A Big Victory For Wind Power

[Christ]

Originally Posted by MadisonMPG

God has an attic?

What, you didn't know that Heaven isn't as high as you get?

Consequently, yes, my Father has an attic... and I'm Agnostic. How's that for irony?

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

What, you didn't know that Heaven isn't as high as you get?

Consequently, yes, my Father has an attic... and I'm Agnostic. How's that for irony?

If I knew what Agnostic meant, I might be better off.

[Christ]

Agnostic: a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist).

Not to be confused with

Atheist: someone who denies the existence of god wholly.

Anyway, the point of Irony is that being named "Christ" (which is actually short for Christopher), you'd think that I'm "Christian"... but I'm not.

Back on topic, please? We can discuss my name and religious preferences in PM, if you please.

[Christ]

I just got my name changed on another site to "Christ" since it's the same name I use for all the others.

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

Agnostic: a person who claims that they cannot have true knowledge about the existence of God (but does not deny that God might exist).

Not to be confused with

Atheist: someone who denies the existence of god wholly.

Anyway, the point of Irony is that being named "Christ" (which is actually short for Christopher), you'd think that I'm "Christian"... but I'm not.

Back on topic, please? We can discuss my name and religious preferences in PM, if you please.

Oh I see.

[Big Dave]

The bird thing is total malarkey. Everything kills birds, it seems. The guy wires of radio/TV antennae are murder on birds. Check out the base of such tower. You'll see lots of dead birds and some might fat cats.

Other people think they are just plain ugly. The engineer in me sees wind turbines as elegant, but then, I think hyperbolic cooling towers are elegant, too.

It is the same thing with any sort of energy. Somebody has a beef. Nuke plant, coal plants, oil refineries, even solar. Somebody squawks.

At some point (and soon) we, as a people have to make an overarching value judgment. Is (name your objection) more important than energy? At the rate our energy infrastructure is being overwhelmed we will be living in a technological level familiar to George Washington.

Either we smack down the PETA types and NIMBYs or we get used to living at the technological level of "The Last of the Mohicans" or "The Patriot."

[SVOboy]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

The bird thing is total malarkey. Everything kills birds, it seems. The guy wires of radio/TV antennae are murder on birds. Check out the base of such tower. You'll see lots of dead birds and some might fat cats.

Other people think they are just plain ugly. The engineer in me sees wind turbines as elegant, but then, I think hyperbolic cooling towers are elegant, too.

It is the same thing with any sort of energy. Somebody has a beef. Nuke plant, coal plants, oil refineries, even solar. Somebody squawks.

At some point (and soon) we, as a people have to make an overarching value judgment. Is (name your objection) more important than energy? At the rate our energy infrastructure is being overwhelmed we will be living in a technological level familiar to George Washington.

Either we smack down the PETA types and NIMBYs or we get used to living at the technological level of "The Last of the Mohicans" or "The Patriot."

The world I live in is not comprised of stark dichotomies where the only choice is to "smack someone down" or "the world ends."

[Formula413]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

The world I live in is not comprised of stark dichotomies where the only choice is to "smack someone down" or "the world ends."

Wow, yours too? What a coincidence.

[RobertSmalls]

Ducks lay about ten eggs per clutch. They are clearly incapable of practicing contraception or sustainable population management, and the only alternative is for almost every duck ever born to die before reaching reproductive age. Starvation and disease kill the ones that predators and windmills don't.

The death of a small number of birds is a non-issue if it doesn't threaten the wellbeing of whole bird populations.

[Big Dave]

There are indeed lots of birds. We would do well to not sweat the birds and build the wind turbines. Likewise we should ignore the NIMBYs and build the wind turbines. Or whatever energy infrastructure.

I see the comment: “The world I live in is not comprised of stark dichotomies where the only choice is to "smack someone down" or "the world ends."

If so, then you have no hope whatsoever of updating America’s energy infrastructure. If you cannot reduce policy to a matter of routine, then every single item requires a multi-year court case before it moves forward.

To reduce America’s emissions from just generation of electricity, you are talking hundreds of nukes and hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of wind turbines. If every single one of them requires a court case to allow it to go forward, then the problem is insurmountable.

The problem is you really do have to “smack somebody down” or the status quo hangs on forever.

I’m not huge admirer of the French, but in 1974 they held a binding national referendum on nuclear power. In a single stroke, the “smacked down” all those who would block construction and licensing of nukes before the fact. Then they borrowed Hyman Rickover and emulated the most successful nuclear power program in the world – that of the US Navy. Result: No court cases, and in a matter of two decades they became a 80% nuclear country with very low emissions from the electric power generating sector.

Sooner or later, you gotta quit talking about it and do it. If that requires a stark dichotomy, then I say “Bring it on.”