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For my taste - wind turbines are disgusting. A blight on the landscape for minimal benefit compared to other energy sources. Give me 1000’s of acres of solar vs

by chadbr 3y ago

For my taste - wind turbines are disgusting. A blight on the landscape for minimal benefit compared to other energy sources. Give me 1000’s of acres of solar vs 100 acres of wind farm. If you have to live close to them - they never go away… everywhere you look, giant white (why are they white anyway? Why not sky blue?) Not to mention the nighttime visual pollution. Drive into Rockport, TX after dark and its endless skyline of red flashing lights — that all cycle at the same time. Beyond obnoxious. That just my view of the aesthetics… Nobody ever bothers to talk about what will be done with these football field sized blades (I’m guessing at least 100k of them by now?) when they’re decommissioned? Completely useless material that has to be buried somewhere… I guess everyone here will volunteer to bury one in their backyard? You think the “buy and dump” problem is bad in oil and gas? … do you think any of the companies who signed these 30 year leases will be around to de-com the turbines when they start falling apart? (Answer is no) https://www.power-eng.com/news/evolving-regulations-for-wind-turbine-end-of-life/ https://www.power-eng.com/news/evolving-regulations-for-wind... Then there’s the never ending problem of freezing… nobody has good solutions and most of them involve the same harmful chemicals or secondary energy sources or helicopters or whatever that all derive from the hydrocarbons everyone seems to hate. https://www.windpowerengineering.com/the-cold-hard-truth-about-ice-on-turbine-blades/ https://www.windpowerengineering.com/the-cold-hard-truth-abo... https://energypost.eu/how-to-keep-winter-ice-off-a-wind-turbines-blades/ https://energypost.eu/how-to-keep-winter-ice-off-a-wind-turb... https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/dozens-scottish-power-wind-turbines-29135763 https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/dozens-scot... —— As for oil wells - most are hidden from view (unless you’re in West Texas, of course … not much growing to hide them…) Also fwiw - a pump jack is only one form of artificial lift for a well. There are lots of others systems that are far less obnoxious (i.e. you can’t see them in the brush unless you get close) https://www.estiscompression.com/learning-center/how-to-compare-artificial-lift-options-for-unconventional-oil-production https://www.estiscompression.com/learning-center/how-to-comp...

danhor 3y ago
> That just my view of the aesthetics… As wind turbines aren't a very rare sight, I think it's reasonable to assume that most have already seen a wind farm in person. Newer generations in Germany also only flash when planes are nearby. > Nobody ever bothers to talk about what will be done with these football field sized blades (I’m guessing at least 100k of them by now?) when they’re decommissioned? At least I've seen a lot of talk about it, most of it ending in "we're trying to reuse them for something else with mixed success" or "recycling is possible, but not yet done on a large scale, but we hope it'll increase". > do you think any of the companies who signed these 30 year leases will be around to de-com the turbines when they start falling apart? (Answer is no) At least in Germany, where wind turbines from 20+ years ago are being replaced by newer ones (due to the much higher power output), this hasn't been an issue yet. In contrast to oil and gas sites, after the wind turbine has seen it's EOL the land isn't worthless for the purpose, but a new wind turbine can be installed. Thus for most sites this isn't much of an issue. This isn't to say that regulation is a bad idea (and I'm wondering why leases were signed without a clause to obligate the operates to remove them), but I don't see the fundamental point of conflict, since the land isn't worthless afterwards for energy purposes. > Then there’s the never ending problem of freezing… At least your first two sources suggest that electric heating works (but unfortunately not if it's doable from the energy generated by the wind turbine itself, but I assume that to be the case, otherwise it doesn't make any sense), and the third suggests a fault of the power connection of the initial fault (and quite a bit of tabloid rambling that I didn't read, I have to admit).

by chadbr 3y ago

danhor 3y ago

> That just my view of the aesthetics… As wind turbines aren't a very rare sight, I think it's reasonable to assume that most have already seen a wind farm in person. Newer generations in Germany also only flash when planes are nearby. > Nobody ever bothers to talk about what will be done with these football field sized blades (I’m guessing at least 100k of them by now?) when they’re decommissioned? At least I've seen a lot of talk about it, most of it ending in "we're trying to reuse them for something else with mixed success" or "recycling is possible, but not yet done on a large scale, but we hope it'll increase". > do you think any of the companies who signed these 30 year leases will be around to de-com the turbines when they start falling apart? (Answer is no) At least in Germany, where wind turbines from 20+ years ago are being replaced by newer ones (due to the much higher power output), this hasn't been an issue yet. In contrast to oil and gas sites, after the wind turbine has seen it's EOL the land isn't worthless for the purpose, but a new wind turbine can be installed. Thus for most sites this isn't much of an issue. This isn't to say that regulation is a bad idea (and I'm wondering why leases were signed without a clause to obligate the operates to remove them), but I don't see the fundamental point of conflict, since the land isn't worthless afterwards for energy purposes. > Then there’s the never ending problem of freezing… At least your first two sources suggest that electric heating works (but unfortunately not if it's doable from the energy generated by the wind turbine itself, but I assume that to be the case, otherwise it doesn't make any sense), and the third suggests a fault of the power connection of the initial fault (and quite a bit of tabloid rambling that I didn't read, I have to admit).