[va-richmond-general] Re: Highland County
- From: "Jim Blowers" <jimvb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 23:42:37 -0400
Thanks for the information, Chris. I just did some figuring. The US has
3.7 million square miles and consumes 105 quadrillion btu of energy each
year with its power grid. That is 3510 gigawatt-years per year or 3510
gigawatts. Each 400-foot tower generates 2 megawatts. This means that if
all our electricity was from wind, we would need 1.7 million towers, or
one each 2 square miles. They may seem ugly, but so are aerial power
lines and cell phone towers - could cell phone companies use wind
turbines for their transmitters? And not all our energy is going to come
from wind, anyway. But 2 square miles is about the size of a large
development - how about a law requiring that each new development of a
certain size build a wind turbine to provide electricity for it? That
would stop developments dead in their tracks and preserve a lot of bird
habitats!
You say energy requirements are going to grow, but they can't grow
beyond a certain limit. We would eventually run out, even if all of our
energy sources were renewable. Corporations need to get growth out of
their mindsets. The ultimate growth rate is zero.
By the way, NIMBY is "not in my backyard". In other words, we need
renewable energy such as wind, but not in my back yard, not in Hal's
back yard, not in Sally's, not in Mark's, not in Jim's, and so forth and
so forth. So where do we put it? On the moon?
Jim Blowers
-----Original Message-----
From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris
Terrell
Sent: Wednesday, 2005 May 25 22:35
To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Re: Highland County
Denmark gets a full quarter of their electricity from wind turbines.
While Virginia can never hope to reach that number (due to the fact that
we don't have enough sustained high-wind resources like the Skaggerak
offers) wind power is a viable _supplement_ to our power grid.
I can't speak for Highland County, but my this sounds like NIMBY if I
have ever heard it.
We are an industrial society, there's no escaping that. If you visited
Highland County to protest the wind turbines you almost certainly drove
there. If you are reading this message you are getting your power from
somewhere. Perhaps a coal fired plant, perhaps nuclear. When you go to
work tomorrow you will consume energy on the way there, while there, and
on the way home. And then you'll consume some more.
The point is it matters not how green you are in your politics, the
simple truth of the matter is we first-world humans consume a lot of
energy and our energy requirements are both real and growing. I agree
completely with Irene that the population is entirely too large, but
unless one wishes to both shut the borders and enforce a reduced
population (not very American
ideals) the energy needs for the state of Virginia will continue to grow
for the foreseeable future. That's a reality that WILL be dealt with in
one way or another.
The question becomes then, how to provide this energy? And I'm here to
say if you want a quick and flip answer, forget it. There are no easy
solutions.
Nuclear? The obvious Chernobyl factor - even more NIMBY
Coal? Cleaner than before, hardly clean
Hydro? Clean but already mostly tapped, and many greens aren't terribly
fond of it either Oil? We import 51% of our oil already, and the
supplies are finite Ethanol - Bio-diesel? Hard to produce in sufficient
quantities, and produces it's own pollution via agricultural pollution.
Solar? Years away, and expensive to develop and deploy. Wind? Limited
resources, some consider an eyesore (but power lines are just fine for
some reason)
Bottom line, hard choices have to be made. It's very easy to grouse
about what's wrong and pawn our energy needs off on somebody else, it's
a whole lot harder to offer a VIABLE solution.
Thanks for the info Jim. Some of us on this list are with you.
Chris Terrell
Chesterfield County
-----Original Message-----
From: va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:va-richmond-general-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of
Heron329@xxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:42 PM
To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Re: Highland County
You would have to cover the entire state in wind turbines to replace the
coal fired plants. and that still wouldn't do it. It is an absolutely
ridiculous notion that wind turbines could produce enough electricity to
replace even one coal fired plant. And the idea that only 4 birds would
be killed per turbine, how does anyone know that? When I was in
Highland County earlier this spring, there were thousands of migrating
birds flying high enough to run into the blades of the turbines. There
were over 4000 bats killed at one turbine site last summer. Margaret
O'Bryan
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