tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post7571582964578498936..comments2024-01-08T09:12:42.920-05:00Comments on SF and Nonsense: The winds of changeEdward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-17685636045964795032011-03-14T01:55:56.134-04:002011-03-14T01:55:56.134-04:00Good read. I feel like an important task for scien...Good read. I feel like an important task for scientists and critical thinkers is to combat the notion that "if you are doing something, you are making a difference". I think there are many examples of things people do to feel like they are making a difference but in reality have little or no positive effect (organic foods, donating to charities with large overhead costs). The moral of the story is that doing things right is more important than trying hard and feeling good about it.Erikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00969701260211272581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-85388073138207220902011-03-09T08:43:39.070-05:002011-03-09T08:43:39.070-05:00Hi MDC,
I agree that all power plants have costs ...Hi MDC,<br /><br />I agree that <i>all</i> power plants have costs and impacts. That was my point: that wind plants have costs and impacts, too. Where wind power is lowest impact and lowest cost: great. It isn't, often.<br /><br />As for the siting of power plants: many can be built near where their power will be used. Not wind plants. Like solar and tide-powered plants, wind-power plants most be placed where their energy source is most available. That can lead to longer or out-of-the-way power lines. (Think: ocean-bottom power lines to coastal wind farms).<br /><br />I disagree with you on one point. Uranium is not a fossil fuel, and there is a goodly supply of it if we choose to use it.<br /><br />- EdEdward M. Lernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-7363885070155220712011-03-09T02:24:19.040-05:002011-03-09T02:24:19.040-05:00A few points:
Non-wind-power plants have to built...A few points:<br /><br />Non-wind-power plants have to built somewhere also. And they too have to have power lines built to them. Unlike wind power, they require regular inputs of fossil fuel (and BTW, uranium is a fossil fuel -- and we are going to run out of it eventually), which has to be extracted from wherever it's found, often with great cost and disruption.<br /><br />The minor weather-altering effect of wind farms is interesting, and a new one on me -- but it looks like it would be a net positive in many cases. <br /><br />As for turbines killing birds, you linked to a 2005 article about turbines that were built 20 years earlier. It's unfortunately true, but wind power engineers have learned quite a bit in the quarter century since those old systems were erected, and modern turbines present far less hazard to birds.MDCnoreply@blogger.com