Wind Energy's Carbon Footprint is Huge
A report from the Radioactive Communist Zombies blog
Wind energy, the erecting of massive, noisy, sight spoiling, bird Cuisinarts is not all green. There are environmental factors to consider.
Take for example, their carbon footprint.
Follow me on this.
According to National Review Online's Planet Gore blog each wind turbine has 429 tons of concrete as a footing (you put something huge that rotates that high in the air and you need a lot of weight to counter balance it).
Also according to Planet Gore, to produce 20% of Texas' electrical energy in 2018 from wind power will take 19,013 wind turbines (there's probably a mandate to produce 20% of the power from "renewable" sources like in other states such as Washington and Oregon). So that will require 8,346,707 tons of concrete. Not an insignificant sum.
According to The Environmental Literacy Council web page (scroll down, it's there), each ton of concrete produces one ton of CO2 so those tons of concrete will spew 8,346,707 tons of greenhouse gases (i.e., carbon dioxide). Think that's a lot?
According to the U.K. Society of Motor Manufacture and Traders Limited's web site, a Chevy Tahoe puts out 355 grams per kilometer driven. Some simple conversions and that's 6.29 x 10-4 tons per mile. Divide that into 8,346,707 tons of CO2 and you get . . . a big number (13.256 billion miles). Divide that by one million SUV's and you get 13,256 miles which is about what a car would be driven in a year.
In other words (if you're still with me), the carbon footprint from planting enough wind turbines to supply 20% of Texas' power needs in 2018 will be the equivalent of ONE MILLION SUV's being driven for a year. And that's just the concrete. Add in the carbon footprint of transporting the turbine to the remote windy area, erecting it, building transmission lines, etc.
That's not a carbon footprint, that's a foot stomp!
UPDATE: For a comparison with nuclear energy, see here.
Source ~Website: http://www.radioactivecommunistzombies.com
3 comments:
Pandora, I'm astounded. I checked to see if 355 gm of CO2 per km was out of line, but no - you are right.
But for those of us who are linked to the English system (amazing the Brits aren't), this equates to 1.25 lbs/mile. Holy Crap!
If that Chevy SUV has a combined MPG of 20 mpg that means 25 lbs of CO2 are produced for every gallon of gasoline consumed. Holy Crap!
But a gallon of gasoline only weighs about 8 lbs (pints a pound the world around). So, how can that gas sucking Tahoe put out more CO2 than the gas it consumes?
Must be the internal combustion engine is taking unburned carbon from the gasoline and combining it with O2 from the intake manifold and spitting out the exhaust a combination that weighs more than the GD gasoline that was consumed.
Oh, I forgot. O2 is fuel as well, without it noting burns. Anybody know how much 02 (in pounds) is needed to burn a gallon of gasoline in a Tahoe?
Double oh, oh. What about carbon monoxide and water vapor? How much does that stuff weigh?
Pandora, you've really opened a can of worms here and they're all wigglin' and trying to get out. We need help.
Holy Crap! Never thought about this before - pollutants weighing more than the original fuel. Can't happen. It's against the laws of physics. Physics?? John Droz has got to weigh-in on this one - where are you John Droz? We need you to put the worms back in Pandora's can.
Jefferson County Board of Legislators oppose Albany siting of power projects
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
State siting of electric generation facilities is not good for local jurisdictions, says a resolution recommended by the Jefferson County Board of Legislators’ Finance and Rules Committee.Tuesday’s resolution opposes the Power NY Act, passed this year, which reinstated a state siting board for all generation projects of 25 megawatts or more. Members of the board have said the act infringes on home rule. The full board will vote on the resolution Tuesday night. From WDT, today.
Unfortunately, this is what local corruption has brought us. When an individual accepts a position of public trust, ie, governing the community at large, ALL positions should be considered and fairly evaluated, prior to decision to prevent conflict of interest. Lack of wisdom,combined with desire for financial gain has brought much community divide. There is a fine line between being ignorant and stubbornly stupid.
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