wind

Mark P. Mills, economics21.org, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute: Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of nonrecyclable plastic. Solar power requires even more cement, steel and glass—not to mention other metals. Global silver and indium mining will jump 250% and 1,200%. World demand for rare-earth elements—which aren’t rare but are rarely mined in America—will rise 300% to 1,000% by 2050 to meet the Paris green goals. If electric vehicles replace conventional cars, demand for cobalt and lithium, will rise more than 20-fold. That doesn’t count batteries to back up wind and solar grids.

John Shanahan, civil engineer, editor allaboutenergy.net: The American 2020 election in November will have perhaps the biggest consequences of any election in its history. CHOICE ONE: huge, even one-world government, where a few ideologues opposed to rules for a Republic established by the Founding Fathers pretend to solve all the country's energy, economic and social problems. CHOICE TWO: small government with maximum freedom for all. The choices are crystal clear and will take the United States either to a beautiful place with plentiful energy and prosperity or to where everyone is dependent on the government in a miserable economy. Wind and solar energy or fossil fuels and nuclear power. Don't decide on the personalities of the individual candidates. Decide on what they will deliver for you and our country.

Jon Boone, environmentalist, naturalist, bird and nature artist, wind energy expert: There is little that is cognitively more dissonant than supporting the concept of minimizing the human footprint on the earth while cheer leading for the rude intrusiveness of physically massive/energy feckless wind projects. The slap and tickle of wind propaganda flatters the gullible, exploits the well intentioned, and nurtures the craven. It is made possible because there’s no penalty for lying in the energy marketplace. "Greenpeace and others protesting CO2 and global warming, based on a mere BELIEF, like any other religion, is as laughable (if it weren't for their willful and unlawful disruption of honest TAX-PAYING citizens' lives) as demanding the government 'do something' about the length of daylight, or the force of gravity, or the composition of Jupiter.

Paul Driessen, Committee For A Constuctive Tomorrow: As an Australia-wide heat wave sent temperatures soaring above 105 degrees F (40.6 C) in early 2017, air conditioning demand skyrocketed. But Adelaide, South Australia is heavily dependent on wind turbines for electricity generation – and there was no wind. Regulators told the local natural gas-fired power plant to ramp up its output, but it couldn’t get enough gas to do so. To avoid a massive, widespread blackout, regulators shut off power to 90,000 homes, leaving angry families sweltering in the dark.

Most of my friends support the content of 2,800 articles about energy on the website: allaboutenergy.net. Some live in doubt and fear of carbon dioxide, the molecule of life, thinking it causes catastrophic global warming, hate fossil fuels, and fear nuclear power. Haven’t been able to convince them that these things are safe and necessary in the modern world. Win some. Lose some. Don’t worry. Be Happy!

Nuclear power is one of the safest things mankind has ever developed, even with the accidents of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. Nuclear medicine, nuclear technologies, and nuclear science will make the future even greater.

Driving a car, riding a bicycle, meeting friends, playing sports, going to church, using the Internet, lying in bed, and attending family reunions are riskier than living near a nuclear power plant designed to standards of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, and the USA. Probably also China and Russia.

During a press conference held in Paris on December 2, 2015, Dr. James Hansen provided an explanation of what he called a simple market-based approach to address CO2 emissions. He suggests that a worldwide fee on all hydrocarbon fuels could be assessed at the domestic mine or port of entry. Hansen believes that cap and trade has been tried and has failed.

Paul Driessen is senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and author of Eco-Imperialism: Green power - Black death. Worry less about manmade climate cataclysms – and more about cataclysms caused by policies promoted in the name of controlling Earth’s climate. Don’t force-feed us with today’s substandard, subsidized, pseudo-sustainable, pseudo-renewable energy systems. When better, more efficient, more practical energy technologies are developed, they will replace fossil fuels. Until then, we would be crazy to go down the primrose path to renewable energy utopia.

Paul Driessen, senior policy analyst for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org): Demands that the world replace fossil fuels with wind, solar and biofuel energy – to prevent supposed catastrophes caused by man-made global warming and climate change – ignore three fundamental flaws. 1) The unprecedented warming and disasters are not happening. 2) The process of convicting oil, gas, coal and carbon dioxide emissions of climate cataclysms has been unscientific and disingenuous. 3) Renewable energy proponents pay little or no attention to land and raw material requirements, and associated environmental impacts, of wind, solar and biofuel programs on scales required to meet mankind’s current and growing energy needs, especially as poor countries improve their living standards.

