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red-beard red-beard is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Houston, Tejas
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If you want something to be a real business, it needs to be economic on it's own. The installed cost per MW is several times that for a conventional Powerplant. Add to this the maintenance per MW and the cost per MWH produced is actually higher than conventional Power Plants.

The eyesore factor can't be ignored. Drive I-5 south of San Francisco. What once was nice Vistas now are covered in Windmills. Farmland in the middle of nowwhere? I don't think anyone would care. 2 miles off the coast? Yeah, you'll piss people off.

I just drove past the Windmill farms in Texas just off I-10, between Ft. Stockton and Ozona. Eyesore factor wasn't too bad, but at least 20% of the windmills weren't turning. Yes there was plenty of wind.
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The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the engineer adjusts the sails.- William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)
Red-beard for President, 2020
Old 03-20-2006, 04:35 AM
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