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The Rocky Road To Wind Power
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an interesting story on the logistical problems involved in transporting disassembled towers that will reach more than 250 feet in height from ports or factories to the remote, windy destinations where the turbines are erected. In Idaho trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. In Texas the constant truck traffic is tearing up small roads in the western part of the state where the turbines are being rapidly erected. And in Maine a truck carrying a big piece of turbine got stuck for hours while trying to round a corner near Searsport."
"'It left a nice gouge in Route 1,' said Ben Tracy, who works nearby at a marine equipment store and saw the incident. On a per-turbine basis, the cost of transportation and logistics generally varies from around $100,000 to $150,000, said John Dunlop, an engineer with the American Wind Energy Association, and experts say that transportation logistics are starting to limit how large — and as a result how powerful — wind turbines can get. There is talk of breaking a blade up into multiple pieces, but 'that's a very significant structural concern,' says Peter Stricker, vice president at Clipper Windpower who added that tower bases were getting too large to squeeze through underpasses. But a partial solution may be at hand. While vast majority of turbine parts now travel by truck, in Texas and elsewhere, some wind companies are looking to move more turbine parts by train to save money. But even the train routes must avoid low overpasses when big pieces of wind turbines are aboard. 'It's not your typical rail-car shipments,' said Tom Lange, a Union Pacific spokesman."
Maybe they're not a fan of blimps?
You can always expect problems when you're transporting large things along a windy road. I'm sure the initial issues will blow over, and they'll tackle the remainder with much gusto.
Ask me about repetitive DNA
If we don't solve the size problem it will lead to an erection problem.
Why wouldn't they be?
Just hang the pre-assembled windmill upside down, run electricity backwards through the generator, and voila! - You've got a nice powerful propeller to drive it.
FTS: " In Idaho trucks laden with tall turbine parts have slammed into interstate overpasses requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs"
You're supposed to put them on the truck parallel to the ground.
Just saying.
No sig today...
...Green energy does create jobs.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
No, no, there have been a couple accidents, so we should ditch wind power. Time to go back to good ol' oil, which has never had any kind of problem whatsoever.
And the Diablo canyon nuclear power plant was part way finished before they realized they were putting it in backwards and had to start over.
Play Command HQ online
I'd hate to get lost delivering one of those big turbines while navigating those back roads, you could get lost for days driving on...
Some winding little windy roads
Some little windy winding roads
Some windy little winding roads
Some winding windy little roads
Some little rocky windy roads
Some little windy rocky roads
Some rocky little windy roads
Some windy winding little roads
Some windy rocky little roads
Some windy little rocky roads
Some rocky windy little roads
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Hmm..
Problem: giant airfoil blades are too heavy for current helicopters: current helicopters need bigger airfoils to get the thrust at a reasonable power level. Some kind of giant blades are necessary...
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
as if turbines appear out of nothingness in their desired positions, with all the required power-grid infrastructure also magically appearing.
You clearly never played SimCity 2000
I'm noticing a trend. Zeppelins cause World War II. If we don't want another World War II, we shouldn't build them. World War II 2 would suck more than the first one.
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Not really. It'd give us another chance to put down Hitler. Who wouldn't want that? And think of how the economy got out of a recession!
I say we have a World War II every 50 years just to keep things fresh.
If by impractical you mean "extremely fast", then yes.
We'd finally have more material for the History Channel.
Peace causes war. History proves it.
.sig withheld by request
You, OTOH, with a name like ArsonSmith, should stay the fuck away.
WTF are you babbling about, man? I'd pay to see that because it'd be a damn cool feat of pyrotechnics.
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- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
I am sick to death of hearing low-watt right-wingers touting capitalism as a panacea for the world.
Well, if you're sick of hearing the opinions of other people Mr. Know It All, perhaps the internet isn't for you. I might suggest you move to North Korea, they don't do capitalism at ALL there and in fact, you probably won't get internet either, so you won't have to listen to anyone else. That way you kill two birds with one stone.
Now go play with your blocks
I'd rather play with my stocks.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.