Windmills kill marine life and can produce more CO2 then coal fired power plants?

"Wind turbine underwater noise and marine mammals: implications of current knowledge and data needs"

This paper is from 2006 but only recently has ocean noise impact been looked at. 

http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2006/309/m309p279.pdf

 

"How a wind farm could emit more carbon than a coal power station"

Not the best article on this topic but it was wrote in 2009. This only hit main stream news 3 days ago?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/aug/13/wind-farm-peat-bog

 

It's hard for the truth to direct policy when the "warm fuzzy feeling" that some folks get charging their IPad (made with Industrial and rare earth metals often mined with slave labor) with wind and sunshine is more important than the environment.

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Permalink Reply by john on February 26, 2013 at 6:47am

Wind vs. Coal is like comparing Lebron James and Michael Jordan or apples and oranges.  Wind, the new sought after energy source, is very productive and less complicated to produce.  Coal, the older but reliable energy source, is extremely costly and can be very harmful to the environment to produce.  I am an extreme advocate of coal, being form WV, but the industry needs to make many improvements.  We need cleaner omissions, less acid mine drainage, less mining catastrophies, to bring us into the future.  The minining industry can produce many jobs in the United States but if there are cleaner and less expensive alternatives than I forsee the mining industry continuing down the same path.

Permalink Reply by Dan on February 27, 2013 at 3:36am
“Wind, the new sought after energy source, is very productive and less complicated to produce. “
John, I am sure you are a advocate of coal, but that statement sure does not sound like it.  How is wind very productive when it takes hundreds of them using up thousands of acres to add a trickle of power to the grid, if there is wind and if they happen to even be connected to the grid?
How is wind less complicated when the big windmills can't be near consumers, need wired together with a smarter grid and only might be “green” when backed up with power plants that can be ramped up and down to fill in the windmills iffy production without running full power all the time like coal plants?
The one article compares CO2  release between windmills placed on peat bogs and coal fired power plants.  CO2 output to CO2 output is apples to apples.  I agree coal has issues, it will not be the choice to partner with wind and solar production either.  Windmills sure are prettier than coal fired plants, ash dumps and containment ponds but that is a lousy reason to waste our countries wealth on them. Maybe we should save some coal to make drill and casing pipe to harvest some NG and build a few new NG power plants, they are pretty too and should be an easy sell to our ill-informed public.
Permalink Reply by Linda A on March 5, 2013 at 3:03am

Not only that, Dan, when the windmills are NOT moving, power plants support them because they cannot be left 'idle' as it is then high maintenance to repair them - kind of like a wheel which gets rusty when not in use.  Know someone who lives near them who explained how it actually worked. 

Obama is ONLY promoting them for payback to his top donors and he has NO friends in the mining or oil industry, as he is shutting them down, as we all know, regardless of how much Obama lies about it!

Permalink Reply by Dan on March 5, 2013 at 3:08am

NG power plants will work fine with windmills.  They can adjust the power output quickly to support wind and solar.

Permalink Reply by Linda A on March 5, 2013 at 3:53am

so where is the benefit?

Permalink Reply by Dan on March 5, 2013 at 4:39am

None, except it may make NG power plants happen sooner.  Wrong reason but maybe a good outcome for cleaner NG power.

Permalink Reply by MJ on February 26, 2013 at 1:12pm

There is a fellow up the road who put in a wind mill to power his home a few years ago.  Initial cost was $80,000.  Time it will take to pay for itself?  60 years give or take.  That does'nt include the costs of maintenance, replacement batteries, bearings, turbine parts etc....

Permalink Reply by Dan on February 27, 2013 at 5:28am

MJ, the sad fact of the fellows $80,000 windmill, that can only supply a very small % of his homes energy needs, if in Ohio, was most likely subsidized 70% by you, me and every other tax payer in the country and again by every taxpayer in Ohio.  If his windmill gets destroyed by a wind storm then we will be helping to pay for it in insurance premium rate hikes also.

The winter before last we spent a week on a small island in the US Virgin Islands with about 100 homes on it.  The island has almost constant wind and of coarse almost constant bright daytime sunshine.   Folks there said it cost about $300 a month to run one refridgerator and one light at night.  If it made sense to have a windmill that is the place to have one.  There was only one windmill on the whole island.  There are many small solar panels there but they only run the pool pumps.  It just doesn't make sense to hook them to the house.  Of coarse the lead, mercury and lithium and other rare and toxic components that are in the batteries from cell-phones, hybrids, electric cars, solar panels and windmills are not a concern to the mis-guided greenies.  The only true green energy is the energy that is never harnessed.   

Permalink Reply by MJ on February 27, 2013 at 4:45pm

North of me in kinsman (2) windmills were put in place last year at $1.2M Apiece - subsidized @ 50% by you and I (taxpayers)....Fuzzy and Warm feelings envelope me everytime i see them turning (or not).  I envision fields of windmills and photovoltaic panels curing all of our enegy needs in NE ohio.  Drill baby Drill!

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on February 28, 2013 at 2:25am

I can see nearly 40 windmills on top of a range near my home. I have camped right down the mountain from several--I don't see the problem with them being near people. And we have enough wind. As to the other statements, I couldn't speak. 

Permalink Reply by Dan on February 28, 2013 at 2:57am

Have you been near them when winds are 30mph or greater?.  They make a pretty loud noise.

Permalink Reply by Deb Reynolds on February 28, 2013 at 9:19am

Slept down the mountain when they were running steadily, a number of times. Some of the group were bothered by the noise, but where we were, it sounded like a jet, high up, only rhythmic. Not a problem, I found it soothing. And I'm from a VERY rural area, where noise at night is minimal. I think placement makes a big difference, these were on top of a mountain range (small mts, sure) with many valleys and trees to break up noise. 

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