Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

(my emphasis)

There are more pleasant ways of dying:rolleyes:
I wonder if Andrew has changed his opinion in the light of current events.

Incidentally there is no comfort in thinking 'it couldn't happen here'.
I recall the Windscale (Sellafield) fire in the late 50s, and today there was a scale 3 earthquake in northern France. The channel coast is where France has most of its nuclear power stations.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

The strongest recorded earthquake in the UK was a 6.1 scale quake in 1931 in the North Sea but it did very little damage and is regarded as an extremely rare occurrence for the area as we are sat in a region of low seismic activity.

In the absence of cold fusion reactors I'm afraid that the nuclear option remains the most clean and efficient for us in the future. Photovoltaic panels and miniature wind turbines on top of every house in the country might be a better way but I can't see it happening anytime soon.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

bring em on, better than nuclear as proven this week !

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

The Japanese nuclear stations were designed and built in the sixties! Think how car safety has progressed in the last 40 odd years, I wouldn't like to have a crash in a sixties car. Nuclear station designs have progressed in the same way, the safety features built in are far superior to those old ones. What alternatives do we have? Wind? How much carbon dioxide is generated making a wind turbine and what do we do on a windless day? Cook on a wood fire? With climate change who knows how many windless days we will have in the future, at least nuclear works all day, every day(well, maybe not in Japan).

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It seems that no one has looked into the problem of icing on blades of turbines. This is more common than you may think and is a very real danger in propeller driven aircraft.
I would not like to be downwind when one of these windfarms shed their rime ice.

Here in the UK we don't have enough sunshine for solar panels, wind is unreliable, maybe we could harness the sea, but in the short term certainly I still don't see any alternative to Nuclear

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I do not have any problems with the aesthetic of wind turbines, providing they are far enough away from hosing - but I do have a problem gettinhg my head around the effect the the "windmills" have on climate change.

I have always believed in the theory that matter cannot be created or destroyed so the energy (wind) that turns the windmill must give up some of it's energy, therefore there is less energy in the wind on the leeward side of the windmill.
Therefore on the leeward side of windfarm, the wind will have given energy to the turbine, and with wind being part of and integral to climate, there must be climate change to some degree.
Perhaps I am missing something and some kind soul will explain it to me.

By the way, I strongly support nuclear power - it is the safest, cleanest, longest lasting scource of power - oh yes, there is a residue, but safe disposal will be found - and that will be better disposal than combustion particulates into peoples longs.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

the way i view neuclear power is no other viable option at the moment, but i wouldnt want to live on the doorstep of one:eek: would any of you who support it?:confused:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

We already live on the doorstep of many nuclear power stations Cashy, just look at how far the fall out from Chernobyl spread and we only live on a small Island.
http://homebrewedtheology.com/wp-con...ut-300x295.jpg

Taken from here:-
It's Not Time For A Nuclear Panic In Japan...Yet | Homebrewed Theology

However I agree with the following quote:-

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

oh i agree, n whilst dealing with the residue will become safer n safer, of that i have no doubt, yeh can Never deal with the Forces of Nature wi great confidence.:eek:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Very true Cashy, we also live very close to Heysham Nuclear power station, ******

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

As the UK is an Island I can't understand why more isn't being made of our coast, & marine powered/generated energy. There are I believe a few operators trialling it & being successful in Scotland on some of the Islands.

Surely it's a better option & nowhere near as annoying & unsightly as wind turbines, plus the tides & wave movement are constants unlike wind which can come & go dependent on the atmospherics on any given day.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It's another power source the environmentalists, (emphasis on the mentalists bit), and the nimby's willingly group together and try their best never to have built.

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

There's a nuclear installation near Preston or there was, I've worked there, had to have one of those badges on when we went on site, when I asked what they were they said something like a shield, the bloody thing was only 3 inch x 4 inch :eek::rolleyes::D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Sitting here in Palm Springs and looking down the valley I can see approx. 1000 wind turbines, it,s a way of life here, yes they look ugly to a visiter but they do the job. As for them "robbing" some of the power from the wind, I'll take that, it might improve my golf game???

