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Wind power just indulges the greenies’ smugness
Credit: Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com 29 April 2011 ~~
I wonder if wind power is all it’s cracked up to be.
I have read (not in this paper, of course) that turbines are unreliable and tend to be down a lot. They also appear to generate only around a quarter of their capacity on a long-term basis, plus they consume not-insignificant quantities of dirty power to operate. (We all now know from Japan that power-generating apparatus don’t use their own power to maintain production.) It is possible that a poorly designed and maintained wind turbine could use more dirty electricity than it produces in clean. Thankfully, big business would never poorly design or maintain such apparatus.
As well, while the wind unit is actually producing power, the dirty power plant must continue to burn fossil fuel to maintain steam ready to supply electricity when the wind isn’t blowing (or blowing too hard). Ditto for solar power, as the sun doesn’t tend to shine at night in the correct spot.
It seems farcical to me to not address the real question: How do we reduce fossil fuel emissions? The answer is obvious. These wind turbines are impressive structures, but panaceas helping a vocal group feel good, sound intelligent and impress the right people. Don’t see the point.
Alan Sanders
Buzzards Bay
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