Would you rather see Wind Turbines or solar farms?

Oops, I was thinking this topic was about aesthetics rather than money…🙃! There’s an oil well on the capitol grounds in Oklahoma City, Ok that has made the state a lot of money over the past 80 plus years.….but pretty, it ain’t! Oh…I have my own land…and it is and will remain pastoral.
It is more about looks, sound etc.
 
there is no free lunch or free power.

modern nuclear, coal, lng, petroleum power plants. more efficient electric power transmission grids and internal combustion engines. solar- and wind-power are tax-dodge, virtue-signaling indulgences of the worry-free, well-fed and well-off.

i spent my youth’s summers in a northern cottage without electricity or running water. as a kid it was fun, for my parents it was more work. as an adult i’ve spent enough time in less developed countries to know how valuable is reliable power.

if you want to live a preindustrial life of limits and shortages go try it. please don’t drag me down the gutter with you.
 
Pretty much sums up what they do to the wildlife
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Neither one. They ruin the landscape.

Put them in the cities. Those are already ruined.
exactly. Just what I was thinking.
Solar panels are from China, and China is more than happy to have your dollars.
Windmills are from China, and they make all the batteries too... Lithium Ion batteries as in Tesla cars.
Keep your LI batteries charged ... or they are dead. As in not able to be resurrected by any amount of charging. Very expensive.
If we covered the world in solar panels and wind farms, it would not meet the energy needs.
The United States has more oil underground in Alaska than Saudi Arabia. How do I know this? I had a somewhat confidential conversation with an Exxon Mobil executive in a parking lot when I lived in Florida. Don't remember the rest of the details ... but it was fascinating. We are / could be energy independent. We just need to use what we have.
 
exactly. Just what I was thinking.
Solar panels are from China, and China is more than happy to have your dollars.
Windmills are from China, and they make all the batteries too... Lithium Ion batteries as in Tesla cars.
Keep your LI batteries charged ... or they are dead. As in not able to be resurrected by any amount of charging. Very expensive.
If we covered the world in solar panels and wind farms, it would not meet the energy needs.
The United States has more oil underground in Alaska than Saudi Arabia. How do I know this? I had a somewhat confidential conversation with an Exxon Mobil executive in a parking lot when I lived in Florida. Don't remember the rest of the details ... but it was fascinating. We are / could be energy independent. We just need to use what we have.
They are changing their stance on the dollars and decoupling from the US. Dollars are not backed with anything, can be printed without consideration for the consequences, and on top of that, they can be confiscated at any moment like what has happened to few countries already.

You are correct about hydrocarbons, we have large reserves. And that is the reason that the new Inflation Reduction Act requires drilling on federal lands but the renewables are optional and cannot happen without drilling for oil first.

We are in the midst of seismic changes in everything, lets' hope we make it through.
 
Coal fired power plants with the coal miners back to work, coke plants and the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Allentown turning out the best high carbon steel in the world, and diesel trucks and diesel/electric trains delivering the finished products.

I dunno. I remember back in the early 90s (before the US steel industry imploded) my materials science prof was talking about how the absolute best high carbon steel was made in Japan.

As an aside, I've talked to a few people who dealt with boilers for steam locomotives in California. For any kind of passenger railroad they have to rebuild the boilers and get inspected by Cal OSHA's amusement ride division, and possibly their biggest concern in rebuilding is the quality and cost of the steel. Some cheap out and get really crappy steel.
 
exactly. Just what I was thinking.
Solar panels are from China, and China is more than happy to have your dollars.
Windmills are from China, and they make all the batteries too... Lithium Ion batteries as in Tesla cars.

Not sure if it's different in Chinese made versions, but Tesla's battery supplier is Panasonic coming out of Japan.
 
I could understand it, but apparently all US-built Tesla vehicles have Panasonic cylindrical cells made in Japan.


Now that I think about it, that plant might be for Tesla ‘s China production among other EV automakers.

Panasonic announced their new Kansas plant not too long ago.
 
I just read today that nuclear power is the future here. I just hope they put the nuclear power plants in locations where 'greenies' live.
 
I just read today that nuclear power is the future here. I just hope they put the nuclear power plants in locations where 'greenies' live.
If you love them, why don't you want it in your backyard?
 
If you love them, why don't you want it in your backyard?
I don't mind nuclear plants that are done correctly...I actually live near the recently closed 'Indian Point' nuclear plant whose closing made us more dependent on 'fossil fuel' ....I totally dislike the hypocrites who support 'certain things' as long as doesn't affect them ...Martha's Vineyard, Aspen, Beverly Hills etc...come to mind....
 
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I watched an offshore wind documentary on an LH flight:
With no mention - here is what I know came from oil & gas

1. The metocean test tank and technology
2. the fabrication methods and facilities
3. the heavy lift vessels to install
4. the marine support - at many levels
5. the technology to move from bottom supported to floating
6. offshore survival training
7. drill under equipment and personnel
8. the resins to build blades etc
9. fuel and lubes

Again - zero mention - they even pretended to invent concepts
 
There was a group of scientist trying to developed a water ( ocean wave ) generated power source. Some type of pods that are anchored (long line) to allow some movement with tides etc... wired to the coasts to send the power generated by the waves. Read about this a few times and it kind of dropped. Maybe they could not work it out. Just like the hydrogen ideas. Seems like they all put the hydrogen on the back burner as well.
It lacked the density to be economically viable at scale. There have been all sorts of attempts to harness waves, the tide...etc but the problem is that the power density is horrifically low, even lower than wind, even though it is more consistent. The ocean is also a very harsh environment and durability is an issue.
 
As long as we aren't trying to replace firm generation? Solar all day. Put it on rooftops to displace peaking requirements and that way it isn't taking up useful land. Pair it with some moderate storage, because it has a predictable output profile, to cover the morning/evening ramps. Of course installed capacity has to be limited to not displace clean baseload, you just want to displace peaking, which is the demand profile solar best pairs with.

Wind produces grossly out of phase with demand most of the time, making it far more difficult to pair with storage than solar, so you end up pairing it with gas to firm it at the duration required, so it doesn't have the emissions reduction one might assume at first blush.
 
It can't be forgotten that to replace 1,000MW of thermal requires 4,000MW of solar or wind, PLUS storage.

So what's "cheap" per nameplate, or produced MW, when it comes to just pumping available energy into the grid becomes very expensive and complex when it come to providing energy when thte econsumers and industry want to use it.

Interesting watching commentary on a lcoal storage project (350MW for 8 hours, pumped hydro), the antis are focussed on the round trip losses of 15-20%...'zackerly the same as the Hornsdale battery...but that's the cost of storage, any storage...charge your phone charger from a battery to charge your phone...all losses.
 
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