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

More like a dosimeter, it collects information which they can read off as to the radiation levels you've been exposed to. The Military had a watch like one the lads would wear in a nuclear environment & the RSM/2ic would take readings daily to assess exposure & survivability of the individual soldier.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

As someone observed they are fine at a distance. There is some noise given off up close. I am not a nuclear fan but it may be the only option?

I met with National Grid who are analysing the supply from Heysham and Sellafield. The latter going from 200 megawatt with a new reactor to 3.6 gigawatt. A whole new electricity backbone will have to be put in place.

At the moment we have a large DC connection with France, mostly nuclear and Holland I think to keep the lights on in an emergency or maintain flows.

Long term energy security should come from the Mediterranean (no Libya quips) and the sun. I cannot see why large 'sun farms' cannot be built in Spain and Morocco?

Interesting post about the transfer of matter/energy.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I can guarantee that, couple of years ago we were fishing in Holland on a canal which forms part of the boundaries to the reclaimed land/island that is Lelystadt. The whole Island has these wind turbines dotted all over its surface & we were sat about 300 mtrs from one of these things, a constant swishing/whumming for over 7 hours, it was more felt than heard, so no, not ideal.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Wind Turbines are a very inefficient way of producing energy.
Isn't it time that tides were used to generate electricity? After all they are constant and reliable, which the wind isn't........and in some situations, where the wind speed is high, they have to be turned off....a crazy way to produce energy.

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

Yes DinG, they are in fact Dosimeters - a small piece of a type of photographic film which "fogged" when exposed to certain wavelength bands - the nasty ones.
We had to wear 2, one on our left lapel and the other on the cuff - depended whether you were R or L handed.

I think that would have been Springfields Jay. They manufactured parts/equipment for the nuclear industry - not just power stations.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

A major earthquake and then a tsunami and a 50 year old power station survives. Yes it's in a mess but they haven't had meltdown and the only people to suffer more than mild radiation are three workers who went wading through the cooling water without wearing the proper protective boots, and they should be OK. So what would a modern station survive?
Think how many people have died in coal mines and with the effects of coal burning(in our sunny east Lancs valleys?) I might not like the view but I wouldn't be afraid of living near a nuclear station- better than having electricity cuts every time the wind drops.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

oh i do apologise i just started another thread with this!!!sorry xx

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

I know Dave it was tongue in cheek mate, the smileys were the give away:rolleyes::D

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

Ya Barrie Springfields, It had a sign outside saying British Nuclear fuels Ltd , that was back in 76

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

I always thought that squaddies were checked at night - if they glowed in the dark they had either received a high dose of radiation or eaten too much Ready Brek for breakfast:D:D:D

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

If Squaddies are glowing in the dark it's a fair bet it's down to Alcohol :)

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

Probably a racing cert Dave:D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

can anyone with a bit of technical/electrical knowledge tell us how much bigger % wise 3.6 gigawatt is over 200 megawatt .... seems heck of a lot :confused:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

200 megawatt = 200,000,000 watts

3.6 gigawatt = 3,600,000,000 watts

So it's only 18 times as big.

:eek:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

The Germans are coming.

Invasion imminent.

Energiekontor has reached financial close for its €75m Hyndburn wind farm in Lancashire.
http://renews.biz/story.php?page_id=74&news_id=620

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Good.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

they said that in 39 n were still waiting.:D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Better if it were a British company, who were about to profit massively from the winds that blow across Lancashire.

Better still, if the ugly thinks were stuck out in the Irish Sea, where they couldn't be viewed as a blot on the landscape.

Even better than both, if a British company was harvesting tidal power, of which we have some of the most dramatic on the planet.

As you can guess, I'm not a German sympathiser, and therefore don't think this news is particularly good.

;)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Perhaps they decided they preferred Jerseys with their Bratwursts, rather than Ormskirks.

:rolleyes::D

Well I think it's good, that's why I said,


Good.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

As is your right.

I don't, and eleborated on that, by giving reasons why.

Which didn't take a great deal of energy.

:)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I'd think it good if prisoners had to cycle for eight hours a day on exercise bikes, providing power for the National Grid, if they wanted anything other than gruel.

