[gabereiser]

“My truck is so badass you can feel the ground shaking.”

Such a Texas thing to say.

I had my fair share of wind turbines on my sailboat. Nothing this guy is taking about is 1) new. 2) novel. 3) revolutionary.

What he’s trying to do is white-wash and “patriot”ize a simple existing technology. Only with half a brain cell so he thinks he’s solving the worlds energy crisis.

Wind turbines are loud. The faster they spin, the louder. The faster they spin the more potential for hazardous blade separation. I once sliced right through a dinghy with one. Imagine if that was little Melody with her stuffed animal.

The future of energy is not physical force pushing propellers to drive alternators, it’s capturing (and harnessing) the power of the sun. Solar panels provide 2-3x the output, none of the physical dangers, and are quieter than an ants whisper.

[woodruffw]

Without any particular regard for this guy, it seems (to me) like the future has plenty of space for both: the US has a vast, windswept, mostly unpopulated interior where a somewhat noisy wind mill isn’t a significant concern.

Capturing some of that energy seems like a good idea to me, especially if we can use it to offset solar’s cyclical nature.

[b112]

And when those windmills slow the earth's rotation, eventually tidal locking the Earth on one side, where will your precious environment be then, hmm??

(what I imagine a typical Texan must be thinking)

[theultdev]

Texas has the most installed wind power capacity of any US state.

Many days the grid runs 100% off of wind energy.

[philwelch]

And on the days when there isn’t enough wind, ERCOT sends out mobile phone alerts threatening us with rolling blackouts if we don’t adjust our air conditioners.

[b112]

Well of course! No one would be worried, if it was just one windmill!

[theultdev]

Who do you think allows all those windmills in their pastures?

Never heard anyone complaining other than once about a company trying to not pay out for energy produced.

[doodlebugging]

>where will your precious environment be then, hmm??

As a Texan I feel compelled to answer this question. You will find the environment right out there where the front fell off.

[Crosseye_Jack]

> the front fell off

Yeah, that's not very typical, I'd like to make that point.

[theteapot]

Wind turbines have a higher potential power density. Wind is sun energy concentrate.

[Terr_]

That's even more true for oil and coal, but doesn't necessarily make them great choices.

Plus "concentrate" doesn't quite capture how there are inefficiencies in conversion: A lot of that sunlight gets wasted. A concentration of a portion of a portion.

[theteapot]

Even more true of Nuclear but I wasn't making an argument about oil and gas versus solar.

> Plus "concentrate" doesn't quite capture how there are inefficiencies in conversion.

Jeez.

[Terr_]

> I wasn't making an argument about oil and gas versus solar.

I know, I'm mentioned them to demonstrate how "it's indirectly from sun energy" isn't automatically positive.

> Even more true of Nuclear

That seems like a stretch from "steady irradiance like with solar power" over to "stars death-sploding." It's a good thing the stuff we use in nuclear power wasn't formed from our sun, we aren't done with it yet.

[gabereiser]

Potential and realized are different things. I could potentially run at light speed…

[klysm]

Where can I find the math for this?

[engineer_22]

Vaclav Smil's book Power Density is quite good

[tzs]

> Solar panels provide 2-3x the output, none of the physical dangers, and are quieter than an ants whisper.

...and stop at night. In many places wind peaks at night, which compliments solar nicely. This could be especially useful in a future where the majority of cars are EVs that charge at night.

[gabereiser]

This is where battery and storage comes into play. We aren’t limited to harnessing power the moment we need it, we can store it for later.

[tzs]

Yes, but if you have two intermittent sources (such as solar and wind) instead of just one you don't need as much storage for a given level of reliability, and you aren't cycling your batteries as frequently so they will last longer.

In parts of Texas they have enough wind at night that consumers get free electricity at night, which is great for EV charging.