Oh the irony…
First, a flashback from June 18, 2010:
I was in Newcastle, NSW AU on Wednesday night to give another lecture as part of the Australian speaking tour I’m doing. I had the pleasure of following David Stockwell in a presentation, and David Archibald followed me.
We were a bit late getting there due to airplane scheduling snafus, and as we rushed from the airport at 6:15 pm we passed the coal loading terminal at Newcastle. There, as if there was some madcap attempt at sustainability, was one of those huge wind turbines like I’ve seen on the US plains. I attempted to get a photo, but my camera misfired with bad focus due to the car window, and I missed the shot.
The next morning, on the way to the airport again at 6AM, the windmill was still there, just like it was before. My driver (Anthony#2 of Team Anthony) gladly pulled over to allow me to get this shot as dawn crept in. I was incredulous that the shot hadn’t changed.
Ummm. I thought windmills were all about generating electricity, not using it. So why put torches on it that run all night? Want to bet the lighting power is coming from coal? While the turbine probably generates more power than it uses most nights, it sure seems odd.
Of course, maybe the people that run it really didn’t want a wind turbine in their coal town, and this torch lighting is their form of silent protest. Or, maybe they are proud of it and felt it needed to be illuminated all hours of the night. Maybe the lights are to warn off birds and small planes. Nobody seemed to know. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t help but be amused.
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Bruce from Newcastle writes in today to tell me:
Anthony – our lonely windmill which you liked so much when you visited (you know the one helpfully lit up at night) may be about to pay the ultimate price – to be reincarnated as a coal loader:
Ultimate in irony. Windmill makes ultimate sacrifice to ship coal from Newcastle to China…ah, just think of all the heads exploding in the EDF.
The Kooragang Island wind turbine has stood at the Newcastle Port Corporation since 1997. Anyone want to place bets on whether environmentalists will chain themselves to it like a tree about to be cut down?
Perhaps they can save it if they just build a big fan in front of it.
Wind TURBINE or wind MILL? One sounds really smooth, fast and impressive; the other more agricultural, plodding. When I think of ‘turbines’ I have a mental image of aircraft jet engines; 20,000 to 30,000 rpm whining furies.
I have seen some very small wind TURBINES which really do ‘sing’ as they spin at very high speed, but wind MILL is certianly the appropriate name for these slow-grinding bird-munchers.
Recently I followed up a comment posted by a WUWT reader about two turbines installed atop their local council offices ‘to increase awareness of renewables’ by Kirklees Council in Huddersfield
“COUNCIL officials have admitted: “We can’t get our wind turbine repaired”. More than FOUR MONTHS after one of the two turbines on top of Civic Centre 3 broke down, it is still out of action…The two turbines only generated enough energy to cover a third of their upkeep in 2008.The two turbines brought £2,078 into Kirklees Council coffers, but cost £6,431 to maintain and repair.They cost the council £101,000 to buy and install.” (31.7.2010)
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2010/07/31/kirklees-council-s-wind-turbine-woes-deepen-86081-26967147/
“A KIRKLEES Council wind turbine is still out of action – 11 MONTHS after it broke down.One of the two turbines on top of Civic Centre 3 has not worked since last March. This week the 27ft windmill was still slumped over on the roof of the town centre building.” (9.2.2011)
http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2011/02/09/kirklees-council-civic-centre-turbine-still-broken-86081-28138298/
So I was amazed to come across this piece on a local government website which cited this installation as a case study in an article dated 24.1.2011 and claimed under ‘Achievements’
“• The wind turbines have performed well given their urban location and have required minimal maintenance”. [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
http://www.sustainablegov.co.uk/local-government/energy-and-climate-change-local-government/civic-centre-3-case-study-energy-from-the-sun-and-the-wind
The typical disconnect between Government claims and reality!
It must be saved because it is an Old Growth Wind Turbine! 😉 Where is the Sierra Club when they are needed? I know, they are getting stuck in late Blizzards due to Global Warming!
