WTF are these?

It is actually 2x more to make wind energy than it does coal. And 3x more for solar power. This is because our power plants are so out dated that they lack the technology to be profitable. Michigan actual could loose money on them because it takes 25 years to pay all them off an the life expectancy of these are 20-25 years. So until we improve our technology these are nothing more than to keep the "green" idea going. It sucks because the federal gov. Hammers the nations coal burning power plants with such high taxes and regulations that it actually keeps them from being able to afford to do a overhaul on outdated 25+ year old equipment.
 
The blades I have seen in toledo were 80-100 ft long so those mills are probaby 300 ft tall. Id like to see the 600 footers. I wonder how fast the tip of the blades are traveling... Gotta be fast.
 
They are everywhere in much of the west and the plains. They are all over, California, Wyoming, Texas, the Dakotas, etc. I spend alot of time on Interstates in the middle of nowhere and they are fixture in the distance.
 
AutoRoc said:
The blades I have seen in toledo were 80-100 ft long so those mills are probaby 300 ft tall. Id like to see the 600 footers. I wonder how fast the tip of the blades are traveling... Gotta be fast.
Click to expand...
Yea I've seen the blades for the big ones, I thought the driver said they were 184' long. Couple years ago my buddy s towing company had to adjust them on the trailers in wadhams before they headed out. They were huge!
 
One day i was riding with one of my co workers and we were passing a blade being transported on I94, my co worker (southern hillbillyish guy) took one look at it and said to me "damn man, could you imagine the air plane those propellers go on?!" I nearly pissed my pants laughing at him, took me almost 5 mins to gather myself to explain what it was to him, he was dumbfounded. true story.
 
That pic is heading east on i-80 between evanston and little america, green river is further east of little america. They sit to the west of "Cottonwood Reservoir". On google maps they are at 41.277935, -110.540657, you can see how big that wind farm is (60 generators) and clearly how tall they are by the shadows they cast on the ground. It's very visible.
 
Last edited:
DBK said:
They kill at a minimum tens of thousands a year, including ones as small as bats and ones as big as birds of prey. I have a really hard time believing it's that low considering how many crash into virtually every other tall object.

Blades that big don't have to turn fast when this flies through it:

Wind%20Turbines%20birds%20w210.jpg
Click to expand...
Point taken.
 
Hotrodhawk said:
Yes they are huge, you should see the wind farm along I80 in western Wyoming near Evanston. At night they have these killer bright red warning lights that you see for over 80 miles away, It makes them look like a swarm of fire fly's.
View attachment 55609
Click to expand...

Iowa West of Des Moines looks like that too. Kind of creepy looking when you get that many in a field together.
 
I want to mount a few in my backyard. I swear the birds around me pick food at white castle dumpster then fly right over and let loose when I wash my cars, and when I say let loose I mean LOOSE!
 
If it is a 100 ft blade, then they are travelling 628 feet at the tip per revolution (2*Pi*100). So if they are doing 6 RPM, 10 seconds per revolution, the tip would have to cover 62.8 feet per second. That is bringin the mail.

-Geoff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top