PickensPlan

“A single wind turbine will generate enough energy to power up to 732 homes per year which is the equivalent of taking around 1,170 cars off the road annually.”

This was on the front page, do you think these are Mercedes cars or Hondas, or some GM model that gets 23 MPGs?

How do the Australians get their facts,anyway? I don't believe they have as much wind as our own states of OK or Texas, or the Great Lakes, for that matter. If I were a person living in Sydney, I would be very afraid of losing a vital aspect of the scenary, that being the bay and mountains, and I really don't think they are going to put windmills in the desert, are they?

Just a thought, it doesn't have to be the final say on these matters, but I do think that Australia has enough sun to go solar, not wind.

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Why not put windmills in deserts? That is basically where we are talking about putting most ours. They are artificially green due to irrigation but they are still deserts. Deserts routinely have strong, constant winds which would possibily provide the baseload supply that we moderns require. Add solar and you are almost there. This would be an ideal arrangement for the widely separated Aussie towns that may rely on imported fossil fuels for their power now. I haven't checked that out but it wouldn't surprise me. I doubt that long distance transport of power from the deserts to the towns and cities is much different than what the Pickens Plan proposes for the US.

I would suggest that we resist the NIMBY urges when discussing other people's backyards. The Australians I have known are quite capable of making decissions about their needs without help from the US. I have even known some to tell us to butt out when we overstep common courtesy in our efforts to impart wisdom.
Look at our own deserts, in the Mohave or the upper western Washington area. They are not wind areas. They are full of sand, lizards and rocks that keep the area really hot. Especially the desert floors. The real wind area are int he areas where we farm for corn, wheat and other staple products. Ask OK and Texas. These areas need extra water to maintain a steady supply food for the hinterland, and anyway, they can also be paid as farmers for their use of land for windmills, generating extra income for land owners who can let some land to fallow to regnerate the soil, and if they are quiet, the windmillls are perfeclty fin in their back 40s. I think Pickens is right, we just need transmission lines to brind the new electrical energy to the big towns, like Tulsa and Denver. The other towns on the East and West Coast can be powered by coastal windmills. Maybe Australia can look into that, although they have coral reefs in the way in the north and choppy waters elsewhere. I think we are very much alike, as far as NIMBy is concerned, but the Aussies have a bigger central desert. (Unless we get another dustbow, you never know) and I would be worred about that, with our current economic travails.
Alas, poor Debra, reading your discussion starter one would have to infer that you are an idiot.
Why put windmills on the Sydney bridge and wreck the skyline? Would that make sense? Ummmm, nnnoooooooooooo..
Of course they are putting them in practical places, very windy places, and often they are just on the farm or ranch wehre the power is needed. SO EFFICIENT to make power on siste instead of massive transmission lines.
And windmiills have been a big important part of making energy supplies for more than a hundred years in Australia. They must think we are really really dumb if we can't get it together and start harvesting power from the free sources.And they are right. How much prooof do people need?
Yes, I must be as dumb as a turkey, thinking that Australia hasn't been in on the new alternatives. I'll check wikipedia and learn up as much as I can, so I can converse equally with your highness, the solar power leader of the great state of Hawaii, or is it Oahu?

Maybe I will call up some company in the Netherlands and find out why we are so behind in wind power....Europe has no use for us superior (or inferior) individuals here in the good ol' USA!!

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