The Roanoke Slant

Roanoke Times, 6/21/05, Pg Va 7: Wind-energy advocate (M. King) misled with misinformation, by Glen Schleed, author who reports on energy matters.
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Talk about "misinformation" and slant:
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"Windmills do not make power when the wind doesn't blow. Therefore, they are not the sole complete 24/7 solution to the power system."
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Right -- and solar panels don't make much electricity at night, and Smith Mountain Lake facility actually consumes power when pumping-back water from Leesville Dam, and our coal and nuclear plants don't make power when they're shut-down for maintenance. These systems are all components of a total system interconnected by a grid that's designed to satisfy the user demand. No single component is ever intended to be "the" sole supply at any given point in time.
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"Wind turbines are not economically viable and lots of folks are having second thoughts about them."
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Actually: 34 States have commercial/utility level wind power facilities
TOTAL INSTALLED U.S. WIND ENERGY CAPACITY: 6,740 MW as of Jan 24, 2005
Click to see the map:
http://www.awea.org/projects/index.html
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Graph of installed power capacity by year
Click to see the graph:
http://www.awea.org/faq/instcap.html
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For a summary of wind policy, economics and environmental impact:
CLICK:
http://www.awea.org/policy/index.html
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"Tax advantage is key to economics"
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Right -- and our government has been subsidizing "bad emission" hydro-carbon fuels for a hundred years. So now to jump-start clean, green, renewable energy we are giving tax incentives to low-impact energy generation. That's not a negative, it's a positive! We need to do lots more of it and soon!
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Prior energy items:
http://roanokeslant.blogspot.com/2005/06/clouding-wind-energy-debate.html
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