[ExI] Efficiency of wind power.

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
Subject: Re: [ExI] Efficiency of wind power.

On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 10:11 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>> There are some places where wind power definitely does pay and does 
>> make sense.  These are often not near population centers, so the cost 
>> of transporting the power is too great... do stuff like 
>> electroplating metals out of solution which takes a buttload of 
>> energy...

>...In the 1930s, they build a load of hydroelectric dams in the Tennessee
Valley...

>...One of the windiest places on earth is in Antarctica... Perhaps
extracting gold from sea water? There has to be something. 

> - Kelly

There are ways to use power in large but unsteady quantities.  The places
where wind power can pay off tend to be where there are few or no people:
they don't want to live out there, too windy.  I think of the desert US
west.  Consider China Lake California, the naval base.  There we have vast
stretches of unused land where the wind howls with such ferocity one often
wishes for merciful death to come soon.  The USNavy used it to let the guys
do practice runs in the jets, dogfights, bombing practice, that sort of
thing.  But we really don't need that much anymore.  Modern weapons guide
themselves, they are really accurate and they don't make much of a boom
compared to WW2 and WW3 era weapons.  Modern fighter planes are too
expensive to risk them in a fight anyway.  So now those two big Navy test
ranges can be used for something else.

I can imagine planting huge wind turbines out on those ranges.  No people to
bother, almost no birds out there, too dry.  There would be housing nearby
for the workers to live, in Ridgecrest.  The environmentalists would be
happy, since it would preserve the land for local beasts.  The Navy could
still use it even with a bunch of turbines.  We could do experimental PV
installations near the southern border of the range and use the power
locally and for aluminum and copper production.

Go on Google Maps, enter Ridgecrest California, look around.  In the
summertime you can get scorching sunlight every day for four months in a
row, and good reliable sunlight the rest of the time, as well as crazy wind
for six months.

Nuclear fission isn't the only way to go.

spike