17 years ago
Sunday, February 8, 2009
New thoughts on Wind
Today I am going to talk about wind turbines. First, let me start out by saying that I grew up on a farm in Iowan and my husband grew up on the beach in southern California. I’d see the wind in the fields, and with tornados. He certainly never saw wind turbines. My husband I noticed the wind was when it whipped up some ocean spray in his face when he was surfing.As I said, I grew up on a farm in the Midwest (Iowa). In days gone by there had been windmills that harnessed the wind from early on to run pumps and things for the farm. This is where I first came in contact and thought of the wind in a different manner. But in the years of my youth, most of these windmills had become inactive following the days of electricity. About 18 months ago we were visiting my family and friends in Iowa and attended a BBQ at a friend’s farm. They now have a few massive wind turbines at the edge of his fields and as we sat outside enjoying the weather we looked on this amazing marvel that was before us and watched those big blades turn slowly yet as they were generating massive amounts of power.The thought of green energy finally hit home to me and became personal. The thought that we as mankind can try and harness even a small amount of what mother nature throws at us everyday and use it to help that same mother nature to extend it’s life another day is amazing to me and should be for everyone else.The property owners profit financially as well for the lease to the land the turbine sits on as well as the easement for the management company to monitor them. This is significant as they typically are in areas that aren’t farmed at fencelines or other non-productive land. I know some people do not want these wind turbines in their backyard because of how they look and I think there are places they should not be. But with the knowledge of the good that they are doing, I think we should be more accepting of them and more creative in their placement to better mankind and of course mother nature, the only environment we have.Susan Jimenez
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Great links to videos - but I just don't have a half-hour to watch. Maybe some day I'll have time to come back and catch up.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was born and raised on the Iowa farm, and I have witnessed these huge wind turbines while visiting his family. Farmers really love turbines, because they get paid for every turbine installed on their land (don't remember exactly how much - $5 or $6 thousand a year). Anybody who launches a wind turbine in Iowa gets a state tax break (good until 2015). Without it turbines are unprofitable, the technology is just not there.
ReplyDeleteYay, another Wind Energy post in the group. I get to use the same comment:
ReplyDeleteSome interesting information about wind energy: here's an article actually talking about a study by the British Renewable Energy Foundation that find that wind energy just isn't efficient or cost effective.
"The study notes that during winter, when demand for energy is the highest, wind farms are unable to produce large amounts of power. During times of low-output from wind farms, 'conventional fossil fuel plants would need to be switched on and off as many as 23 times a month', which would impair efficiency and reduce emissions savings."
Quoted from here.
No, but seriously, a great post. You have a way with words.