The climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by sendler

They are the ones doing the misleading by selling us on nameplate capacity versus cost.

Who exactly is "us" here? Really ignorant people?

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Is there an advantage of mounting blades on the wind-leading side? Otherwise, I don't see why they haven't always been on the wind-trailing side. It seems the blades would automatically point into the wind when the blades are mounted downwind of the nacelle.

Yes.
The monopole will do something called vortex shedding.as the blades pass through this turbulent air they shutter and loose lift for a fraction of a second. This causes accelerated stress wear on the blades, blade connection plate and hub bearings.

[NeilBlanchard]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Is there an advantage of mounting blades on the wind-leading side? Otherwise, I don't see why they haven't always been on the wind-trailing side. It seems the blades would automatically point into the wind when the blades are mounted downwind of the nacelle.

The down wind side of the tower stresses the blades when they pass out of and then back into the wind. Remember the blades are hundreds of feet long.

[freebeard]

The story was about 'Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotors'. The segmented part is for manufacturability and deliverability. the Morphing part is that the rotor (modeled on a Palm tree trunk) absorbs the stress of the wind shadow. If the blades are upwind they have to be stiff enough to avoid a strike on the tower.

Here's another article on the segmented blade.

https://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/09...-blade-design/

They also show a turbine with a hubcap.

Ferdinand Porsche built a trailing windmill in the 1930s. I can't find a picture of it online but one appeared in a Porsche magazine called Christopher. Maybe I'll find my copy someday.

If the wind shadow is really a problem, why don't they boat tail the tower?

[sendler]

Originally Posted by freebeard

If the wind shadow is really a problem, why don't they boat tail the tower?

The towers are fixed. But the wind shifts. Only the top nacelle with the blades pivots to face the wind. Wind turbines always have an odd nuber of blades because the wind is much stonger at the top than it is lower down near the ground. So when one blade is straight up in the best position, there are two that are not quite in the worst position to equalize the loads as much as possible to minimize rocking forces at the hub.

[freebeard]

The nacelle maintains the correct orientation. Instead of a full or truncated boat tail, maybe a Gurney flap on each side?

I don't really care, windmills should be indoors anyway.

[oil pan 4]

They tried it both ways, the way wind turbines are now is the best way we can currently build them.

[Xist]

Bizarre. I did not receive any notifications for a while and was afraid everyone stopped arguing. This is courtesy of Imgur: Converting kinetic wave power into electricity

[redpoint5]

I've really enjoyed this thread and have learned a lot from the comments/links others have posted. While I haven't changed my main stance that there is little that can be done to curb CO2 emissions by any individual (or individual country), it has opened my eyes to the enormous challenge to replace fossil fuel power with alternatives. Perhaps a negative GDP growth rate is inevitable in the near future.

I'm all for efficiency and conservation, but without a near 100% commitment and enforcement of a well thought out plan on a global scale, CO2 output is unlikely to be reduced any significant amount. You might say my philosophy on this is more pragmatic than idealistic.

[freebeard]

Converting kinetic wave power into electricity

At the end they have a statement about "If we could harness 0.1% of the world's tides, then...". Waves and tides aren't the same thing.