• Earth’s temperature has risen by 0.14° F (0.08° C) per decade since 1880, and the rate of warming over the past 40 years is more than twice that: 0.32° F (0.18° C) per decade since 1981.

The website: allaboutenergy.net doesn't raise a question about NOAA’s climate data although others do raise the question of manipulation and misinterpretation. We question conclusions about atmospheric CO2 being the main driver of Earth's climate and claims that controlling atmospheric CO2 will control Earth's climate. Furthermore, we question claims that extracting CO2 from the atmosphere or limiting emissions from fossil fuels will control CO2 in the atmosphere. We think that CO2 emissions from vast CO2 reservoirs in the oceans and life on land are dominant controls of long-term atmospheric CO2.

Jon Boone, environmentalist, naturalist, bird and nature artist, wind energy expert: The headlines are that offshore wind energy is revving up. Wind remains a key resource in the “all of the above” arsenal of energy supply promulgated by two Secretary of Energy yardbirds. Wind opposition remains stuck in its “not in my backyard” orientation because so few have even bothered to grasp the reasons for its utter power dysfunction. It can’t even produce modern power. This is central toward understanding why wind continues to have traction in the public square. Along with the wink and a nod from the usual suspects leading the conventional generation crowd, who have always understood that, the more wind generation, the more need for—uh—fossil fuels. Wink, wink—nod....

Jon Boone, environmentalist, naturalist, bird and nature artist, wind energy expert: The raison d'etre of the wind industry is to abate significant levels of greenhouse gas emissions many feel are causing precipitous and adverse warming trends in earth's climate. Wind technology is sold as an alternative source of power to coal-fired plants. .. .. .. Those who claim that wind technology can abate meaningful levels of CO2 emissions would admire the three-pack a day guy who decides to improve his health by smoking four packs of filtered cigarettes instead.

Jon Boone, environmentalist, naturalist, bird and nature artist, wind energy expert: Every major claim made by those who would profit, either financially or ideologically, from wind technology is replete with Owellian doublespeak . Despite the promise of many jobs in the USA, for example, wind provides almost no permanent employment while most wind manufacturing will migrate to China, as much of it has already.

John Shanahan is a civil engineer and past president of Go Nuclear, Inc. and Environmentalists for Nuclear - USA: There is a titanic struggle regarding nuclear energy, fossil fuels, wind, solar and bio-fuels and the topic of man-made global warming and man-made sea level rise. This article presents the position of the website: allaboutenergy.net. The right combination of energy sources and position on the topic of catastrophic man-made global warming and sea-level rise is extremely important for humanity, the environment and all of nature.

Bill McKibben, founder of the grassroots climate campaign - website 350.org: Titled “The Sky’s the Limit,” a report by the London-based think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative begins by declaring that “solar and wind potential is far higher than that of fossil fuels and can meet global energy demand many times over.” Scientists have long noted that the sun directs more energy to the Earth in an hour than humans use in a year. But, until very recently, it was too expensive to capture that power. That’s what has shifted. On the actual Earth, circa 2021, the report reads, “with current technology and in a subset of available locations we can capture at least 6,700 PWh p.a. [petawatt-hours per year] from solar and wind, which is more than 100 times global energy demand.”

This idea, while numerically accurate, ignores the facts that solar (and wind) energy have the least energy density by far and are not always available and are not steady. All basic essentials for a successful modern world with respect for the environment and wildlife habitat.

Mike Conley and Tim Maloney: This is an excellent detailed, easy to follow analysis of Stanford University Professor of Civil Engineering, Mark Jacobson's claim that the world can acquire all the electrical energy it needs from wind turbines and solar panels. In short, Jacobson's claim is not achievable and a waste of money and time. What are the most important roles of the sun? 1) Heat the planet to livable conditions, 2) Evaporate ocean water, 3) Cause plants to grow and be the basis of the food chain, 4) Cause wind to bring the evaporated ocean water over the land and drop it as rain and snow. Electricity from wind and solar besides being unreliable and unpredictable is extremely dilute. As the authors clearly point out, replacing worn out solar panels on Jacobson's grand scheme would require tremendous amounts of replacement parts every day and the Earth doesn't have easy access to all these materials. The authors point the way with nuclear. Good reading for everyone.

Sierra Club: Wind energy is the fastest-growing source of power in the world. Who has heard something similar about investing in a fast growing stock that for one reason or other, disappears slowly or rapidly from a public listing? Did the world abandon sailing ships and wind mills? Why would the world turn to wind turbines for generating electricity that has to have steady, tightly controlled service 24/7? For other opinions see articles by John Droz and Jon Boone on this website.