Wind Farms or Coal Mines

[greatguns]

Who was this guy on TV talking about the wind farm at Beaumont?

[Diane Amberg]

Maybe all the wind farms will upset the air currents enough so there would be no more tornadoes.

[pepelect]

There is a good logical reason the windtowers all face east................actually they move with the direction of the wind..

[Tobina+1]

I don't remember who the guy was. You might be able to log on to kwch.com and re-read the story.  He was just a local person; not an expert.  They did interview some experts, but no one said with great certainty that his speculations were correct.  It was like in a court room; they could not deny that it "MIGHT" happen.

I'm sure Pep was joking about moving with the wind.  They don't actually move with the wind; each tower is facing a different direction.  I think it'd be interesting to get the scoop on how they decide which direction to face each tower!  And so far, I don't think any counties around the Beaumont wind towers have suffered from any less tornadoes... at least not this year!

[Rudy Taylor]

Might we be tilting at windmills?

[frawin]

If Queen Nancy and Scary Harry Reid, discover that we are building all of the Wind Powered generators, they will be putting a tax on the project. A WINDFALL WIND TAX. I thought the artivce below would be enlightening to some that had an interest in wind power.
An Overview of Wind Farms

By Richard Chapo

With energy issues becoming a daily subject in the news, wind energy is gaining notoriety. Here is an overview of wind farms and their potential.
A wind farm is simply a collection of wind turbines in a location used to produce electricity. Wind farms can be found in the United States, but are far more prevalent in Europe. China is also beginning to invest large amounts of resources in wind farms as its energy needs grow.

The fundamentals of electricity production through wind farms are pretty simple. Highly efficient wind turbines are placed in locations where they will receive the maximum amount of wind energy. These turbines can be traditional horizontal windmills or vertical eggbeater windmills.

Regardless, the wind turns the blades as it passes, which turns a generator within the turbine. The turning motion converts the wind energy into electricity when the generator cranks, which is then sent into a utility company power grid or stored in batteries. This process is similar to hydropower with wind being used instead of water.

The stereotypical wind farm is an exercise in topography. The goal is to find locations where wind exists as frequently as possible. Put in practical terms, ideal spots are in areas where ground variation occurs as wind is produced when different surface areas heat up at different rates. As each surface heats up, the air rises and cooler air rushes in to replace it. Thus, we have wind. Given this situation, ideal locations for wind farms are often along shorelines or in valleys funneling winds from the shore.

Many people are under the impression that wind farms are located only in areas of land where winds are howling through valleys and over hills. While this is certainly true, the current trend is to build wind farms off the shorelines of countries.

The advantage of offshore wind farms has to do with the frequency and generation of winds. Shorelines represent fertile wind generation areas. On top of this, the open space of the ocean allows winds generated from remote locations to move towards shorelines. If you have ever spent time going sailing, you have an understanding of how strong these winds can be. On top of all of this, placing wind farms in the ocean avoids the cost of buying pricey space on land.

Wind farms are up and functioning in most first world countries. The bigger issue is getting them to produce enough energy at as low a price as possible to make them a viable energy production platform.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more wind farm articles.

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[Diane Amberg]

Are transmission lines a concern? You still have to get the electricity to where it is needed.

[Flintauqua]

I'm sure Pep was joking about moving with the wind.  They don't actually move with the wind; each tower is facing a different direction. 

Tobina,

Check out this link: 

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html#inside

You may want to look at the definition of "yaw drive"

Also, for the most comprehensive "official" source of information on what's going on with wind energy in Kansas, you can click here:

http://www.kansasenergy.org/wind.htm

The site used to be kept up to date very well, but apparently the funding of the hosting entity was cut, so the updates end May 07.  However most all of the links from this page work, and you can really learn alot about wind in Kansas by navigating around.

[Flintauqua]

Are transmission lines a concern? You still have to get the electricity to where it is needed.

As far as transmission goes, check out these two maps:

http://www.kansasenergy.org/documents/WindProjects.pdf

http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/energy/kswindmap.pdf

The first one shows all of the proposed and existing windfarms in Kansas, as well as the transmission lines in the state, as of May 07.

The second one is from Jan 08, and only shows existing farms or ones that are "announced," meaning a buyer for the energy has been secured and groundbreaking has occurred.  However, it gives more detail on the capacity of the transmission lines.

[Flintauqua]

For those thinking solar, check out this map:  (sorry, but it is 7.5MB)

http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/energy/ks_solar_radiation_map.pdf

Read the copy in the lower right hand corner of the second page, a little eye opening.