wind power texas

[Jeorge]

Texas could be a model for the entire nation," said Patrick Woodson, a senior development executive with E.On, a German utility operating here.
Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.
Texas surpassed California as the top wind farm state in 2006. In January alone, new wind farms representing $700 million of investment went into operation in Texas, supplying power sufficient for 100,000 homes.

[yummi]

Simply confirms what I have known about Texans for a while now.

BTY, Welcome to the board Jeorge

[K-fab]

I've watched the number of windmills grow from barely a hand full to hundreds of the things around Amarillo over the past 10 years as I've made my treks from miserable Ohio to Non-snowing Phoenix.

It's pretty cool seeing a field full of the giant windmills.

Anyone ever get a chance to get up close to one? There used to be a pair on top of the ridges near the Coal Creek riding area (Tennessee - Oak Ridge) that you could get within just a few feet of the base.

Pretty amazing structures. The power head section (the part the propeller's attached to that sits on top of the tower) is roughly the size of a semi truck trailer and the blades are something like 100' (or more?) long. They make a killer "whoosh" sound as they pass the tower.

[Shmeefer]

I've always thought wind-power was a no brainer, but lately I've been reading about the downstream affects of removing all that energy from the air. The air slows down dramatically after going thru a windfarm and this causes stagnant air which leads to settling of polluted air, etc. My point is, there are environmental costs associated with windfarms that people don't expect. Those costs are likely to be less than pumping CO2 out of a smokestack, but they still exist.

I need to do more research into it. I can't wait for solar panels to come down in price to make them more economical.

[nutz4sand]

Likley don't need to worry about the wind being slowed down as it goes thru windfarms. We are cutting down enough trees to help keep it moving free.

Thats half a joke. But sadley half truth too.

[yummi]

I saw a deal once on TV - place off Northern Ireland I think - where they had managed to use Tidal Action on both the wave and back flow stroke. That would be cool for folks next to the coasts.

[Gene]

How is it spam? (You mean useless, non buggy garbage?)

It's in the litter box. Seems to be in the right place.

[Gundog]

The problem with wind generation is it doesn't always blow and when you rely to heavily on it and the wind dies you may go into blackouts. Here is an example Loss of wind causes Texas power grid emergency | U.S. | Reuters

Mike

[nutz4sand]

While what you stated is totally true that wind is not 100% reliable but remember the brownouts in California that turned out to be be corporate greed caused to justify jacking up rates.

I would not be to surprised to know that a lot of what happened in Texas was partly the wind (proveable by looking at the weather patterns at that time) but also made worse by those who wish to fund thier pockets with other means of generating electric.

I see a future with houses that are lit with LED lights and have water towers/tanks incorporated into thier designs. Thus IF power was not available then batteries would keep effcient LED lights going for days and a water tank/tower would supply water for a good while.

[N8ball]

Of course wind power has it's pros and cons. The impact on local and migratory birds can be seen on the ground around the towers... in the form of their dead carcasses. Imagine flying along, on your way to your favorite winter hot spot, when out of nowhere, WHAMMO!! A 100' blade chops your little birdie head off. The birds haven't quite figured it out yet, but give 'em a couple thousand years, and the ones that like to fly by the towers will have been thinned out.

The tidal stuff is cool. There are floats that capture the up and down energy of each wave, which is neat, but not as productive as the capturing of tidal pools. After the tide goes out, the H2O is released into a specially designed canal. The canals narrow as they approach the turbines, which causes the H2O to accelerate, and more energy is therefore harnessed. They actually tried to get a form of this here in Utah. Being that there is no tide here, the idea was to pump water from Bear Lake, uphill during the evening hours when power use is lower, then release it during peak hours, to generate power. Anyone who passed high school physics might realize that this system would use more power than it harnessed, which is why it was shot down in large part by Gov. Huntsman.

We have a lot to learn about energy. Both in terms of how we harness it, and how we use it. Some thing I have been seeing in my head, is an escapement device, like clocks in the old days, where I can lift a weight, then slowly convert it's potential energy to kinetic. Connect that to a small generator, which powers some efficient LEDs, and let there be light.