How Steady Can Wind Power Blow?
rameznaam.com
rameznaam.com
It's not necessarily that turbines are ugly, to me it's the infrastructure necessary to support the turbines that is ugly.
> The average new wind turbine in the US is 80 meters tall at its hub. NREL looks at what capacity factors could be reached with 110 meter tall and 140 meter tall wind turbines.
Additionally it looks to on-shore sites primarily in the Midwest where it's really flat and so these monster turbines could be seen for miles. I would certainly hope people are cool with it considering how green a power source it is, but I thought it was a bit odd that such an in-depth piece left out one of the biggest obstacles to wind power growth.
Farmers I've spoken to absolutely love turbines; they receive a lease payment annually for each one on their property.
Now, if we're going to complain about "eyesores" through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma, perhaps we could address the _actual deaths_ that coal causes first.
An in-depth exploration of the expansion of wind power really should address this obstacle too, because it's just as big as the technical aspects.
Accept that only nuclear and solar meet the needs of consumers and move forward.
"Wind is a credible source of new electricity generation in the United States. Wind power capacity additions in the United States rebounded in 2014, with $8.3 billion invested in 4.9 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity additions. Wind power has comprised 33% of all new U.S. electric capacity additions since 2007. Wind power currently meets almost 5% of the nation’s electricity demand, and represents more than 12% of total electricity generation in nine states, and more than 20% in three states."
"Wind is now the cheapest way to bring new electricity generation to the grid in the US" http://cleantechnica.com/2015/04/13/solar-wind-power-prices-...