[ RadSafe ] OT: RE: Rational Thought -- Wind Power

[Jaro Franta]

With France having TGV trains powered mostly by nuclear electricity, there
is news today that the Netherlands will have their electric trains powered
100% by wind turbines by 2018.

Should be interesting, to say the least !

http://tinyurl.com/ogst7z8


 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Cary Renquist
Sent: October-04-11 6:05 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: [ RadSafe ] OT: RE: Rational Thought -- Wind Power

I hate to jump in on threads like this, but I just read something yesterday
that seems relevant.

There may be a bigger setback if wind generation is treated like the oil/gas
industry...

   The U.S. Attorney for North Dakota hauled seven oil and natural 
   gas companies into federal court for killing 28 migratory birds 
   that were found dead near oil waste lagoons.  The Class B misdemeanors 
   carry fines of up to $15,000 for each dead bird and up to six months 
   in prison.
   You may not be surprised to learn that the Administration isn't 
   prosecuting wind companies for similar offenses.
   The wind industry each year kills not 28 birds, or even a few hundred, 
   but some 440,000, according to estimates by the American Bird Conservancy
   based on Fish and Wildlife Service data.

It sounds like legislation will soon be passed that will absolve the wind
industry from responsibility for migratory bird deaths.

---
Cary Renquist
cary.renquist at ezag.com

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Tuesday, 04 October 2011 14:34
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Rational Thought

If you stop saying things like, "Since the wind energy is free..." you would
enhance your credibility on a number of subjects.  I actually like wind
power, but it is far from free.  The installation costs are high and will
increase, as it becomes more apparent that huge wind turbines are another
NIMBY issue.  This is will become even worse as the best locations are used,
and more marginal locations are left.  Wind turbines actually take a
substantial amount of maintenance, as the machinery is pretty close to as
good as we can currently build.  The decommissioning costs will be high
(what, you thought they would last forever?), especially if someone decides
for non-technical reasons that the material can't be recycled (as it clearly
should be, just as spent nuclear fuel should be).  There are already people
who live within miles of wind turbines who claim the noise and/or electrical
fields are damaging their health and making the cows act funny.  I live in
confidence that someone who is against wind turbines will be able to find a
cluster of something that can be blamed on them; maybe even showing that the
turbans are so dangerous that the health effects reach back through time.  

And that's not counting the cost of milling birds and bats, a technical
issue that has been dealt with by deciding not to think about it, anymore.  

As Dixie Lee Ray said, "There is no such thing as a free lunch.  Behind
every little bundle of love is a pile of dirty diapers."  Industrialists and
environmentalists alike hated her for saying things like that, but that
didn't make her wrong. 

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