News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by MagnumOpus on Saturday April 22, 2017 @02:15PM (#14173832)
Meh about [2] - house cats and glass&steel skyscrapers kill an awful lot more birds than that. There is absolutely no outcry against either; that's how we know the outrage against windmills killing birds is planted and artificially kept alive.
Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by MrTonyD on Saturday April 22, 2017 @02:39PM (#14173994)
And I was reading that most "capped" underwater oil wells are actually leaking oil - and there are many thousands. So oil is silently killing incredible amounts of sea life. So, while I regret the loss of animal life to wind turbines it is much better than the loss of life to oil. (And new wind turbines in the ocean are being placed at heights which almost eliminate bird impacts and also being designed with structures which won't attract birds as a place to perch, unlike prior generations of wind turbines.)
Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by ams6110 on Saturday April 22, 2017 @05:36PM (#14174960)
Oil leaks naturally out of the sea floor also.
Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by AReallyGoodName on Saturday April 22, 2017 @03:22PM (#14174235)
Transport too. I suspect that's the biggest bird killer.

Which really just goes to show how good wind is. The worst complaints aren't actually a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by anigbrowl on Saturday April 22, 2017 @04:38PM (#14174630)
People who complain about a statistic without mentioning its severity in context are often only using it as rhetorical currency rather than actually caring about the issue itself. If they're accepting of the same outcome in other contexts you can safely ignore them.
Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by tertius on Saturday April 22, 2017 @06:15PM (#14175140)
When there's no wind there's no power. Or really, when there's no wind we just turn on the gas.

Also, it + solar will not meet needs.

Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by hsjhgktfdy on Saturday April 22, 2017 @08:04PM (#14175626)
Wind complements solar well in terms of peak generation. In some markets, wind + solar + hydro + existing demand pricing could already manage current consumption requirements. Hydro is perfect for base load and for peaking.

As a bridge fuel natural gas is also perfectly capable for base load and peaking, and due to pricing has already been rapidly supplanting coal and oil. Longer term, pumped hydro where available, or even technologies like syngas could be used to store peak wind/solar capacity to generate when the resource does not meet need. Along with a better long-distance grid, it takes no stretch of the imagination for renewables to meet virtually all current demand, without even accounting for huge advances in new technologies.

Peak population is coming, and with increasing energy efficiency/conservation, we can very well expect peak energy usage to precede peak population.

Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by tertius on Saturday April 22, 2017 @11:14PM (#14176262)
Solar and wind cannot meet demand. Neither is there enough hydro storage.

The population will peak. What causes the peak? Lifting from poverty. What results? Much higher energy demand.

Regardless, current demand cannot be sustained by wind and solar. Not even speaking about future demand.

Gas is fossil. I prefer nuclear to meet demand for the foreseeable future.

Re:The U.S. wind industry now employs more than 100K people by randomdata on Sunday April 23, 2017 @01:09AM (#14176626)
Apples and oranges, really. Wind/solar/gas are best suited for peak production. Nuclear is best suited for base load production. While technology can change down the road, they currently aren't directly in competition with each other.