:rolleyes::D

I know that your main objection to wind farms is that they don't come in pastille colours, I didn't elaborate on that either.
Germans are building these things because we haven't the infra structure to do it ourselves, a shame, in fact, an absolute disgrace, but I am really glad someone is doing it.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

My main objection isn't aesthetic.

I whole heartedly support renewable energy.

I think it much more preferable if it was British companies that were profiting, and that hydro-electric energy is less damaging to the environment.

Oh, and I'd think it 'good' if they rolled out the pedalling prisoner scheme to the work-shy.

:)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Mainly because I've experienced the benefits.

It was fun growing up in a house which still had electricity, generated from wind power, whilst every other house in the county was plunged into darkness, caused by the power cuts in the seventies.

Hell, even the swimming pool my dad built was heated by solar panels.

So, I know the positives, yet still dislike the gigantic German owned wind farms, springing up all over our countryside, that have a negative impact on the environment.

That, I think, isn't so good.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Another negative.

The energy that powers these windmills isn't a constant.

Unlike the hydro-electricity which could be generated by tidal power, which is a constant, around the 11,000+ miles of our mainland coast.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Not to sure about 'tidal' being a constant , granted high tide happens approximatley twice a day , but don't think the volume of water moved is a constant , even the Severn Bore only runs at 'full blast' a few times of the year ,.... not sure when we get the biggest tides, full moon or new moon but you can be sure it wil probably work out the street lamps will shine during a full moon and be dimmed on a moonless nights . Happen a "Dam" or even better a compacted landfill project across the Ribble estuary (Southport to St.Annes ) would be the place to test tidal power , or an even simplar solution modify/add reversible turbines to the Thames Barrier structure , many of the loudest 'greenies' seem to live in London , let them be the canaries down the coalmine ;) :D :D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

not being 'picky' but shouldn't that read "11,000+ miles of our island coast" Europe being the mainland ;)

:flamethro :hidewall: :whip:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Feel free.

Be picky.

What I posted was correct.

Sod Europe being our mainland.

We are an island nation.

The British Isles.

Only counting the mainland, our coastline is 11,073 miles in length.

If the larger islands are included, this increases the length to 19,491 miles.

;)

Our tides are constantly moving.

Any movement can be harvested to generate energy.

These generators could be floating, to capture this movement.

The energy created just from the mouth of Morecambe Bay could power much of the north west.

The fact that hydro-electricity is mainly being ignored, isn't good, in my opinion.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

so wheres your argument abut a Severn Bore barrier or the Thames thingy ...sorry its late night here ;)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

No where, because I think they should be being used to generate power.

:)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

why would you want to stop your 'Goddess' the most blessed Harriet Harmon from surfing the Severn Bore up to Bistol , thats if she can get her fat ass vertical on a surfboard ..........
got to love the quote from another thread ,,, she's got an ass like a circus elephant ... seems to sum up labour wimen :D ;)

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

That's no way to talk about Hapless Harriet, she already has her cross and torch to carry :rolleyes::D

Re: Wind Farm anyone?
 

Yes, the old torch the Conservatives used to have.

Until they ditched it, in favour of the new Tory Lite emblem, of the hoodie hugger.

;)

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Like you G, I feel that tidal energy would be much more sensible.
I am not against green energy, but I am against being brainwashed to accept these hideous monstrosities blighting our land, and us having the idea that we must accept them because they are eco friendly........I have a Royle-ism answer to that theory.
These wind farms are not efficient....and the wind isn't always blowing....and if it blows above a certain level they turn the damned things off(or at least that is what I have read).
The water around our island is forever moving...movement causes energy...energy which we could and should harvest.
Sewage also produces energy...we should use that too.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

[quote=garinda;929289]
"It was fun growing up in a house which still had electricity, generated from wind power, whilst every other house in the county was plunged into darkness, caused by the power cuts in the seventies.

Hell, even the swimming pool my dad built was heated by solar panels."

