You know -- massive wind energy harvesting has as much potential to change the climate as does farming, which has been shown to affect moisture levels and temperatures in nearby areas (scale of hundreds of miles). Farming has affected rainfall amounds hundreds of miles away. A very large amount of wind turbines scattered all over the great plains and beyond will add resistance to the earth's surface that did not exist before. This will not be without ecological effect. And, it might just look bad too. Just being the devils advocate. Tom Veldhouse veldy at veldy.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "K Hinze" <rudie at sihope.com> To: <tclug-list at mn-linux.org> Sent: Monday, August 06, 2001 8:07 PM Subject: Re: [TCLUG] OT: Lights Out? > On Monday 06 August 2001 07:20 pm, you wrote: > > These things are not nearly as dangerous to the environment. For one > > thing, they are solid speres and there is no liquid waste. Thus, they > > could be buried, worst case would be in cement or steel slabs. I am sure > > there are some logistics involved, but it is not anywhere near as much of a > > problem as current reactor waste, as there is heavy water generated in > > these reactors which must be stored. > > My whole point with the wind energy debacle, you don't need to bury a turbine > or encase it in cement for the next 10,000 years after its life expentancy. > I feel that it doesn't matter wether it is liquid waste, or solid waste, rods > vs spheres, you're still just making steam to turn a turbine. > Comparative cost of producing wind turbines vs cost of manufacture, > transport, utilize, recycle (into what?) and dispose safely for the next few > millenia, uranium or a derivative, wind is cheaper. > >From an efficiency standpoint, all around, wind uses less energy to produce a > kilowatt hour of returned energy than any other power source in place today, > including solar. (Photovoltags are very expensive and toxic to produce). > OK I am done. Forgive me if this off-topic has severely hampered your ability > to stay cool or sane. > That Is All! > -Kevin Hinze > _______________________________________________ > tclug-list mailing list > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list >