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Still a developing technology... - 5/3/2009 5:49:18 PM   
TheHeretic


Posts: 19100
Joined: 3/25/2007
From: California, USA
Status: offline 		      This just struck me funny. 

A fast spinning windmill appeared "out of control," and threatened traffic on the highway between Los Angeles County's high desert and the San Joaquin Valley, a CHP dispatcher in Bakersfield said today.
 
The CHP dispatcher said the windmill is spinning too fast and might fly apart, which is why Highway 58 in the Tehachapi Pass was closed down

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_12285173?source=rss


     This is my little part of the world.  Thousands of windmills in those farms up there.  I can say this thing must be spinning at an incredible rate, because seeing broken (spinning fast) or shut down mills is very common, and they don't shut that freeway on a Sunday afternoon without a good reason.


*edited for clarity

< Message edited by TheHeretic -- 5/3/2009 5:59:54 PM >

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/3/2009 8:36:02 PM   
MarsBonfire


Posts: 1034
Joined: 3/6/2005
Status: offline 		Yup... now, suppose it was a nuke plant that jammed up, and boiled off the water covering the core... I bet they'd have to do more than shut a highway down for a few hours...

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/3/2009 8:39:48 PM   
TheHeretic


Posts: 19100
Joined: 3/25/2007
From: California, USA
Status: offline 		     If nuclear power was anywhere near as finicky and unreliable as the windmill farms around here, we'd already all be dead.

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/3/2009 9:08:33 PM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		FR

A primative device. A better technology exists now, it is omnidirectional and appears more like a tower. It does not need to turn at all, and the design having less circumference generates alot less centripital force if the wind does reallly kick up. It sort of looks like the squirrel cage configuration of the blower used in most HVAC systems. It also has the advantage of if there are two strong windstreams runiing across it, it can use both. It doesn't matter which way the air moves.

This was touted quite a bit about two years ago, but I haven't heard anything lately. Either it is in use, been hushed up, or they found more problems in the implementation than were expected. It could be any.

T

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/3/2009 10:06:23 PM   
DarkSteven


Posts: 28072
Joined: 5/2/2008
Status: offline 		The Darrieus and Savonius are vertical axis generators, like Popeye referred to.

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/4/2009 3:27:42 AM   
mefisto69


Posts: 370
Joined: 1/19/2007
Status: offline 		on the east end of L.I. we've got the NIMBY fuckers blocking everything.... the verticals because - they're just ugly (great excuse) - windmills 2 miles out to sea? oh nooooo - they'll ruin our pristine ocean view (uh huh) .... cell towers? heaven forbid we should have to see them

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/4/2009 4:43:38 AM   
Owner59


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Joined: 3/14/2006
From: Dirty Jersey
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quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic

    If nuclear power was anywhere near as finicky and unreliable as the windmill farms around here, we'd already all be dead.


If wind (and solar) power had gotten all the government subsidies and support that nukes got,we wouldn`t need middle east oil or even South American oil.

Why is it that nuke plants are so unsafe,that they can`t find anyone to insure them?

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/4/2009 5:30:12 AM   
DarkSteven


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Owner59

If wind (and solar) power had gotten all the government subsidies and support that nukes got,we wouldn`t need middle east oil or even South American oil.

Why is it that nuke plants are so unsafe,that they can`t find anyone to insure them?


Owner, there have been subsidies for solar since before Reagan was in office.  I don't know what subsidies there are for nukes.  Not that they exist, I'm simply unaware if them.

One of the biggest things that the government has done for nuclear is not a subsidy at all.  It's taking men and women in their twenties, training them in nuclear for the Navy, giving them 20 years of experience working with reactors on a sub, and then releasing them, fully trained and experienced, into the civilian workforce. 

Conversely, one of the worst things the government ever did for nuclear was something I heard attributed to Carter.  Recycling of spent fuel was outlawed.  This both created a huge disposal issue, and also required enrichment of natural uranium, instead of reenrichment of slightly spent uranium, driving up fuel costs.

Nukes are absolutely safe during normal operation.  The issues arise when something goes wrong.  Unfortunately, the public's attitude about releases of radiation, even small amounts, is close to hysteria.


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The small-breasted ones want larger breasts. The large-breasted ones want smaller ones. The straight-haired ones curl their hair, and the curly-haired ones straighten theirs...

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/4/2009 5:34:55 AM   
MarsBonfire


Posts: 1034
Joined: 3/6/2005
Status: offline 		Because if just one nuke plant melted down (as seven almost have in the US in the last 50 years) the resulting class action suit against the builders of said reactor would bankrupt ANY insurance company foolish enough to cover one. A windmill goes bad, and there's a slight inconvienince... a nuke plant goes bad and we could lose an entire region to the radioactive pollution for several generations. (See Chernobyl)

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RE: Still a developing technology... - 5/4/2009 7:53:23 AM   
Raechard


Posts: 3513
Joined: 3/10/2007
From: S.E. London U.K.
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHeretic
    If nuclear power was anywhere near as finicky and unreliable as the windmill farms around here, we'd already all be dead.

This is the problem when you come to the party so late in the game.
 
Now can I interest you in some sturdy EU built wind turbines?

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