Swimming about in a heated pool! We were having great fun sitting round the kitchen table in candle light and playing cards with our coats on to keep warm -you don't know what you were missing;):D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It would be a marvellous thing to be able to harness that enery - they don't really invest enough in the necessary research though -probably never will while those who control the energy markets and oil are so powerful a lobby. Also on the scientific side, any major intervention of that kind would be bound to have equally major side-effects on the coast line and the various ecosystems which are inter-connected on coastal areas...

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I am pretty sure that they could be no worse than the eyesores dotted not just around our green country side, but also placed in the sea off shore....anyway back to the sewage!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Oh yes, and while I am at it...don't most landfill sites produce methane gas?......Why can't that be harnessed too?........Oh yes the guys producing the oil and the eastern european countries selling us the gas(which they could at any point turn off, thereby holding us to ransom) wouldn't like it.
When did we turn into this lily livered lot?

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Successive governments want us to be 'green'...to stave off climate change, and yet they choose the most inefficient means of going about it.
I'll put my soapbox away now I have got that off my chest.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I was passing the wind farm on Kebs road a few weeks ago and saw the chaps replacing a gear box on the top of one. they really are big things.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...n/DSCF3967.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...n/DSCF3978.jpg

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Can't find it now but wasn't there a post saying that the gearboxes burn out(literally) after a short time? So how old is the windfarm on Kebs Road and is this the first g/box to go?

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I don't know how long they last but that was the first time I have seen the big crane working up there and I go over once or twice a month.


I found this article in the Todmorden news and pasted part of it.


Coal Clough wind turbine proposal - half numbers, but higher in the sky


Published on Wednesday 21 January 2009 08:34

PROPOSALS to renew wind turbines on moorland above Todmorden are being submitted to neighbouring Burnley Council, a scheme which will cost around £30 million.

Scottish Power Renewables are looking to make changes at the site, at Coal Clough, Cliviger - land which although it falls under the Lancashire council's jurisdiction borders Kebs Road above Cornholme and can be clearly seen from several parts of Todmorden.

The company is proposing to reduce the number of turbines, from 22 to 12, but the replacement turbines, although fewer in number, will be up to 100 metres high as opposed to the current turbines which are around 60 metres when the blade tip is at its highest, said a spokesman.

Mr Christie said the existing turbines, which had been in place since about
1992, had reached the end of their life and improvements in technology meant the new turbines would be taller but fewer in number.

Mr Christie said the existing turbines had a 9.4 megawatts of energy capacity while the new turbines would have a capacity of about 20 megawatts of power, the equivalent of 11,500 homes.

Coal Clough, he said, was "a very, very good windfarm, producing some very good figures

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

coal clough is a very good windfarm...when the wind is blowing.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

More often than not Margaret, it always seems to be when I go past.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

[quote=Gremlin;929879]I don't know how long they last but that was the first time I have seen the big crane working up there and I go over once or twice a month.


Mr Christie said the existing turbines, which had been in place since about
1992, had reached the end of their life and improvements in technology meant the new turbines would be taller but fewer in number.
19 years old, and reached the end of their life.
I wonder how much energy was used in manufacturing them, and how much they have actually produced in their short life.
Are they worth it, or are we being bambozzled again.
Retlaw.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Bamboozled sounds about right to me Retlaw.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Isnt the biggest hydroelectric we have the one in Wales that is not really a power station as such but more of a big water battery?

I agree with both Less and Garinda, its good we are getting them but would be better if it was being done by a British company. If our Government helped out our industry like they do in Germany we might be in better shape here.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Did our government not used to own the energy suppliers? and did a certain "Bitch" not sell em off?:rolleyes:

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I am not big on nationalised companies and none of them appear to have been managed very well but I do like the idea of them if that makes sense?

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

it does to me, if snouts were kept outa the trough, if that makes sense to you.?

