Wind power

Wind, Solar, & Technology

There are many problems with wind turbines. Most locations are not windy enough. Windy areas are not always close to anything that needs power. Conventional wind farms take up a lot of area. They need to be placed in areas of low population. This means miles of power lines between the wind farm and the city that uses the power. Stringing a new line is extremely expensive at the best of times. Court battles over right of way can balloon these costs out of control and delay a project for years. Every mile of power line loses energy. If the line is too long, most of the power will be lost before it reaches the point of use.

Wind blows when it wants to. In strong winds, power can be generated in excess of what is needed. There are long periods where the power generated is less than what is needed. Right now, there is no technology that can cheaply store excess wind power and release it in time of need. For now, when wind turbines slow, the missing power must be made up from fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.

Wind power may never become practical in all areas of the country. It is not the only source of power this is true for. Coal fired plants are not much used outside of coal country. Oil, coal, and hydro dams have been competing to fill our needs for over one hundred years. We have added nuclear and natural gas in the last few decades. Now we are adding wind, solar, and other renewable sources. The grid does not care where the power came from. No one source has ever provided all the power. No one source ever will. Where wind blows strong and steady, there is a place for wind turbines.

Current wind farms take up only 2% of the land they sit on. This includes not just the turbines, but access roads, controlling stations... etc. In the east, it can be difficult to find a large area of land with lots of people nearby. But in the rest of the country, most cities are surrounded by farm land. There is plenty of land for wind turbines.

Power lines do not need to be strung from the wind farm to the point of use. They need to be strung to the nearest power lines. Power lines already run out into the country side. Often only a few miles of extra miles of lines need be added. As the price of oil continues to rise, and it will, the expense of wind farms and the length of the power lines will become less of an issue.

Wind power may blow from too much to not enough, but there is no need to wait for a cheap method of storing power. The simple solution is to use the excess power for something you do not have to run all the time. People are using excess wind and solar power to create hydrogen. When the wind is not enough, they burn the hydrogen. Other uses could include waste treatment, desalination plants. or pumping water. Anything that can be easily turned of and one is a candidate. Until these plants are set up, we may have to put up with a coal or oil plant making up any shortfall. This may not stop us from using up fossil fuel, but it does slow down our use. Is making oil last longer a bad thing? We need oil, not just for fuel, but also for lubricant, fertilizer, road construction, plastics, and a host of other uses. Anything that delays the end of fossil fuels is a good thing.



Here is a few links that show off some of the technologies/solutions I discussed


Solar hydrogen home Michael Strizki
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEdQRVQtffw
Eco Tech: Building Green: hydrogen (more mike)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV9-V8XtRNo&feature=related


Eco Tech: Powering Up: Wind Power
roof top helix wind genorator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJXzhFDPM7M&feature=related


new type of solar cells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXru5GhB3Uk&feature=related