Costly Broken Wind Turbines Give College Whopping Negative 99.14% Return On Investment
. . . funded by a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Only government can find ways to create such shockingly bad investment returns. Even the Steadman Funds of yesteryear (Deadman Funds, in the parlance), never plumbed these depths in such a short period of time. "The college estimates it would take another $100,000 in repairs to make the turbines function again after one of them was struck by lightning and likely suffered electrical damage last summer. School officials’ original estimates found the turbine would save it $44,000 in electricity annually, far more than the $8,500 they actually generated. Under the original optimistic scenario, the turbines would have to last for 22.5 years just to recoup the costs, not accounting for inflation. If viewed as an investment, the turbines had a return of negative 99.14 percent. “While they have been an excellent teaching tool for students, they have only generated $8,500 in power in their lifetime,” she said. “One of the reasons for the lower than expected energy power is that the turbines often need to be repaired. They are not a good teaching tool if they are not working.'" Look Princess, they while they were not working these things were the best teaching tool ever invented. Success provides a few learning points, but abject failure of this magnitude offers myriad teaching points. Frankly, everything about this project point to the fact that college administrators are not ready to manage the people or money they are required to manage. This was not an investment, but a serious, unconscionable waste of student money. It should be pink slips all around, but . . . wait for it . . . Have the administrators learned from the experience? In a word, NO! "Lake Land plans to replace the two failed turbines with a solar power system paid for by a government grant. “[T]he photovoltaic panels are expected to save the college between $50,000 and $60,000 this year,”Allee told the DCNF." The gambler who cannot win, doubles down! Brilliant. Why limit the poppycock ROI estimates to $60,000, go for the Moon! $600,000, or $6,000,000, or maybe the ROI will be infinite! Religion always trumps reason, and here the students pay, not the administrators, so there is no reason to treat this as anything other than a lark.
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Solar Still Has a Long Way to Go
. . . there is no evidence they ever will be. "Google’s boldest energy move was an effort known as RE<C, which aimed to develop renewable energy sources that would generate electricity more cheaply than coal-fired power plants do. The company announced that Google would help promising technologies mature by investing in start-ups and conducting its own internal R&D. Its aspirational goal: to produce a gigawatt of renewable power more cheaply than a coal-fired plant could, and to achieve this in years, not decades." * * * "As we reflected on the project, we came to the conclusion that even if Google and others had led the way toward a wholesale adoption of renewable energy, that switch would not have resulted in significant reductions of carbon dioxide emissions. Trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach." Refreshing as an ice water plunge, but harsh to the ears of the environmentalists, nothing can dissuade such a person from their religious revere. The Brits found a way to accomplish the difficult Triple Lindy, building thousands of wind turbines which actually release more carbon than they will ever save. This is before the calculations of hot standby power constantly waiting to cut in when the wind dies. Wind farms will create more carbon dioxide, say scientists Religion short-circuits the need for rational thought, leading to disastrous consequences outside of spiritual world. The genius of religion is that it define and works within the spiritual; the disaster of unreformed secular religions is they are intended to work in the real, physical world. The train wreck that occurs commonly results in the murder of millions, reference the USSR, Communist China, Communist Cambodia, and pretty much every communist or socialist hell hole. We need to take back the rational, kick out the unreformed environmental religions, and return to sanity our political policy on the environment. This cannot happen as long as the progressive movement retains vigor. This movement, long past its sell by date, is slowly pushing the US, the West, and the world towards cataclysm. Americans may like nothing more than family, friends, and work, but about once each generation we need to wake up and realize that our political better have left the reservation, and are running amok. Now is that time. We need to turn our attention to the political sphere, correct the problems, resolve the fundamentals for the new socio-economic model, and move the nation, and the world forward. We can do this. We must. and Theocracy In 21st-century USA - Cafe Hayek
. . . but we all should, environmentalism, and progressivism are becoming a metastasizing evil religion, which can only end in something ugly, and deadly. Read more below the fold! Earth Day! It's all about the wailing, gnashing of teeth, and inane predictions of environmental doom . . . First Earth Day: 18 failed predictions of apocalypse . . . doom I tell ya, doom! I don't know what it is about Earth Day but it always brings out the wackadoos. Here's a sampler! "1. Harvard biologist George Wald estimated that “civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” 2. “We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation,” wrote Washington University biologist Barry Commoner in the Earth Day issue of the scholarly journal Environment. 3. The day after the first Earth Day, the New York Times editorial page warned, “Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.'" Hehehehehehehehehehe! Idiots. Here, here George! Agreed, narrow self interested, Boomers! RIP, George. And thanks for all the fish!