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I had a tour around the hydroelectric power station at llanberis a couple of years ago. It is consists of two big lakes, one at the top of a mountain and one at the bottom. The turbines are hdden in the mountain and water rushes through during the day to produce electricty. At night, when electricity is cheaper the water is pumped back up again. There are no pylons to be seen anywhere and apart from a Visitors centre you wouldn't know about it. The tour takes you right around the underground installations in coaches, full size ones, that's how big the workings are.
The pictures below were scanned from the brochure they give you with your entrance ticket.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...n/img004-3.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...n/img003-3.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...n/img002-4.jpg

You get chance to get right alongside the machinery and we all had to wear hard hats.
.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Yes, we have been there too...it is called Electric Mountain.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

ugly? or add to the landscape? took this morning whilst at Jackhouse Res

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

For me personally. The ugliness far outweighs there usefulleness.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I would rather have them on the hill near me than a nuclear power station up there

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

im in two minds to be honest, i wouldnt like to see them up the lakes for example, but i think they bring something to the skyline of towns, and as neil says lot better than nuclear power on the outskirts of town, would i have one in the garden if it was cheap enough and it would reduce my eleccy bill, damn right!

couple more i took this morning

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Well here in Morecambe we've got two nuclear power stations down the road at Heysham and turbines on various hills in the vicinity. If we want leccy I'm afraid that's the price we have to pay for progress - until they put a barrage across Morecambe Bay that is!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

artistic impression of alternative, i know what i would rather have above the town!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Very unlikely to get a nuclear power station on the moors - they are built on the coast to use seawater for cooling and hence don't have cooling towers. Darren's pic is probably a nasty old fashioned coalfired beast.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It's been a lovely day today, sun, cold, no wind.
What was supplying the electric which kept your central heating pump running, your oven on etc.?

Not the useless windfarms which you pay subsidies for even when they're sat there 70/80% of the time not generating anything but an eyesore.
No. it was the coal, gas and nuclear power stations.

You can blanket the UK in wind farms and on a day like today you'll sit and shiver if you're relying on them for even a small percentage of your power. Industry will have to switch off, offices shut, electric trains stop.

Power has to be reliable and available 100% of the time- we rely on it totally. Wind farms can never promise that.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Is it at Llanberis or Dinorwig? Went to the one at Dinorwig a few times during and after commissioning. Did not realise there was one at Llanberis.

Dinorwig Power Station (1,728MW)
The Dinorwig Power Station in Wales was commission in 1984 and has a huge 1.7GW power rating. 10 miles of underground tunnels buried beneath Elidir mountain carry water down from Marchlyn Mawr to the six 288MW turbine generators situated in Europe's largest man-made cavern. During construction 12 million tonnes of material was excavated and 1 million tonnes of concrete and 4,500 tonnes of steel used. A schematic diagram is displayed below:


- See more at: UK Hydro Power Stations - Hydro

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Ugly, Obscene they blocked off my tv reception

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Don't worry, with the generating gap they're forecasting in the next few years you won't be able to switch your tv on for part of the day. But you'll be able to entertain yourself watching your wind farm running(if it's windy) knowing that someone else is getting their share of that days energy ration from it.
If it's not windy you'll have to take up knitting-sweaters.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It suppose it would be Dinorwig Barrie, I called it Llanberis because that is where the visitors centre is and where the underground tour starts.
If you look back at the pictures of the brochure I scanned it does state it is at Llanberis.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

i have virgin, so tv doesnt bother me, I'm alright jack! lol

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

It will when the electric cuts off!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

dynamo n bike on bricks it is then!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I like them, I find them impressive, and photogenic. Apart from visibility, they have not had any effect on me, I may feel different if they goosed my telly.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I noticed that G but was really confused. It is some years since I was there and I approached from a different direction than from Llanberis Pass. I have the vision that the 2 lakes on the road into Llanberis are at a similar level - actually camped in the valley in I suppose '53/54 with AGS. Maybe the grey cells have emigrated at last:D

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Thats because you are in a fringe reception area and you had your aerial pointing to the wrong transmitter. Your complaint should not be about windfarms but about being unable to receive the same channels from repeater masts as you can from the main masts.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I hate the things. They are useless lumps of ugly engineering.......they blight the landscape and make very little electricity, but lots of money for foreign companies(although the blades are made in the Isle of Wight).
If we really are serious about green energy then we have to look at tidal power.
We have a vast coastline, tides that are reliable and this could generate power on an impressive scale....far better than these inefficient turbines ever could.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Picture the scene, Outside it is a frosty winter's day, snow all around.
The trees look beautiful covered in snow, not a breath of wind to disturb the picture.
You're sat by you electric fire, which isn't functioing because the wind turbines are not turning.

