"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...

In article , says...

On 9/6/2012 12:13 AM, Califbill wrote:
"JustWait" wrote in message ...

On 9/5/2012 5:30 PM, Califbill wrote:
"iBoaterer" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

On Wed, 5 Sep 2012 14:22:29 -0400, iBoaterer wrote:

In article , says...

On 9/5/2012 1:06 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:13:52 -0400, JustWait

wrote:

Well, there is one up by one of our practice tracks. I have seen
it a
dozen times, only once was it actually running and that day, it
was
annoying as hell with the noise.. and it's nearly a half mile
maybe a
mile as the crow flies to the mill from the track. Like I said
though,
most times, it's not moving even though there is windy up there
all the
time.

===

How big was it?

The small, fast turning wind generators like you see on cruising
boats, roof tops and small towers can make an annoying whirring
noise.
The big wind farms however use very large towers with slow
turning
blades over 100 ft long. They are almost silent in my
experience.


http://tuesdaysintempleton.com/2010/...-templeton-ma/

Yes, I know the rave reviews don't complain about the noise, but I
remember it made a thump, thump, thump as it ran that day. Again, I
have
only seen it run once, not really sure if it's doing anything for
the
town according to the reviews...

You're insane. Either that or FOX told you they were loud.

http://www.gereports.com/how-loud-is-a-wind-turbine/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0v9_zV2uk

http://www.smallwindtips.com/2009/12...urbine-really/

Hmmm GE says wind turbines don't make noise. That is like the UMW
talking about clean coal.

If you live in the big city and are used to noise, they are not bad
but there is a noise. I am sure it is something you can ignore if they
are paying you enough to put the turbines there.

Did you notice there are other links as well? Again, I also have first
hand experience. Usually the prevailing winds make much more noise than
the turbines. Did you watch the video? That's what I heard as well,
nothing.
---------------------------
Depends on the design. I live in sight of Altamont Pass. The older
turbines are noisy. They are removing lots of the older smaller units
and putting in the big 300' diameter generators. Part of the problem
with the older faster ones is the bird kills. Do a Google on bird
kills and wind farms. Lots of the enviros are very down on the farms
for this very reason. Lots of the problem is it is raptors getting
killed as most of the land is open grazing land and lots of ground
squirrels to attract the Raptors, Golden Eagles especially. the other
problem is wind speed. They shut them down when the wind is blowing
too
fast as well as not fast enough.


In other words, they aren't up to it.. Something I have been saying for
years..


---------------------------------
They are up to it, but they are not going to replace a very big
percentage of our power requirements.


I dunno, I am getting the impression the more I look that they are
creating more maintenance jobs, than electricity.

Cite?

... I will look into it
a bit more but I really don't hear a lot about successful "farms" and
most times when I see them in the northeast, they are not moving. Just
sayin'.

Really? Look at the wind farms in CA, western NY, etc.

---------------------------
Living near the wind farms in California and towing the boat by them when
going to the Delta and lakes, you see lots of dead windmills. Especially
the older models. The new ones take less overall maintenance as there are
fewer for the same power output. But figuring the amount of dead old ones,
how much actual energy gain did we get? Figure the energy to manufacture
and install and maintain them. Plus look at the growth of energy
consumption. We need to change the connectors to most rechargeable
electronic to the same type. Then you would not have to have 10 different
wall warts plugged in consuming energy when nothing is being charged.
Probably Nuclear is the only answer to having enough electrical energy
without the environmental drawbacks of coal mining and oil usage. We just
have to decide how to handle the waste from a nuke plant, which is not that
much high level amount wise.

On Thu, 6 Sep 2012 10:12:39 -0700, "Califbill"
wrote:

The new ones take less overall maintenance as there are
fewer for the same power output. But figuring the amount of dead old ones,
how much actual energy gain did we get?

===

As an engineer you must know about climbing up the learning curve.
This modern generation of wind farms is less than 10 years old which
is not exactly a mature technology yet. Considering that each large
windmill saves the energy equivalent of $400/hour of fossil fuel, it's
worth some time and effort.

From a strategic standpoint it is very important that we figure out
how to make ourselves independent of middle eastern energy sources.
They don't like us very much and it's only a matter of time before the
entire region becomes unstable and unreliable.

I'm beginning to think there's yet another sailboat in my future.
(please note clever introduction of an on topic subject)

On Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:24:47 -0400, wrote:

If you want to worry about that, look at our Israel policy.

===

I wouldn't touch that with *your* ten foot pole.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:33:20 -0400, wrote:

Sailboats are a whole other thing. If you want to sail, do it. That is
a tried and true technology but it was pushed to the "hobby" category
by the drawbacks.

===

Sailing can be a lot of fun in good conditions but it's a lousy way to
get somewhere unless you want to cross oceans in a small boat. I
still sail a little bit with other people but don't think I'd ever get
my wife interested in cruising on a sailboat again.