I read today that renewable energy, wind and solar, is now a cheaper source of electricity than natural gas and coal. This is without the subsidies which of course helped them initially to be competitive. We have one about a mile from us and It is supposed to be the largest in the state, I am not sure of this. From my stand point I see no problems. The landowner a friend of mine has horses grazing under it with no problems. This neighbor said he sees no dead birds near the tower. I do have a couple questions. First will the subsidies now be phased out? Also if any of you have wind towers near you do you see many dead birds? This was a criticism of the towers. Any other issues. On a side note Ted Kennedy was a great advocate of wind energy until a wind farm was proposed for Cape Cod. Then the old "not on my backyard" thing. farmguy
Renewable energy
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We have quite a few wind farms in our immediate vicinity. I know a few of the guys who do electrical work on them. They have never mentioned a dead bird problem. School down the road has one on site and sells the electricity to offset operation costs. Go there at least 5 times a year and never noticed any dead birds near it.
wbvs58
Well-known member
I have a wind turbine that augments my solar panels, when the wind is blowing well it spins very fast like a blurr. I have had it up over 10 years, I have seen 1 or 2 birds dead below it initially but have not seen any in years, I think they are aware of it now and avoid it. The large commercial turbines I have seen move very slowly and I doubt they would be a hazard to birds.
Ken
Ken
Dave
Well-known member
There hundreds of wind turbines here. I guarantee you that you kill more birds with your car. After they put them in here they had to do a study on bird kills. They didn't find any so they were adding dead birds and one feather found counted as a dead bird. The dead bird deal is a bunch of hog wash. The energy produced verses the cost...... that is a different story and a debatable issue.
What gets me is they don't count hydro as a renewable energy. They built Bonneville Dam in 1937. It has produce billions of kW since then and that river just keeps running downstream. But it isn't renewable to the greenies.
What gets me is they don't count hydro as a renewable energy. They built Bonneville Dam in 1937. It has produce billions of kW since then and that river just keeps running downstream. But it isn't renewable to the greenies.
Bestoutwest
Well-known member
There is a lot of offshore wind energy technology that is available, but it is held up by the locals "not wanting it in their backyard." Also, tidal energy is an option, but again, it's poo-poo'd by the locals. There's going to come a point where the locals are either going to have to deal with it or go without it. I wonder which they'll choose.....
Wind turbines have completely ruined the south Texas landscape.
They are a good deal for the property owner if they can tolerate looking at them.
They are a good deal for the property owner if they can tolerate looking at them.
hurleyjd
Well-known member
Brute 23":3h2gb4ky said:
They are ugly I would much rather see a pumping jack on an oil well
greybeard
Well-known member
I think you may be surprised Ken. From my days back when I first started flying on a large helicopter I remember at first thinking the main rotor blades moved rather slowly compared to an airplane propeller. Then one day we did maintenance that involved using a strobe on the blade tips for 'tracking' and I was amazed at how fast the tips were moving thru the air.wbvs58":kh4mq1mf said:
At the end of each wind turbine blade, how fast is the tip moving thru the air when there is just a light breeze?
I spent some time out in Nolan County Texas and have seen the wind farm North of Corpus Christi as well and went thru the visitor center in Nolan.
The shaft RPM is pretty slow...a lot less than 100rpm if I remember correctly, but the longer any blade is and the further you get from it's hub, the faster it moves thru the air. Around 180 MPH at the blade tips or in metric, 80 meters per second.
It may look slow, but the next time you are near one of the big commercial units, watch one blade as it makes it's circle. When it gets to 9 or 3 o'clock position, (Parallel to the ground) blink your eyes quickly and take notice how far that tip moved while your eyes were momentarily closed. A human eye blink takes on average, 1/3 of a second. In that blink, a blade tip has traveled about 27 meters.
If just one out of the 3 wind turbine blades had a light on it's tip, it would look like a solid blurred circle at night.
Rotor circumference X shaft rpm/60=tip mph
This phenomenon btw, is what limits any helicopter from achieving really fast forward speeds. Blade tip travel thru the air. You have to combine both the blade tip speed and the forward speed of the helicopter as the leading blade moves thru the air. Trying to achieve airplane type speeds will result in blade tips breaking the sound barrier and the resulting turbulence would destroy the helicopter's airframe. The main transmission, just below the rotor hub is there to reduce engine rpm to prevent exceeding speed of sound blade tip travel. Rule of thumb is forward speed is limited to 1/3 tip speed. (obviously not a factor with stationary wind turbines, as their blade tips would have to move at 4 times the speed they do now to break the sound barrier, and the blades would be feathered long before winds got that high)
Oh..here's the math for calculating turbine blade tip speeds...in metric.
https://windpowergrab.wordpress.com/201 ... culations/
Craig Miller
Well-known member
They are moving faster than you think when your up close looking at them. I do t know about dead birds but I've heard of some from people I know that worked them. Some under reporting due to the paper work involved I think. Even so it's probably not that big of a deal unless a whole flock gets into one. They are ugly though. In west Texas there are hundreds or thousands of them. In sweetwater tx the whole skyline is covered.
Craig Miller
Well-known member
hurleyjd":127cq175 said:
I would too considering the pump jacks are only about 20 ft tall and hardly noticeable where the turbines are over 200 ft and seen for miles around
greybeard
Well-known member
I took this picture near Nolan. It is one of about 6 I took in a 180 panoramic photo, and they all look the same.Craig Miller":o5pibnrd said:
We interred an aunt in the little Nolan cemetery and there were turbines very close to the cemetery. There was a constant 'whuuff..'whuuff...'whuuff' noise the whole time.
Craig Miller
Well-known member
I see now that we were talking about the same area.
greybeard
Well-known member
I have a photo somewhere from the same area, in which there are wind turbines, one old wooden water windmill tower, and 2 oil well pump jacks in the same frame.
wbvs58
Well-known member
You are very up to date on that info GB, I'll have to take your word on that my old brain is just hurting with the thought of those calculations.
Ken
Ken
plumber_greg
Well-known member
Got 2 at my south place.
Thing they're ugly, noisy, and wish they weren't there.
I was being surrounded with them, so got as many as I could.
Have 2 optional sites, so maybe I can get more.
Never a dead bird.
Pays 9k per tower. Gs
Thing they're ugly, noisy, and wish they weren't there.
I was being surrounded with them, so got as many as I could.
Have 2 optional sites, so maybe I can get more.
Never a dead bird.
Pays 9k per tower. Gs
Bestoutwest
Well-known member
hurleyjd":1fp3us3f said:
That's very Fruedian....
plumber_greg":1fp3us3f said:
Is that per month or a one time deal?
I sold a place to a family member that is now going to get 2 turbines and I didn't retain any wind rights :dunce:
He is in a pool with everyone else in that wind farm.
Pay is based on production.
They are predicting each turbine to pay 1500-1800 a month
He is in a pool with everyone else in that wind farm.
Pay is based on production.
They are predicting each turbine to pay 1500-1800 a month
