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Ronin045 5 points ago +5 / -0

Those numbers are off by a magnitude. But yes. The same goes for fuel cell batteries with rare metals and solar panels to an extent. The only thing feasibly able to replace hydrocarbons is nuclear power and water power. We should of spent the last 40 years developing a better nuclear power program instead of using a fucking windmill technology that's illogical and not efficient.

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Tallsie 1 point ago +1 / -0

We still cannot use PLCs to control nuclear power plants

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Ronin045 1 point ago +1 / -0

I'm not really familiar with the programmable logic computer stuff. Why haven't humans figured that out yet?

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Tallsie 2 points ago +2 / -0

It works perfectly fine for the rest of the industrial world.

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Bozhi [S] 1 point ago +1 / -0

I did not verify anything. I just hate these things. They kill birds.

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Ronin045 2 points ago +2 / -0

Another absolutely moronic thing is we can't recycle new windmill parts or blades. It truly is a 200 foot tall virtue Signal lol

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ZhaoBaiDeng 4 points ago +7 / -3

Eh, wind power is ok but only works certain places.

All the ALT energy is great for a cabin in the mountains and shit like that. Running the grid off of it is just going to be a giant brownout.

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catinmylapone 2 points ago +2 / -0

They could put the wind mills around hydro dams to use the power to pump water back up into the reservoirs so it could be generated when we need it and not only when it is windy.If using wind to create potential power in this way could be mathematically feasible than why don't we do it now? Or would the result be it is not efficient enough to do so?

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ZhaoBaiDeng 1 point ago +1 / -0

Hydro on average makes more then wind. Likely not enough to pump all that water back up and get back what you put in to do it.

Power companies are certainly experimenting with solar/wind to do what you're thinking and store some of that fleeting renewable energy. Must not be doing so hot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_hybrid_power_systems#Wind-hydro_system

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henri_derelicte 4 points ago +4 / -0

I’m curious how much electricity you could get by simply burning the coal

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Ronin045 1 point ago +1 / -0

Its gone from 20% 50 years ago to almost 50% efficiency now.

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Trumpy_Bear 3 points ago +3 / -0

Is that actually true? Also curious about that as a carbon calculation

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MetaRazz 3 points ago +3 / -0

Look, windmills are silly for all sorts of reasons but this is comically incorrect. A quick search will show that you need about 20 Gj of energy to make a ton of steel. That is 5,555 kWh of energy and it costs roughly $600. For comparison that is about 6 months electricity average use per home in the US. 260 tons of steel require 1,444 MWh of energy. A 2 MWh turbine can generate that in ~722 hours of continuous generation. Even if you get 2 hrs of wind per day that's ~1 year.

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Bozhi [S] 1 point ago +1 / -0

I believe you. I just hate these bird killers. I did not research before I posted.

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MetaRazz 2 points ago +2 / -0

no argument there. They are ugly, noisy, inefficient, require coal/gas/nuclear backup... they are climate virtue signaling. Or more likely money laundering, an efficient way for corrupt politicians to funnel money into their friends...

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CanadianTrump 3 points ago +3 / -0

Sources please

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Bozhi [S] 1 point ago +1 / -0

I did not verify, but these things kill birds.

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1776DeusVult 3 points ago +3 / -0

Most windmills are owned by, you guessed it, the coal / natural gas power companies. Government subsidies make it profitable for them to build and install these bastards and never make a cent off of them. Also, windmills house... diesel generators, and use a lot of oil for lubrication. Liberal fuckwits love killing shit tons of eagles for power that the power companies are subsidized to produce and they usually don’t even use it because it causes brownouts & often requires MORE coal / gas use at the power plants to compensate for fluctuations in output power from the mills. Ramp up to meet drop, ramp down when it’s windy, then expel even more to ramp up the next day when the wind dies. The grid relies on CONSTANT power, the plants have to maintain this. Think of how city fuel economy is worse than highway... the same principle applies. It’s because of the constant starting stopping that consumes more fuel. Of course the power companies love this, cash cow for them either way. Taxpayer foots the bill.

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skatestraight 2 points ago +2 / -0

And most of it cannot be recycled when it does reach end of life, great idea all around

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1776DeusVult 2 points ago +2 / -0

Yup, they simply bury these big ass blades when retired, that’s gotta be good for muh environment

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Trumpy_Bear 0 points ago +1 / -1

Who says it can't be recycled? Based on what? Steel is one of the most recycled materials. You don't have to like enviropsycho power, but don't get basic shit like that wrong

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catinmylapone 2 points ago +2 / -0

Modern turbine blades are built from composite materials - older blades from glass fibre, newer ones from carbon fibre. Such composite materials might be light and strong, but they are also extremely hard to recycle.

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Trumpy_Bear 1 point ago +1 / -0

Ok, so the BLADES can't be recycled. Yeah, carbon fiber isn't really recyclable . You said "most" so I thought that was weird

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catinmylapone 3 points ago +3 / -0

I wasn't the one that said most, I was just pointing out that the massive blades that make up a large percentage of the units is in fact not recyclable.

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10MeV 2 points ago +2 / -0

The real money in this industry is in providing fuel for the backup power plants.

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Tailgunnerjoe 2 points ago +2 / -0

Plus the hundreds of cubic yards of concrete for the base

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D-Dub 2 points ago +2 / -0

It literally causes bats to explode if they get too close because the air pressure.

I like bats, they eat mosquitos.

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Bozhi [S] 1 point ago +1 / -0

I love bats.

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MAGA_____bitches 2 points ago +2 / -0

In trump's 2nd term, he needs to point out very simple things like this when everybody's listening.

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Siretch 2 points ago +2 / -0

Absolutely correct!

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YouNeedVPN 1 point ago +1 / -0

Of*

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Chachiex 1 point ago +1 / -0

So, what could a small community use the steel scrap for?

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Bonami 2 points ago +2 / -0

Homeless shelters for all the new arrivals? :)