Green Stupidity

By Good Ole Boy/Jim

The Green movement has made decisions about energy that any halfwit would know are flawed. They also are rife with hypocrisy. The effects that their decisions have made will hurt the environment and in some cases cause serious health problems. These deleterious affects will last for generations, possibly for very many. There are other forms of renewable energy that are being largely ignored.

The government has dictated that incandescent light bulbs be discontinued for more energy efficient, high cost,  CFL bulbs (neon like).It is claimed they have a life span of 5-7 years, something most are finding to be false with lifespans of 1-2 years the norm. They also have problems in cold temperatures, in the winter they won’t light your garage or out buildings without costly upgrades.  The big catch is the CFL’s contain mercury. Once in landfills they will contaminate ground water, streams, rivers, and lakes. With the large number of people who will be using the light bulbs the small amount in each one will add up to a huge problem.

From the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease.
It is important for the general public to understand that either short-term or long-term exposures to metallic mercury can lead to serious health problems. Human exposure to metallic mercury occurs primarily from breathing contaminated air. Other forms of mercury can be absorbed by drinking contaminated water, eating food (usually fish containing mercury), and from skin contact. At high levels, metallic mercury can cause effects on the nervous system and the developing fetus. Other forms of mercury can damage other organs. Even at low levels, metallic mercury can cause health problems. Metallic mercury exposure can cause harm before symptoms arise. Once released into the environment, mercury is very hard to clear up. If it is left unattended where exposures can occur, it can have dangerous effects on human health. If you wonder how bad can they be a broken one in a school causes evacuation from the area.

Further deleterious effects may be the so called dirty energy as described in this video 

Wind turbines farms with hundreds of towers are sprouting up all over the country. Construction and ground lease costs are very high and require costly repairs fairly often. The upper limit for windmill efficiency is about 59.3 %. This is called the Betz limit.  It tells us is that it is impossible for any windmill or wind turbine to turn more than 59.3 % of the wind’s energy into mechanical or electrical energy. On top of all that, they are killing thousands of raptors. In an area of Southern California where Golden Eagles were common they have been decimated to the point of extermination. The Green Conservationists were all over DDT for their effects on raptors but are silent about the slaughter going on now.  All over the country where they are found, raptors in uncounted numbers are dying. It has been found in many areas the rate of raptor killings is an average of 1.9 raptors per year per turbine. Multiply that by the tens of thousands and extinctions are possible. Hypocrisy is a good word to describe the Greenies.

Solar power farms with the most potential are found in desert areas. The cost per kilowatt is high. Physical law states that the maximum amount of energy that the earth receives from the sun under optimum conditions is just under 1 kWh per square meter (11 square feet). So if these panels were 100 per cent technically efficient which is doubtful will ever be achieved, they would still be grossly inefficient economically. They also have been shown to be destroying the desert ecology where they shade large areas of the desert floor. The roads and frequent travelers to the farms also disrupts the fragile ecosystem. . For many years the so called conservationists were decrying the use of motorcycles and ATV’s in the desert areas because of the habit destruction. The outcry about the solar panels is nearly nonexistent.

Geothermal and hydroelectric are being ignored and under developed.

Geothermal has high front end costs but after in place produces large amounts of electricity at low cost. Per kilowatt much cheaper than wind turbines. The amount of heat within 10,000 meters (about 33,000 feet) of Earth’s surface contains 50,000 times more energy than all the oil and natural gas resources in the world. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that conventional geothermal sources on private and accessible public lands across 13 western states have the potential capacity to produce 8,000–73,000 MW, with a mean estimate of 33,000 MW.  The Geothermal Energy Association estimates that 132 projects now under development around the country could provide up to 6,400 megawatts of new capacity.    The USGS study found that hot dry rock resources could provide another 345,100–727,900 MW of capacity, with a mean estimate of 517,800 MW. That means that this resource could one day supply nearly all of today’s U.S. electricity needs.
Additionally if lakes are made and are used  as a water source in energy production, they actually make habitat available for wildlife instead of killing it.

Hydroelectric power can be produced without building more dams by retrofitting thousands of lakes of all sizes across America with bottom draw to power turbines. Many might not produce year round power but it would be low cost generation and the sun only shines half the time and the wind is not always blowing so even if it is not year round it is no worse in that respect than wind and solar power. Both geothermal and hydroelectric would be cheap after installation and renewable, lowering the cost to consumers.

Why is it peoples health and raptors lives be the cost for Green Energy? It hardly sounds green as they call it.