Monday, October 08, 2007

Dick's response to Marlyn Bacon

It sounds like you have not researched wind turbines. They are wind turbines and not windmills. They are not a new technology as they have been installed in Europe for over 30 yrs and the US for over 20 yrs.

They do not make electricity when the wind is not blowing. They also do not run at capacity when the wind blows under 35 mph. They also do not run when the winds are 55 mph. So you will get electricity from them when the wind window is from about 10 mph to about 55 mph.

Denmark has been using wind turbines for 30 yrs and has never shut down any power plant that runs on fossil fuel. No country that has installed wind turbines has ever decommissioned a power plant that uses oil, coal, natural gas or nuclear energy. Denmark buys electricity from bordering countries even with all their wind turbines

When a representative of a wind company makes statements that a wind turbine will power X amount of homes he is not telling the whole truth. That statement is for when the turbine has the right amount of wind to run at capacity. Here in New York state they only produce electricity 30% of the time. Of that 30% only 1/3 is used as the other 2/3 is produced when it is not needed. This data was produced by General Electric at the request of the state of New York.

I am not against wind turbines if they are not destroying the landscape of the state of New York. That they pay the same tax rates as all the other business and industry pays in the state. That all the people are hired from the state of New York for the construction and operation of the wind farms. That they have a 3,000 foot setback from any other persons property line. That the people that represent the wind company are honest about the facts of wind turbines and wind farms.

What the people in the US need to know is that wind farms will not replace power plants that use fossil fuels to make electricity. To imply that they will is leading the people of the US down a road of lies and untruths.

Yes we have to do something about our energy consumption. The fastest way to do this is called conservation and every person has the ability to do that. Conserving energy is immediate and costs individuals no moneys.

People need to research things before they say yes to any major changes in their community and not just see dollars and say yes.

I wonder if your dislike for people that are not for wind farms is because you own land that has the potential for wind turbines and you are looking at the dollars.

I don't like to subsidize something that is not going to fix the problem be it electricity or any other problem.

True progress is when one finds a solution to a problem and wind farms are not a fix or a solution to our energy needs.

Dick dicksrag@frontiernet.net

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