People need to understand that wind turbines are really just symbolic. They are a symbol of the environmental left. Think about it; they don’t generate much power; they don’t reduce carbon emissions so why do the environmentalists love them so much? Because they are tall, white, they spin and they are always located smack in the middle of conservative territory. When they are spinning away they give the greens a warm and fuzzy feeling and the also say “We arew here!”. That’s about it. Geothermal power for example, is a far better form of alternative energy than wind; they can be placed anywhere and they generate power 24/7. But the power plants are stark and industrial looking. The greens don’t get that warm and fuzzy feeling from geothermal. Thus Geothermal is ignored. Wind turbines are a symbol of the left, that’s all they really are. Until the public realizes that wind turbines are really just symbolic we are all going to continue to pay and pay for them.
There is a wind turbine downtown Toronto rotating softly all on it’s own. Looks very green and adds to the modern city feel. The reason i mention this is that my brother works for Ontario Power Generation and he told me that it doesn’t even function. That in fact it is powered to turn. It is a marketing ploy to make the province and city look greener.
If history treats the environmentalists, greens, and global warming advocates fairly they will be labeled either as political revolutionaries or idiots. Maybe both.
Here’s a bit of “green” irony. In the “Ads by Google” section under this story we see this:
Discover ENMAX’s Vision
ENMAX Wants to Say Goodbye Coal… …Hello Future. Learn More Here.
Enmax is the electrical untility for the city of Calgary. Maybe they are trying to say goodbye a little too quickly as they tried in Newcastle. They just closed the Wabamun Lake coal-fired electircal plant and they are demolishing it. Albertans are fortunate that Alberta is swimming in natural gas. Unless Enmax wants to say goodbye to that too? Global warming stupidity know no bounds. I sure hope that rolling black-outs are not in our future.
A few red radio-tower lights on the column and the blade tips would warn aircraft away, yet use a lot less power!
Stan,
I live in Alberta as well and I am getting very concerned about our supply situation. We just lost 2 large coal units (Sundance 1 & 2) totalling close to 600 MW of supply. There is no intention to repair these units as they were nearing the end of their normal life. Our load growth over the past couple of years has been remarkable given the global economic situation. Much of our load growth is due to (evil) oilsands projects so, given the current price of oil, I don’t see this changing. We have a large (Keephills 3, 450 MW) new coal unit in the commissioning stage right now but that doesn’t even replace the units we just lost. Apart from that, much of our new generation growth has been, and will continue to be, wind generation. This does not bode well for our supply security. Wind is currently providing 37 MW out of a total installed capacity of 777 MW (a whopping 5% of design). We regularly import close to 700 MW from our neighboring provinces. In my opinion, we are setting ourselved up as the next California with brownouts and blackouts. We need to start building more real generation or we could be in trouble.
Lighting the windmill at night is probably to prevent the embarrassment of finding dead birds on the dock or floating the harbor. Most birds have poor night vision, but fly when startled. Without light there is a higher chance of being struck by a windmill blade.
Bwahahahaha! Andy G wins the thread.
Wind turbine farms need about 80 acres per 1.5 MW to operate efficiently. This comes in at 4W/m^2, the equivalent of a nightlight. I wonder what the equivalent is for this one. How much land area was devoted to powering that very large spotlight?
I think that picture look as ominous as that picture with the hills all covered with thousands of crucified people just before Masada fell, err, windmills (before scientific society fall?)
I get the distinct feeling that the building of wind driven propeller machinery is naught but the mere arrogant hubris of thinking that it is possible to ward off evil-doers and at the same time pacifying the Gods’s wrath-to-come (while earning a pretty penny.)
Marion says:
March 24, 2011 at 5:00 am
Marion, thanks for that. I’m from real close to Huddersfield originally. I’m sure my friends there will get a laugh, albeit an ironic one, out of your comment, which I’m posting on a local site.
