Wind power

[maltaron]

I thought we chucked out windmills in the 19th century because of shortage of reliable wind.

[adi]

Oook then.

[peter2008]

Wind energy also a very important resource available freely in nature. Wind energy through wind mills generates electricity thus it is effective use of natural resources avoiding wastages of electricity. There are also wind mills for grinding which again saves energy.

[Windguy]

Wind is still one of the best renewables out there, even though I don't have as much hope of it advancing all that much now compared to solar energy.

But here is the basics on why wind is still the most popular choice of renewable.

Coal per kw is equal to A let's say.
So these are approximates but they are generally correct depending upon the markets and other things.
Nuclear is 1.5 X A
Geosequestration after coal burning is 1.3 X A
Solar is 8 X A
Geothermal ?? I don't know.

But wind is 1.5 X A still. So it is the cheapest of the green alternatives.

[Richard]

Solar seems very expensive at 8 times the cost of coal. Is that an average cost?

[Windguy]

Originally Posted by Richard

Solar seems very expensive at 8 times the cost of coal. Is that an average cost?

I thought I had said this to you before? Those figures are based on figures I saw about three years back. Solar panels haven't gone down all that much because of limited polysilicon needed for them. Subsidises have helped keep prices high too.

These figures are probably Australia only because we have straight from the mine to the power plants coal by conveyor. So we have enjoyed some of the cheapest electricity around. We also import our solar panels (now from China) and we also import our windmills with our favourite being the 2Mw Vespas.

So we do have a chance of using wind or Nuclear, but the problem with wind is; we would have to cover the country in them at 100m apart just to cover our powerful coal fired power stations.

[windgen]

I think wind turbines in some regions in the world make a lot of sense. For instance Scotland has its fair share. Also, I read an article about a U. S. company in the Gulf Coast building turbines that can withstand category 5 hurricanes. I think if you pick the right regions, wind will continue to grow as a great source or renewable energy. As in real estate its all about location.