Slashdot Mirror
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.
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?!
It is very windy. You are likely to get blown by a grue.
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.
A unique way to learn a language: http://languageloom.com
If by impractical you mean "extremely fast", then yes.
We'd finally have more material for the History Channel.
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.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.