Yes hydro power is the wayforward.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Except when the tide turns and all the lights go out. There is no single solution

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

How are you measuring the efficiency of them?
They use no fuel as such so you can't look at the ratio between the energy in the fuel and the amount of electricity generated as you would most other forms of generation

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

At least we are building wind turbines which go some way if only a little to meeting our demands. We're still wrangling about where new nuclear stations should be and the likelihood of a Severn barrage seems as far off as ever.

We need a mixture of all forms of supply to make sure the lights stay on - and we need it now, not in twenty years time.

Nuclear power in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BBC News - Severn barrage: Pre-election consent not likely - Barker

Severn Barrage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

The tide 'turns' at at different times all round the UK so there will never be a time when every hydro generator is dead at the same time.
Get a good high pressure zone over the UK and every wind turbine could be sat there asleep generating nothing except cash for its foreign owners.

No, I agree there is no single solution but if we don't build nuclear and gas power stations soon you'll be checking your(wind up) clock to see if it's your turn to switch the lights on.
Half the Government are on the boards of 'Green Energy' companies so how unbiased is it?
We're sat on 300 years of coal which we can't mine or use and 50 to 100 years of gas in Lancashire and we're held to ransom by power companies, all foreign owned, who won't build gas generators because they'd be on standby half the time and won't build nuclear stations because we won't guarantee them an obscene amount per KW.
Will the German and French companies care if our power is off half the time? It won't go off in Germany or France so no problem.
No, they'll say it's in short supply so they'll have to charge us more for the bit we get.
We're sinking under the weight of incompetence.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

I looked at a site where the efficiency of these objects was measured....it is quite a while ago now, and I can't remember which site itwas(ah the joys of getting older)....but the figures were abysmal for the outlay.......and it was noted that they could not be turned on in certain conditions.
While I accept that tides come and go, isn't it possible for the electricity which is generated by the tides to be stored?....and at least the tides are going to turn up twice each day....without fail...which cannot be said of the wind.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Margaret, replacement battery packs for those silly electric cars can cost over £10,000 and they're basically thousands of watch batteries wired together. And the stupid cars still won't do much over 100 miles.
And as the electric they use comes from gas/coal/atomic stations which are only 60% efficient the cars aren't that green anyway.
At the moment we don't have any way of storing bulk electricity- we have to generate it as we want it. And when we wan't it-not just when it's windy!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Well how did the economy seven system work then....I thought it stored electricity overnight to use during the day.
Yes, I have always thought the electric cars were a bit daft.........after all the power still has to be generated, but hope is on the horizon...I'm sure I read that someone has made an engine that runs on water....causes no pollution and is 'green'.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Hydroelectric plants like the one in Wales are used to sort of store electricity. When they have spare power they pump water up the hill, when they need electricity the water up the hill turns the turbines on its way back down.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Economy seven does not store electricity. Coal fired power stations can't be switched off quickly so there is often an excess of power at night so they encourage people to use more at night and less during the day by selling it to you cheaper. You pre heat storage heaters and hot water cylinders at night and use that heat and hot water during the day.

Storage heaters have always been rubbish in my opinion, I have lived in a few houses with them.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

That's not storing electricity- it's storing water so you can use it to generate part of the electricity you used to pump it back up in the first place.
They don't have 'spare' power- they buy cheap electricity at night rates from conventional power stations to pump the water up and sell electricity to the grid during the day when it's needed at higher rates- that's how they pay for themselves.

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

fossil fuel is dead!

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

couldnt decide on either of these resposes so posting both

response 1: lol

response 2 : thanks to thatcher

Re: Windfarm anyone?
 

Wireless electricity - would have been free, but Nikola Teslas's sponsor withdrew financial support for the invention because "where would we put the meter?".:rolleyes:


Free electricity is not compatible with our present capitalist system (based on oil/gas)
Nikola Tesla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This video is long and very technical - the mention of free wireless electricity is at about 24 to 27 minutes in the video.
Nikola Tesla - The Untold Story - YouTube


PS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_energy_suppression