Scuttlebutt Website SCUTTLEBUTT
WEBSITE 		ForumIndex FORUM
INDEX 		Search Posts SEARCH
POSTS 		Who's Online WHO'S
ONLINE 		Log in LOG IN         

Forum Index: DISCUSSION: Dock Talk:
WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN? 		Team McLube

 
 


The Publisher
*****


Apr 19, 2010, 4:34 PM

Post #1 of 4 (2324 views)
Shortcut
WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN? Log-In to Post/Reply
WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN?
As a suburb to the north of Chicago, the residents of Evanston, IL saw its City Council vote unanimously this week to study a project to build wind turbines in Lake Michigan. The project would take 40 wind turbines and put them in Lake Michigan, 9 miles out from water's edge in Evanston.

"The wind is amazing off shore. The estimated speed we think it's about 18 or more miles an hour which is just prime wind. So those are the reasons we think this is a really interesting project," said Nathan Kipnis, Citizens for a Greener Evanston.

For the last several years, Kipnis and Citizens for a Greener Evanston have been building a plan for a wind farm in the lake, due east of Northwestern University. It could produce, as envisioned, enough electricity to power 40,000 homes. Lake Michigan is comparatively shallow there, and the spot is wind rich.

Offshore wind farms have long operated in the North Sea and other waters off the European coastline, but there are no water-based wind farms yet in the U.S., though there are many proposals. "This is a very active lakefront area with all the boating and the beach people and just everybody enjoying, so it'd be interesting the thought of looking out at 40 turbines," said Andi Wich, Evanston resident. -- Full story: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7382920


The Publisher
*****


Apr 19, 2010, 4:35 PM

Post #2 of 4 (2322 views)
Shortcut
Re: [The Publisher] WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN? [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply
Scuttlebutt 3072

From Andy Burton:
I caught your note about the plans in Illinois for a wind farm in Lake Michigan. We have similar plans here in RI for south of Block Island. As sailors we're as "green" as anyone and have an incentive to remain so. However, sailors should beware of wind farms; the disturbance to the breeze downwind of wind farm installations is considerable. There have been a couple of studies detailing the havoc they create. For any sailor who has sailed in a competitor's foul air, it's not too hard to imagine how far that zone extends; it's literally miles.


From Alex Arnold:
The first time the Chicago area threat level goes to orange they will close off the area around the wind farm and never open up thereafter.


The Publisher
*****


Apr 19, 2010, 4:37 PM

Post #3 of 4 (2321 views)
Shortcut
Re: [The Publisher] WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN? [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply
Scuttlebutt 3073

From Matthew Reid:
I'm sure the immediate knee-jerk reaction is to fight the wind farm offshore, but I think this idea has quite a bit of merit. Boaters and other watercraft rarely go out that far, in fact, only a fraction of a percent do so. Visually, nine miles out puts them out of sight on most days, due to poor air quality. Clean, cheap, renewable energy--go for it!


From Tony Magee:
Average wind of 18 mph nine miles out? They have to be kidding! I sailed southern Lake Michigan for more than 30 years and unless this group has figured in the occasional 40+ kt winds in a blow from the northeast, it's just not possible. I think a year-round average of 7 or 8 kt is closer to reality. Oh, the slating of sails, the glassy water, the flies. Brings back many memories...


From William Tuthill, Jamestown, RI:
With regards to offshore wind power - I am all for it! Where would you rather work: high above the sea or deep underground mining filthy coal? Obviously wind makes sense. It doesn't have to be mined, processed, transported, and combusted [with tragic environmental effects]. BUT any sailor who has been becalmed while sliding backwards in the tide can appreciate the power and regularity of flowing water. The next money making clean energy source has been flowing beneath our boats for centuries!



The Publisher
*****


Apr 19, 2010, 4:37 PM

Post #4 of 4 (2320 views)
Shortcut
Re: [The Publisher] WIND FARM ON LAKE MICHIGAN? [In reply to] Log-In to Post/Reply
Scuttlebutt 3074

From R. G. Newbury:
My reaction is not a 'knee-jerk', it is a rational reaction. Wind power is intermittent. Windpower is NOT a proper replacement or even an addition to the base level electricity needs of a modern economy. 'Adding wind power' is just a politician's hot air, while he steals your wallet to make you pay extra, because wind power is not economic *without the government's subsidy*. Ontario is going to pay 80 cents per kwh for "green" wind power, while the going rate is actually about 10 cents. Gee, 70 cents/kwh applied to stack scrubbers would clean things up. Then again, nuclear doesn't need stack scrubbers and runs all the time, not just when the wind blows.

And if you are deluded enough to believe that manmade CO2 has any effect on the climate, nuclear power produces no CO2. But of course, the greeeeeenies think nuclear is EVIL. Ahh, Lake Michigan in summer: been a few years but I remember: glassy water, 3 knots of air, just LOTS of power for a windmill...and the little flies. Damn little flies!

And I think this thread does not belong here, at ALL.


Viewing the Forums: JackGriffin and 901 guests
 
 


Search for (options) Contact Forum Forum FAQS Markup Tags Forum Rules