Andy G says:
March 24, 2011 at 3:24 am
Hi Andy,
You must be referring to that Neodymium stuff. Commonly used in Wind Turbines where a high power weight ratio is required. It’s also used in loudspeakers microphones etc, computer hard drives and window manufacture. So, sadly, you are also part of the problem.
Maybe you should write to the mine managers and express your concern about their poor environmental treatment, or recycle your computers to reduce demand. Being the concerned citizen you obviously are, you could always write to BHP complaining about the Ok Tedi mining disaster or Freeport about the mess they made at Tembagapura, all in the search for gold and copper. Then there’s the damage left from any oil spill you’d like to mention. Don’t forget the mud volcano at Lusi, Indonesia as well: there’s a real tragedy.
It’s sad about the birds, so maybe you should write to Sir Alistair Pilkington. Many more birds die flying into highly reflective float glass windows. Or Henry Ford: the number of birds that die after being struck by mass produced automobiles must number in the millions each year. Then there’s the Albatross that die as a result of long line fishing, the by-catch from trawlers or the turtles, dolphins and whales that die in ghost nets carelessly cast adrift.
I assume you are concerned about environmental damage so you wouldn’t just pick on the Wind Turbine industry because it suits your ideology, would you??
Lawrie Ayres says:
March 24, 2011 at 4:03 am
Don’t forget to turn your lights on for Earth Hour this Saturday. We want a big spike at the generators. Childish I know but it’s a little and obvious protest against the merchants of guilt. It will also be a little celebration of the end of 16 years of leftoid government here in NSW.
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Childish, true, but I love it when the “Nuff-Nuffs advertise themselves. It’s so much easier to pick you out.
Anthony says:
The Kooragang Island wind turbine has stood at the Newcastle Port Corporation since 1997. Anyone want to place bets on whether environmentalists will chain themselves to it like a tree about to be cut down?
Much better to have one chained environmentalist per blade. Of course, differing weights of environmentalists would call for calculations to be made to position them correctly along blades to ensure balance. Oh, never mind.
It’s Green Recycling!!!
Re: philincalifornia
March 24, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Thanks for the feedback Phil, good to know.
klem says:
March 24, 2011 at 7:06 am
People need to understand that wind turbines are really just symbolic. They are a symbol of the environmental left.
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ryan says:
March 24, 2011 at 7:17 am
There is a wind turbine downtown Toronto rotating softly all on it’s own. Looks very green and adds to the modern city feel. The reason i mention this is that my brother works for Ontario Power Generation and he told me that it doesn’t even function. That in fact it is powered to turn. It is a marketing ploy to make the province and city look greener.
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Absolutely spot on. These wind turbines are nothing but a symbol of the “Love Earth; Hate Humanity” religion.
Years from now they will be nothing but broken-down relics of a past superstition generating awe at how so much effort could have been dedicated to a totally useless unproductive effort.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai
For those interested in comparing the actual output of wind turbines located in the UK as opposed to their capacity the report below is an excellent source.
http://www.ref.org.uk/images/PDFs/REDs10/Wind%202010%20v1.pdf
Interesting to note how many of those wind turbines installed at schools and initially trumpetted as a great success are now displaying a load factor of less than 5% (in some cases considerably less!!)
@Gerry
“It’s Green Recycling!!!”
Yes, you are uncanny unequivocally totally absolutely correct, every new revolution is a recycling of the last, that’s why so many of them are at a stand still, utter moot, because there’s nothing to recycle. :p
URKidding… yes YOU obviously are…
The topic here is about windmills.
Yes there are small amounts of neodymium , a few milligrams in computers, and maybe a few ounces in loudspeakers, but in windmills, the Neo magnet can be measured in TONNES !!! This huge difference in size, linked with the moronic proliferation of these most in-efficient of energy producing dynosaurs in Europe and elsewhere is the absolute main contributor to the pollution problems in China.
ps.. It will be good when they start ripping these things down, it will ease the toxic pollution increase from rare earth processing in China, plus provide a good source of magnetic material for use in much more efficient coal and gas powered generators.