World's Largest Wind Farm Gets Green Light 388
cliffski writes "According to the BBC website the UK govt has just given the go ahead to two large offshore wind-farm projects.
Between them the schemes would produce enough renewable electricity to power about one million households.
The larger London Array project covers 144 sq miles (232 sq km) between Margate in Kent and Clacton, Essex and will be the world's biggest when it is completed. The £1.5bn scheme will have 341 turbines rising from the sea about 12 miles (20km) off the Kent and Essex coasts, as well as five offshore substations and four meteorological masts"
What about our fine feathered friends? (Score:2, Interesting)
Mobile Farms (Score:5, Interesting)
Barges covered with solar cells. And reverse-gyroscopes that generate power from waves and currents. They anchor landmines, don't they?
Re:What about our fine feathered friends? (Score:5, Interesting)
Tides (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Tides (Score:4, Interesting)
There is tidal power being generated in the Bay of Fundy, there has been a 20MW generator operating for the last 20 years. However, it is expensive (operating in salt water isn't the most friendly enviromnent), and expanding it would put a large strain on the ecosystem.
This isn't a lot of power though. 20 large windmills could produce the same or more power, for much less cost. Incidentally, Nova Scotia, which borders half of the Bay of Fundy, has some of the world's strongest and most consistent winds.
Re:What about our fine feathered friends? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm much more curious to know the impact to the waters. Hundreds of pillars built into the sea floor might affect sea life or water currents.
Re:Um. (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't worry - the windmills aren't actually that efficient, nor do they cover a large percentage of vertical cross-section. They're spaced quite a bit apart and aren't that tall, vertically speaking. Chances are they don't end up being more disruptive to air currents than, say, the skyscrapers in NYC. And the weather in Brooklyn isn't *that* different than in the rest of the region.
-b.
The Problem with Wind Energy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What about our fine feathered friends? (Score:3, Interesting)
What about the climate effects of sucking that much energy out of the wind?
Re:Such an environmental nightmare (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Such specific numbers, blah. (Score:3, Interesting)
Still, the first thing I did when I bought my new house was to put another layer of insulation in the attic, and get a quote for having more insulation put into the outside walls as well.
It only makes sense to add extra insulation...In the north you get a lot of people talking about the insulation, because in their minds insulation keeps you warm, and they think about that. It's not so much the case in the south, because people think of insulation as keeping you warm and thats the LAST thing they want. It's more a problem of education than anything else.
Re:Such specific numbers, blah. (Score:2, Interesting)
At night, we open doors and windows and let the cool air in, at around 10-11am we close everything (including most blinds), and it remains cool for the whole day. Our walls are about 20cm of brick (normal width) and we have single pane windows (well, my cousin lives 30 minutes from town and he has double pane).
We do have an AC, but it doesn't cool the whole house (it's a large house). Old houses (my mother's accounting studio is actually an old house) have very high ceilings (6 metres or so), which also help.
Re:Such specific numbers, blah. (Score:4, Interesting)
In Georgia, however, the nights are almost as miserable as the days because the humidity in the air traps the heat...it's literally like a sauna...and leaving your AC off for hours means it has to work harder to cool things back off when you finally cave in and turn it on. It's probably still a net savings, but in July I don't even consider it.
I'm always interested in better insulation...The house has too many damn windows though, and I'm not planning on living there long enough to make my money back on replacing them, which is an issue. I've still done a few, but it's ~200.00 per window, not counting installation, so I'm not in any hurry.
Re:Such specific numbers, blah. (Score:3, Interesting)
At high altitudes in AZ, you can get away with passive cooling if you have excellent insulation. You can open the doors and windows at night, and close them during the day, and keep your house livable. At low altitudes like Phoenix, however (~1500'), that's a fool's errand. Summer nights may not dip below 90 F for weeks, and can sometimes be 100 F. You would have to live in an underground bunker to get any kind of passive cooling. The only solution to "being too hot" is AC.
Of course, it's nice during the winter, because we can do passive heating
Re:Such specific numbers, blah. (Score:1, Interesting)
No sun hitting the roof means little heat getting into the house.
This was in a house from the 40's with absolutely NO insulation ANYWHERE in the house. I ran the A.C. in late July - September and only after 3pm or so to bring it back down a bit and it would hover in the lower 70's all day. Now, heating the bitch in the winter cost me nearly $200 a month (natural gas), but my power bill would raise maybe $10-$15 during the summer tops. I suspect that with proper insulation and windows a house under trees wouldn't need the A.C. much if at all.
Re:Are you joking or not? (Score:3, Interesting)