Recycling Is Garbage
This article is from the way back machine, and from a time when the New York Times was not completely economically, environmentally, and progressively insane. Very good article, with good points. But now after a few decades, the environmental religion has infiltrated our schools, and fully indoctrinated our young people that recycling is a good, both morally and economically. It is neither. When I was a child we recycled, but only things which made economic sense to recycle. Boy scout troops would come by monthly and pickup newspaper, and metal for recycling. This was a moral good, the boy scouts were able to help the community recycle valuable recyclables, we were able to assist them by tying up the newsprint, and bagging the metals, and the boy scouts earned money to help defray the costs of scouting trips and adventures. Today, recycling is mandatory, if you do not, you will be taxed double or triple for your solid waste. Some localities even "audit" garbage and if they find recyclables the home owner can be fined or worse. There is no moral good in this, only obligation. Progressivism is authoritarianism, the power to tell others what to do, and enforce that with money penalties, and even prison. The ability to command men with guns to do ones bidding is a powerful motivator for the authoritarian. These people are not saving the world, they are aggregating power, which they uses to gain more power. The end point is enslavement. An election is coming, choose wisely. "14,000 Abandoned Wind Turbines Litter the United States" - Newmark's Door
. . . but no matter how hard one looks there is not a green environmentalist be found. The states need to begin to take this problem to task. The first thing they should require is insurance or bonding to account for the dismantling of the wind turbine once fallow. Second, the states need to make sure the wind producers are actively maintaining these devices. Once the subsidies, and rebates end there will be a huge desire to simply abandon these wind farms, leaving the cleanup to the taxpayers. I have no idea how many abandoned wind turbines there are in the US, but frankly there is no reason for any of these modern behemoths to be left standing after they are kaput. Environmentalism is a religion. A wacky, damaging religion, and the adherents want nothing less than your money, and your undivided belief. "10 Undervalued Retro Cars Suddenly Skyrocketing in Value" - Newmark's Door
We are a wealthy country with more than 10 million millionaires, and a huge population of oldsters on more than sufficient pensions with significant savings but under a million in net worth. All of them are nostalgic for their youth. More millionaires than ever are living in the US It's math, I never argue with math! There is a new installment on the global warming seminar being taught by the estimable Coyote . . .4/19/2016 Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 5a. Arguments For Attributing Past Warming to Man | Coyote Blog
. . . and this one looks at the attribution of warming to man issue. Your humble correspondent took a flyer at this issue a few days ago, here: Don Boudreaux knows history, and sets an errant Global Alarmist straight. Notice in the Coyote analysis, which follows the global alarmist arguments, only the first ice core graph shows any temperature record prior to 1850. The real trick to believing global alarmism is to limit your data to measurements after 1850, and even more preferably, after 1950. If one addresses the global temperature issue during either the past 8,000 years, or and even longer time period, then the current state of the climate looks normal for an interglacial warm period. Utilizing wind, and solar electrical energy generation, causes an increase in carbon emissions . . .4/18/2016 http://www.coyoteblog.com
. . . a doubling, actually. "I have made this point forever, but it always bears repeating -- the variability of wind and solar require hot fossil fuel backups that leads to little reduction in total fossil fuel generation capacity (so that wind and solar investments are entirely duplicative) and less-than-expected reductions in actual emissions." This only accounts for the generation of the power. As Britain found out, siting the windmill, or solar can also be damaging. Apparently, the places in Britain where these alternative energy facilities make economic sense, the siting and ground preparation releases so much carbon, that it is not a carbon neutral or carbon negative endeavor. With the real price of wind and solar higher than the real price of nuclear, natural gas, or coal fired electrical generation, the only reason to add the alternatives is carbon reduction. Thus, if there is no carbon reduction, there is absolutely no reason to add the alternatives. This is little more than a belief overriding rational thought. Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 1. Introduction | Coyote Blog
. . . and Coyote is just the objective observer to do that. That is the introduction, the rest follow below. If you take the time to read, and understand this information, you will be more well informed than even most scientist. Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 2. Greenhouse Gas Theory | Coyote Blog Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 3. Feedbacks | Coyote Blog Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 4a. Actual Temperature Data | Coyote Blog Denying the Climate Catastrophe: 4b. Problems With The Surface Temperature Record | Coyote Blog I will watch for more and provide updated reports when available. |
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