, there have been a couple of disasters, but assuming we can get on top of safety concerns, it seems like that has to be one of the better energys sources, right? MIT thinks so.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 2)
16. White Water California has a large wind farm.
People of Cochella Valley (Palm Springs area) were promised relief on their outrageous power bills as a result from building this farm.
The powers to be "sold" this energy to Nevada and Arizona. To date, no one in the Cochella Valley has seen relief from their promises on their power bill.
The Wind Farms are a great idea in my opinion but again, shouldn't we take care of home before helping others?
Chat at 10:56AM on Sep 25th 2008
17. Chat:
The powers that be can be--and should be--sued for defrauding the public. In California, this is a particularly unsavory (and unwise) act because they have 'Initiative Act' there. The people of the Cochella Valley could easily get a bill passed that would make them the primary recipient of any power produced from a source originating within their boundaries. From a dollars and sense perspective, utility companies would rather give the wind farm to them then see such a law passed.
This whole situation is indicative of one ofthe many problems in America today. The whole theory of distribution--from food to power and other goods--needs to be scrapped in favor of a more regionalized system. IN the case of power distribhution, it would solve two problems: A) We would never suffer a blackout over the entire eastern seaboard like we have, B) People would be able to benefit directly from their initiatives thus encouraging more windfarms, etc.
Keith J. Mohrhoff at 8:05AM on Sep 26th 2008
18. A Problem with Wind Turbines
In the West we have a number of large turbine arrays but one of the problems that no one seems to talk about is that the power companies are required to hold conventional power sources in reserve to cover for times when the turbines aren't at capacity (which is fairly often). One of the advantages of more conventional power sources is reliability and peak demand response.
Pliny-the-in-Between at 8:37AM on Sep 26th 2008