Windfarm anyone?

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

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).

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.

[cashman]

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 would any of you who support it?

[Less]

Originally Posted by cashman

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 would any of you who support it?

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.


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

However I agree with the following quote:-

Originally Posted by Barrie Yates

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

[cashman]

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.

[Boeing Guy]

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

[DaveinGermany]

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.

[Less]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

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.

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.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Boeing Guy

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

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

[ossy kid]

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???

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by jaysay

when I asked what they were they said something like a shield, the bloody thing was only 3 inch x 4 inch

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.

[g jones]

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.

[DaveinGermany]

Originally Posted by g jones

As someone observed they are fine at a distance. There is some noise given off up close.

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.

[Margaret Pilkington]

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.

[Barrie Yates]

Originally Posted by DaveinGermany

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.

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.

[Gordon Booth]

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.