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Doofus McFancypants · 10-07-2008, 04:15 PM

I work for one of the larger companies working on alternatives ( i am NOT with big oil - but we are one of the other big players).

We are selling wind turbines like crazy - many are not the 1000's of unit wind farms but the 20 - 30 unit farms.

For the Reliability comment - there are places in this country where the WIND ALMOST ALWAYS blows - you need to remember these are 100's of feet in the air - on ground level you have trees / buildings that break up the airflow - but at a few hundred feet in certain areas - you have flow as pretty near to all the time as you can have.

I think the comment about how to network into the grid is a good point - you CAN throttle back the units to scale the amount of power produced ( or even make the blades stop altogether) so it is not so much a BASE LOAD all the time operation -- but we SHOULD be thinking of them as a NUKE - you get it started and you keep it running - let the Nat Gas fired turbine plants come up during peak periods as needed.

Solar has some technology issues yet - making the cells more efficient and less costly. But as we get there - i think you will see almost EVERY HOUSE with solar cell roofing shingles to collect what ever power it can collect - maybe it is alot - maybe it is alittle - but it will be SOMETHING to offset fossil fuel comsumption.

Steve

10-07-2008, 04:15 PM	#15 (permalink)
Doofus McFancypants Eco Noob Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Tosev 3 - Atlanta GA Posts: 293 Red Rover - '01 Nissan Altima GXE 90 day: 30.07 mpg (US) Thanks: 5 Thanked 7 Times in 5 Posts	I work for one of the larger companies working on alternatives ( i am NOT with big oil - but we are one of the other big players). We are selling wind turbines like crazy - many are not the 1000's of unit wind farms but the 20 - 30 unit farms. For the Reliability comment - there are places in this country where the WIND ALMOST ALWAYS blows - you need to remember these are 100's of feet in the air - on ground level you have trees / buildings that break up the airflow - but at a few hundred feet in certain areas - you have flow as pretty near to all the time as you can have. I think the comment about how to network into the grid is a good point - you CAN throttle back the units to scale the amount of power produced ( or even make the blades stop altogether) so it is not so much a BASE LOAD all the time operation -- but we SHOULD be thinking of them as a NUKE - you get it started and you keep it running - let the Nat Gas fired turbine plants come up during peak periods as needed. Solar has some technology issues yet - making the cells more efficient and less costly. But as we get there - i think you will see almost EVERY HOUSE with solar cell roofing shingles to collect what ever power it can collect - maybe it is alot - maybe it is alittle - but it will be SOMETHING to offset fossil fuel comsumption. Steve __________________ Steve - AKA Doofus McFancypants ------------------------------ "If there's a new way, I'll be the first in line - But it better work this time" First Milestone passed - 30 MPG (city) 5/15/08 Best City Tank - 8/31/09- 34.3 MPG (EPA= 20) Best Highway Tank - 5/20/09 - 36.5 MPG (EPA= 28) ------ In effort to drive less: Miles NOT driven in 2009 = 648 (Work from home and Alt Transporatation)