Windpower Could Provide 40 Times Earth's Power Needs

Too bad ignorant and currupt senators like Nancy Pelosi will do whatever they can to block something so efficient from becoming a reality. Just look what she did in the california desert. She made it illegal for any solor power station to be installed or even do research. How ignorant can you get? Is oil the only answer for us? Clearly, when the money goes into their pockets, it's our only choice.

Stupid bitch Nacy Pelosi.

That doesn't even make sense - aren't the Democrats supposed to be the party of pro-renewable energy?

I'm not denying that she did this (although if there's a link, I'd appreciate reading it), but on the other hand, would you really trust the Republicans to do better? You know they're in league with big oil!

Yes, let's outlaw power generation in deserts, because it threatens the massive sand habitats out there... Better to destroy forests for power lines and power plants. Real intelligent (sarcasm).

If consumers want to take energy matters into their own hands, they might as well begin investing in technologies to generate power at home, such as roof-top wind generators, solar water heaters, solar panels, skylights, and solar ovens (like those used in Asia). After all, consumers make up a large percentage of power consumption.

First off, you mean Sen. Dianne Feinstein, not Pelosi.

Second, she was only talking about one Federally owned part of the Mojave desert, not all deserts. There's no reason to put a mass of solar panels out in the middle of Federally-protected lands and build expensive transmission lines to get that power to users in California, when you can just put the solar panels on people's rooftops and cut out the middleman. It's much more efficient and will help keep homes cooler at the same time. The only people in favor of covering the desert with solar panels are big power companies who want to maintain their monopoly on electricity.

Ike R. = Correct way of thinking.

The problem isn't global people! It's PERSONAL! We can't wait for one politician or one party to fix it for all of us! We have to take it to the streets! If every person who owned\rented an apartment in New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and LA put a solar power plate on the roof of their building we wouldn't have NEARLY as much of a problem as we do now!

STOP BITCHING ABOUT HOW THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING A POOR JOB OF TAKING CARE OF THINGS AND GO OUT THERE AND FIX IT YOUR DAMN SELF! TAKE SOME RESPONSIBILITY!!!

If you want something done right...

There's all this talk about wind energy but what about clean coal technology? Once the Duke Energy’s Edwardsport IGCC plant in Indiana is completed (it’s on schedule for 2012), this IGCC plant will be one of the cleanest coal-based power plants in the world, producing 10 times as much power as the existing unit with 45 percent less carbon dioxide emissions per unit of energy produced. http://sn.im/factuality5

Heh, what's the problem? I've got plenty of power now and there's lots more coal, gas and uranium in the ground, and lots of wind and sun too. There's no crisis here folks.

um... Because clean coal is a dumb idea. The only reason why we're using it is because there are so many jobs to be created and maintained. Which I'm certainly not against, but Wind and Solar are MUCH BETTER than "Clean" coal...

Know how many emissions solar and wind produce? ZERO...

...CLEAN coal... that's like REDUCED fat cookies... still bad for you, but eaten over longer periods, still make your ass fat.

yea u wanna see the worst fat free cookie eating fat ass clean coal advocates ever? West Virginia. all the shops have a no wind power sticker in thier window.

Ike R..let me see...
we have screwed up our forests and still need more energy, so let's screw up our deserts as well.

TINSTAAFL (There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)

The Law of Conservation of Energy states that in a closed system (like our Earth), Energy may be neither created nor destroyed, but may be changed from one form to another.

Before we plunge willy-nilly into stealing huge quantities of the energy that powers the climate of our Earth, (sun and wind) lets at least have a go at predicting what will happen when we do.

It may turn out to have a negligible effect - bonus..lets go! But past history of our power harvesting endeavours suggests that it is more likely we will jump from the frying pan to the fire.

Come On.....let us at least practice some due diligence. Let us use these marvellous and apperantly highly accurate climate models from the IPCC to try and predict what will happen when we steal this energy from the climate.

Let us show our children's children that their ancestors COULD learn from their own mistakes.

Richard@Rivers

remember:
Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.

@seatellite
to your second to last post
Since when did anyone trust government to do things correctly!!?

2) Renewable energy is in general even if you assume 100% efficency has an infamously terrible cost: profit ratio

my opinion? NUCLEAR
another thread I read earlier about bacteria decontaminating radioactive waste...that would make it even impervious to these environmental freaks
to those who are paranoid: Another chernobyl isnt very likely, the Navy has used nuclear for 50 years and had no accidents resulting in more than 20 Rads. Hand this industry to the military, it will be in good hands, no worry about spending money on safegaurds, unlike in a free market...a plant would let loose. Later it is found out the owners failed to make a nessasary inspection or replace something.\

military run nuclear = safe, efficient energy sources

Let capitol hill use what is available now to power us now. Capitol hill can only look at the incomplete research and hope that if they fund one prospective researcher with our tax dollars, maybe it will bear fruit in the next few decades. But, are you really going to rely on capitol hill to spend your money on a winner. If you want to support someone, then please do so yourself and get as much help as you can to get it done quick.

Solar and wind tech is effective and clean, but large scale construction is theoretical. There is excellent potential for wind on these floating mills, but we need to build them. We can get excellent solar power in the desert, but the sand destroys the equipment. In both cases there is the need to transport the energy from remote locations to the users. This tech is in the hands of the private researchers (us) to make it work. Capitol hill can do nothing with it until it works.

Large companies are providing clean, reliable, affordable nuclear power now. Many smaller companies are providing clean coal power now. The process of capturing carbon emitions is available now. Some companies have already started using processes to reuse those emitions creating green power out of carbon fuels now.

We have to use both options. Nuclear and clean carbon energies are not the final answer, but they are better than what we have been using and we can build those now. And, we cannot simply do nothing and wait for large scale solar or wind or tidal or something to finally have a relaible design for construction.