Energy & Power Generation – Page 39

Small Scale Wind Power Analysis – Fail

May 13, 2010 by Dan from Madison

I have mentioned that I am the proud owner of a hobby farm. On it we have five head of cattle, a couple ponies, a few chickens and that is it the last time I checked a week or so ago. The farm is about 20 acres.

Recently I did a cost analysis of setting up this property with a windmill to power the place. My vision was to get “off the grid” and have a place I could retreat to and survive in if a natural disaster or act of terrorism happened, as well as getting “free” electricity and perhaps selling juice back to the grid as I have read others have done. I am very impressed with the small solar powered items I have bought and installed at the farm – they power the electric fences and provide power for some outdoor lighting. These items were relatively cheap and easy to install. You can get them at virtually any farm and/or retail store.

Doing the research for this project I learned a lot. The first thing I did was email the local utility, Madison Gas and Electric. Within a few hours they referred me to Focus on Energy. You can read about who makes up this organization here. Basically Focus is an organization that encourages and helps people and businesses to conserve energy and buy appliances and systems that will use less energy in the future. They also have rebate programs.

Solar in Spain, Then and Now

May 8, 2010 by David Foster

“The sun in Spain shines brightly on the plain”

Here’s Barack Obama, speaking in January 2009:

Think of what’s happening in countries like Spain … where they’re making real investments in renewable energy. They’re surging ahead of us, poised to take the lead in these new industries.

…and here’s a report on what’s happening in Spain currently:

Only two years ago, Spanish solar energy companies feasting on generous government subsidies expanded at a feverish pace, investing â‚¬18 billion (then worth roughly $28 billion) to blanket rooftops and fields with photovoltaic panels. They briefly turned the country into the top solar market in the world.

Spain’s subsidies for solar were four to six times higher than those for wind. Prices charged for solar power were 12 times higher than those for fossil fuel electricity. Germany and Spain received about 75 percent of the world’s photovoltaic panel installations that year.

Nine Years versus Nine Months

May 5, 2010 by David Foster

After nine years of litigation and regulatory maneuvering, the Secretary of the Interior has given the approval for construction of the Cape Wind offshore power-generation facility. (Well, sort of…there are still a few more regulatory hurdles to clear before any actual wind turbines can be erected.)

Nine years is a long time, and it’s worthwhile to look at what Americans have been able to do in that amount of time…and in much shorter amounts of time…in other periods of our history.

Deepwater Horizon Disaster Random Observations

May 4, 2010 by Dan from Madison

The jury still seems to be out as to what the ultimate fate of the Southeast USA will be as far as the big oil spill in the gulf goes. No oil seems to have creeped ashore yet, and I am sure all the coastline residents are praying that it moves somewhere else.

I have noticed a bunch of interesting things about the story of the Deepwater Horizon. Feel free to chime in or make your own observations on the story.

The Onion On Renewables

May 1, 2010 by Carl from Chicago

One of my all time favorite Onion articles is here and titled:

Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others

In one, simple, pithy sentence The Onion summarizes the reality of renewable energy and of the false enthusiasm for things that are easy to talk about, but hard and difficult to actually implement. People WANT clean air, short commutes, and efficiency; but people aren’t willing to give up their individual cars that drive them from their individual homes to the jobs of their choosing which may be far away.

Being the Onion and completely unafraid to subtly or not-too-subtly jab at the underbelly of elitism behind this sort of claim, they conclude with this paragraph:

The campaign is intended to de-emphasize the inconvenience and social stigma associated with using public transportation, focusing instead on the positives. Among these positives: the health benefits of getting fresh air while waiting at the bus stop, the chance to meet interesting people from a diverse array of low-paying service-sector jobs, and the opportunity to learn new languages by reading subway ads written in Spanish.
“People need to realize that public transportation isn’t just for some poor sucker to take to work,” Collier said. “He should also be taking it to the shopping mall, the supermarket, and the laundromat.”

While this Onion “article” was written in 2000 it completely applies today in the debate cited in a report about a plan to build electricity-generating turbines off the coast of Massachusetts, which has been held up for many years because the wealthy locals and visiting politicians don’t want any inconveniences or impact to their views while demanding that everyone else fall in line on various renewables schemes. This article from the New York Times is titled “Cape Code Residents Don’t Expect One Ruling To End Long Fight“.

“I’m 100 percent for alternative energy, but just not in Nantucket Sound,” Mr. Parent said. “There’s no guarantee that the electricity will be cheaper. And once you put those windmills out there you can never take them away.”