The feasibility of wind power

[Torsten]

There have been several discussion on these forums about how wind could never become a major energy contributor and how wind power is pie in the sky. I've kept pretty close tabs on wind power production and have seen some incredible advances in the technology over the last 10 years which have made the industry very interesting. Windpower is not preferred option, but it certainly has a role to play.

Even though I knew about many successful wind power generation projects overseas and in australia, I had no idea what percentge they can actually account for. I had assumed them to be mainly sources for small communities - more like an energy niche market.

Well, I was wrong [not as wrong as all the wind sceptics and naysayers though ]. Wind is indeed becoming an interesting contributor once you look at the numbers.

Wind-generated power now accounts for three percent of Europe's electricity requirements, according to the European Wind Energy Agency (EWEA). In Denmark the figure is 20 percent, eight percent in Germany and seven percent in Spain.

Now, 3 or 8 or even 20 percent don't sound much, but if you consider that nuclear only provides 15% of the worlds electricity, then it suddenly compares rather well. In fact, the USA gets the same percentage of it's power needs from its 64 nuclear plants as denmark gets from wind turbines.

Since we are soon not going to have much of a choice regarding CO2 emissions, we better start getting used to wind turbines or nuclear plants. I prefer the former.

[Μορφέας]

Im all with you on that vote, Hell if I become an anethesis eventually then I'l fund a couple personally.

[apothecary]

Yeah on a few engineering websites I keep tabs on, I have noticed there are plenty of currently implemented and well functioning wind power plants.

It is the usual crew media/politicians (and MAINLY, the business lobby groups that control them) that are keeping people in the dark about how far we've come.

What can we do? To convince most politicians in this country you need a big fat checkbook. Plain and simple.

[Conan Troutman]

I live in SW Vic, where there are some large windfarms...one is also in development just outside the town where i live.

The main problem in stopping this renuable energy source seems to be purely asthetic, as many locals simply dont like the idea of having ten's of giant white windmills somehow impeding there views.

(I think they add to usually dull skyline)..

This technology seems to be the only viable choice (at moment) in oz for large scale renuable power generation...

pity considering how strong some of mother natures other powers can be in oz eg.solar/hydro tidal flows ect

[Torsten]

I don't like the look of the windfarms, which is why I think solar is a much better option. We already have so many flat surfaces in our designs and if we made them all solar panels we would probably not need too many actual solar farms [ie no extra land use or visual pollution].

However, wind is a more economical option and for the time being everything still runs on economics. Persoanlly I'd rather have a windfarm in my skyline than to put up with the effects of global warming.

[Fenris]

There is so much unused land along the west Australian coast, I am thinking from Lancelin to Geraldton where the wind is constantly howling through. I am sure it would be an ideal place to install a few wind turbines.

Brushless alternators are available which don't have any contact parts to wear out and have good efficiency, the only moving parts that get any wear are the bearings so they really are maintenance free.