CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

If we could harness tidal energy, we could solve the environmental destruction of the Mojave and other areas. Let the moon and the ocean solve our energy problems.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

Just to clarify my intent - no matter what system is used , wind or sun, there is going to be a major footprint in the environment for the centralized generation and distribution of power.

My dream is that with the newer technologies becoming increasingly less costly, decentralized power generation, down even to the individual dwelling or structure, is the way to go. More efficient use of electricity in the home or business, higher capacity and life for small scale electrical generation and energy storage, will ultimately lead to decentralized power installations being the method of choice.

There is a huge cost in building, maintaining and operating these huge distributed power systems. On-site generation and storage makes much better sense from a use of financial resources.

Stan

clickety

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CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

Centralized systems are also more vulnerable to environmental disasters, hostile attack, and accident, with potentially devastating effect.

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

Stan, I agree 200 percent.

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

And such a simple original post! Must be wind hornets about. :-)
Having seen and photographed both your subjects, I hope you get to explore the wind turbines and share some shots with us.
Contributing to the tangents. Blades are often shipped to a port nearby, then hauled on semis. Man, is a wind turbine blade ever BIG!

clickety

Those are some really large numbers that you cited. May I ask what are the sources of that information?

I feel that PITA is a very selective, self serving and agenda driven group which is becoming more radical and political all the time and it's not beneficial or expedient for them to worry about hypocrisy.

tschuler

As someone who works several days a year working at EAFB, calm mornings and windy drives back to Palmdale in the afternoon are the norm in the high desert.

Toby

Interesting stat. Locally they fought to install a couple of windmills and finally agreed to try it out with frequent inspections as to the number of birds killed. The last newspaper article I read indicated that there were very few (or none, can't remember) killed. Remember these are not fans like you have in your house. Rotation is relatively slow. I should think birds could avoid them. Must expect some losses,however, remember the Darwin Theory.
A lot of arguements for and against windmills, solar and nuclear. Not sure how many are based on facts. We need to get away from coal.
Degrading the scenery is a real problem. Maybe we should use wind energy until a better one comes along.

jjanovy Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

I know it's out of the way, but I'm completely convinced that the best place to take photos of wind turbines, especially in a sort of narrative way combined with oil pumping units and sometimes active derricks, is between Okarche and El Reno, Oklahoma. Drive south from Okarche on US 81; the big problem will be finding a place to pull off and set up your camera.

10MPlayer Loc: California

One big nuclear power plant sitting on about 600 acres could generate as much power, every day, 24 hours a day, whether the wind blows or not. I'm not sold on wind farms. I don't believe they would exist if not for federal government tax incentives.

Regarding Toby's post above about bird strikes. I worked for a power company before I retired. We had a California golden eagle kill at one of our windfarms in Solano county about 4 years ago. It happens. That event caused a big stink with the state and federal regulators.

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Retina Loc: Near Charleston,SC

Since some cameras can detect the degree of smiles in portrait subjects, maybe there will be an auto-delete-windmills function in firmware before very long. Seriously, about the original post, would wind matter on still shots? Surely there would be some interesting shooting possibilities without fan blade movement.

tinwhistle

South Central Wisconsin is the home to a large number of Turbines. By the time you figure in the total cost of operation, including leasing the land from the local farmer, contracting a snow plow in the winter, regular inspection and mandatory maintenance there simply isn't enough power to make it pay. That's when we, the tax payer, come in; it's called subsidies. My photography buddy thinks wind turbines and the power they produce is the best thing since sliced bread. I think they are nothing but rural pollution. Ruin everything in site for miles around.

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

Good grief. It was meant to be a tongue in cheek comment meant to make people think. I didn't mean to steal the thread :).

All too often what man intends as a good intention, later turns into an environmental tragedy. My comment regarding wind turbines slowing the rotation of the earth was only meant to bring this fact to the forefront. I've seen facebook videos suggesting that the wind turbines were fans creating wind (absolutely hilarious). Unforeseen consequences of man's intervention, however well intentioned, are well documented. I've only pointed out the potentiality of wind turbines being in the same genre.

Forgive me OP for hijacking this thread and for my warped sense of humor.

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

I live in Michigan. We have far more hydro electric dams on rivers large and small that have been taken out of service decades ago in favor of coal fired and nuclear power generation. In my neck of the woods, there are still two hydro electric generators of electricity that are environmentally friendly (their effects on the environment were felt generations ago) and efficient (otherwise they would have been decommissioned decades ago).

There are also "politically correct" solar panel generators at universities and other sites that indeed take up acres of land that previously was agricultural. Wise land use? You be the judge. Unless we all agree to go back to whale oil lamps (which predicated the refining of crude oil as a replacement) or candles, we are dependent upon our local power suppliers to provide us with electricity in what ever manner they see as fit, whether it be generated by nuclear power, gas fired, coal fired, hydroelectric, wind or solar (all of which are in play in my state an hours within driving distance).

Again, sorry to hijack the tread with my tongue in cheek comment. It did, however; generate the thought provoking commentary that it was intended to.