John Hicks Loc: Sible Hedinham North Essex England

Windmills for power it seems a waste of time to me firstly they are an eyesore if there is not any wind they don't work if there is to much wind they risk being damaged. In the coast here in England We have lots of windmills in the sea when there is not any wind they have a diesel engine in the last to rotate the blades this is because if the blades do not turn for a while you get a flat spot on the blade bearings and this will damage the bearings.
The best solution is wave power the university of Southampton which is on the south coast of England have built a small movable dam a boy two feet tall and it is strung across the estuary of the river Severn which has up to eight feet in difference of high and low tide and this barrier moves with the waves and produces electricity as it moves and as we know the ride is always moving also no expensive maintenance as the is with wind mills

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Yes, there are a lot of petroleum types who now believe that oil/petroleum and natural gas is chemically produced down deep and percolates up.
Coal of course is a different matter.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Synthetic fuel has been made from coal and other fossil fuels, Synthetic motor oil comes from petroleum.

JBruce Loc: Northern MN

I agree 100%. But can you even imagine the uproar from all the invested parties if that idea were presented at a national level?

10MPlayer Loc: California

I worked for a small local utility company for nearly a decade and I have some understanding about how wind farms work. The utility puts out a bid for construction and manages the construction of the plant. It does all the electrical collection and hookup to the grid. In our case the company got a huge tax benefit from the federal government then promptly sold the entire wind farm and contracted to purchase the electricity back from the buyer. The object of the whole transaction was to comply with the state's mandate to have X percent of electricity coming from renewables AND to get the $4 million tax credit. Works out great for everyone excepting the people paying the tax and the people paying twice as much for electricity than they would if they had just built a new gas powered plant, which they had to do anyway to provide energy when the wind doesn't blow. It's all done with the best of intentions but the end result is it's a scam.

Have you seen the latest Michael Moore movie about renewables? I don't agree with the conclusions the movie comes to but Moore does a great job of pointing out how renewables aren't the answer to CO2. I think it's called "Planet of the Humans." Also, look into a guy name Michael Schellenberger if you're interested in the questions surrounding renewables. He's a former promoter of the climate scare and he's changed his views. Needless to say he's made a lot of enemies on the left. https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2020/6/29/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare

scooter1 Loc: Yacolt, Wa.

I read an article on the windmills and it seems the blades are made primarily of fiberglass and cannot be recycled.

Muddyvalley Loc: McMinnville, Oregon

scooter1 Loc: Yacolt, Wa.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I was pretty impressed with the Rance project in France using wave power, which also had an 8’ tidal surge. It had a peak power >250 MW, but the average was 57 MW which according to the site was 0.12% of France’s energy demand - not a very impressive percentage (sadly): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rance_Tidal_Power_Station

krashdragon

I drive a big rig around the country... lots of solar farms.
My question is...
why are they all so low to the ground?
If the panels and supporting equipment were raised by possibly one foot, possibly more, there would be room, light and in many cases water available for growing many types of gourmet vegetables, speciality flowers, or grasses for grazing animals such as goats or sheep.
The panels protect the ground from too much sun, and water collects and then drips off anyway. The land could be rented out by whoever, and it seems to me everyone would benefit.
Pbly a pipe dream, but along with the question of tearing out forests and farmland, instead of recycling older areas that are all but deserted.
Ok, I think too much while I'm driving....

repleo Loc: Boston

Bill_de Loc: US

This might interest you.

FARMING UNDER SOLAR PANELS SAVES WATER AND CREATES ENERGY

https://www.futurity.org/agrivoltaics-farming-solar-panels-2152772/#:~:text=Farming%20crops%20under%20solar%20panels,of%20electricity%20production%2C%20researchers%20report.

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clickety

Irresponsibly misleading headline. That is not “farming”, it is “gardening”. Like many sustainable green ideas, it is not scalable to the size of feasibility.

Abo

CORRECTAMUNDO!!!!!!!!!

Bill_de Loc: US

Did you read the article or just look at the picture?

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