Global warming
Are we about the earth or about $$$$(Wind power)
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bozo
I recently attended a conference with my employer which had a guest speaker named Dr.Habib Dagher.The subject was offshore wind power in the gulf of Maine. He stated studies(by students not corporations) have shown that the wind velocity off the coast is unbelievable.Just out of eyesight from land is enough wind to spin huge turbines almost constantly.They are developing long counterweighted poles that act like bobbers with the turbine kept relatively stable by the counterweight at the other end of the pole far below the surface,studies show potential for farms to easily produce 5 times "all" the energy the state uses currently.Problem is research and production(which would produce thousands and thousands of jobs in several fields)why do we hesitate to dive head first into developement and production of this endless rescource??? $$$$$$$$. If we are REALLY serious lets get the military involved and engineer the shit out of this technlogy.I'd rather see a hundred windmills on every mountain than families suffering the loss of soldiers overseas!!!!.Thought??? opinions???
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replied to:  bozo
DiscoDuck
Replied to:  I recently attended a conference with my employer which had a...
Windmills are not enough, they can supplement a primary power source but cannot be that primary power source, much like solar panels, because they just don't produce enough energy. They are good for supplementing a primary energy source, though.

So you need a primary energy source to replace oil. Today, with our current level of scientific knowledge, we can choose from 4 primary power sources. Coal, Oil, Nuclear, Dam. The best choice, environmentally, are dams. We could just build about 18 "Hoover-like" dams across the country and that would solve all of our problems... but the environmentalists will never let you flood that much unused desert/empty fields.

It is really the environmentalists themselves who are preventing us from having an almost totally clean energy source. Dams are the only means we have for a primary energy source that fulfills all of their requirements... but they'd fill the streets in protest if you tried to give them what they wanted.

So the solution is there, about 18 "Hoover-like" dams efficiently supplemented by wind and solar (solar is really good at providing hot water, for example). But the environmentalists themsevles object to this, so we have no solution.
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replied to:  DiscoDuck
bozo
Replied to:  Windmills are not enough, they can supplement a primary power source...
Thanks for responding discoduck, Can you elaborate on windmills not being enough, The technology needs to be fine tuned obviously but That comes with research and developement which is kind of what this is?? There are a lot of opponents to wind power who think we should develope our oil and natural gas rescources, with gas prices climbing towards $4 a gallon and heating oil around $3.60, I think we are pretty much at the mercy of speculators who raise or lower oil prices based on calculations and guesses that only they understand.I think wind power may be in it's infancy, but so was the internet at one time.At least we could somewhat predict accurately how much wind we could depend on at any given time without worrying about wars breaking out where we are getting it from and the 5 GW potentia;l output would be substantial if attainable?? You seem knowledgeable can I pick your brain?? Is it possible to say take one mighty river, We have lots in Maine and place dam after dam after dam spread out every say 15 miles from where it starts to when it reaches the ocean?? at least then you would be minimizing the damage to the environment to a specific isolated area?? granted the environmentalists would loose it but is it possible??
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