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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tilting At Windmills

What in the hell does that mean, tilting at wind mills? I'd imagine it means you could either be for it, or against it? Do they work? Would they work in Maryland? Good questions dude! Thanks, thanks, I just thought of em! Maybe I should ask someone who knows more than I do about wind power, but where do you go to get an honest, unbiased opinion? I watch and read the news, but that's more Brett Farve and Neil young getting the finger type of news.

There are tons of pro and con websites all over the web, but you have to take their tilt with grain of salt. The pro sites say they will save the world, while the con sites call them an abomination that doesn't work. Well, that makes it easy to decide. I want to be a kid again and have everything told to me be the truth. Of course there was the egg rabbit, and that fat guy that cleaned our chimney once a year? Yeah, and don't forget Bunky! Living on a farm my ass!

Ted Kennedy likes them offshore, just not off his shore! I think they would look cool off in the distance in Ocean City, if they work. Who pays to build them? Are they very expensive? Do they come in other colors besides white? Are they safer than offshore drilling? Are they going to lower my electric bills? Is there enough wind offshore in OC, or up in western Maryland to make them viable? I'm just curious.

Do you think if we sent a Seal team in and they grabbed the 2 most knowledgeable people in the world, tied them to chairs, they would give us the skinny without any agendas? That's the only way to get answers. We aren't going to read about it, or see it on the news. Politicians certainly aren't going to tell us, unless one of the special interests haven't gotten them yet. Yet, that was funny! What a trend setter Don Quixote was so many years ago. People are still tilting at windmills.

8 comments:

Slammermike said...

The only objection that I have heard to them is that they are ugly and destroy the view.

I don't know what kind of connections or transformers or nuts and bolts things go with the windmill but it seems to me they could put acres of windmills in the mid-west. I think that if they are spaced properly the land could still be farmed while the windmills operate overhead.

The plains are a vast flatlands with great wind currents. Back in the early 1900's the were so strong that they destroyed millions of un-planted acres causing the Great Dust Bowl.

I agree that off shore seems to be a good location also. But not knowing the support structure needed I don't know if it is a viable solution. I did see a clip on the news last night showing a wind farm at some offshore location. I don't know if it was in the U.S. or not.

Some jurisdictions including Baltimore County have passed zoning that allows individuals to put up their own windmills if their property meet the zoning laws.

One sure fire location would be in Washington D.C. or any other Government seat. That is where the lawmakers and politicians gather in mass and they generate an excess of hot air all the time. If they could harness the power of the hot air those windbags put out we could do away with oil all together.

awb said...

Yeah Slammer, instead of solar collectors we could collect all the hot air! I know the government has put a hold on all sun farms to do an environmental impact study. Whaaaa? At least that land isn't going to waste. We are getting ready to drill for oil on it! I think we know the impact of that!

mdmhvonpa said...

Could we make Windmills that are made of transparent material? Or painted so that you could not differentiate them from the horizon? What about tidal traps to generate electricity?

awb said...

I can see the fight over all of them. Aesthetically, how do tidal traps break up the wave action, or are they usually between structure, say islands? Animal rights people aren't going to like them!

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't say they are ugly, in fact I think that are quite majestic looking. They look peaceful to me. Now if they were in my own back yard - I'd have to get back to you on my thoughts on that! However, if they made a HUGE difference in my energy bill and really helped to clean up the environment I'm all for it! In my own backyard or not!

awb said...

Good, for I minute I thought you were Ted Kennedy!

Anonymous said...

Bunky did go to a farm, he wanted to be near windmills. He was there with all the other animals who went to a farm . green thinking animals.

awb said...

Do you mean Soylent Green is Bunky?