Japan’s wind farms save its arse while nuclear plants founder

[one...two...tree 2,762]

If Japan's wind turbines were to get a new theme song, it would be Wagner's "

", and it would ring out from the hills upon which they stand triumphantly, unscathed by the the country's earthquake/tsunami double whammy, lifting their skinny, still-turning blades like antennas to heaven. While Japan's water-dependent nuclear power plants suck and wheeze and spew radioactive steam, "there has been no wind facility damage reported by any [Japan Wind Energy Association] members, from either the earthquake or the tsunami," says association head Yoshinori Ueda.

Even the country's totally badass Kamisu offshore wind farm, with its giant 2 MW turbines with blades big as the wings on a jumbo jet, and only 186 miles from the epicenter of the largest quake ever recorded in Japan, survived without a hiccup thanks to its "battle proof design." As a result, the nation's electric companies have asked all of its wind farms to increase power production to maximum, in order to make up for the shortfalls brought about by the failure of certain other aging, non-resilient 20th-century technologies.

Unlike conventional power plants, wind turbines don't have to be situated close to sources of water (always a liability), and their simplicity means fewer potential points of failure.

Bonus: when they break down, no one has to give their life to keep them from turning one of the world's most densely populated countries into a radioactive hellscape!

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-18-japans-wind-farms-save-its-####-while-nuclear-plants-flounder

[natty bumppo 297]

japan total wind power capacity ... 2056 MW in 2009

fukushima nuclear power plant installed capacity ... 4696 MW

wind power is already on the grid. think these existing turbines can output enough power to make up for the loss of this one plant?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

japan total wind power capacity ... 2056 MW in 2009

fukushima nuclear power plant installed capacity ... 4696 MW

wind power is already on the grid. think these existing turbines can output enough power to make up for the loss of this one plant?

No. They need more wind turbines. Supplement them with gas, oil and coal fired power plants.

[natty bumppo 297]

No. They need more wind turbines. Supplement them with gas, oil and coal fired power plants.

2010 wind turbine target of 3000 MW capacity was missed. i did finally find that in 2010 japan added 221 kw (10%) wind turbine capacity to the 2009 values.

agree ... the gas/ oil/ coal plants will need to be fully online. wonder how many are currently down for scheduled maintenance or necessary repairs?

[Pooky 3,787]

Category: Green Tech Author: Steven Hodson Posted: February 22, 2009

Tags: nuclear power, wind farms

Wind power causes more deaths than nuclear power

While this post technically will go under the Green Tech category here at The Inquisitr it equally could go under the Funny category because it really would be funny if not for the fact that it is stupid. According to the folks over at Treehugger there is an author over at The New American that is trying to make the case that wind power is more dangerous than nuclear power because there have been more wind power related deaths than the zero death rate encountered in the nuclear industry.

That’s right folks – the suggestion the author is making is that nuclear power is safer than wind power because there hasn’t been a single nuclear plant related death in 40 years. With the short life of wind power though we have a growing number of deaths; which Treehugger kindly listed out for us

Summary of Wind Turbine Incidents (December 2008):

• 41 Worker Fatalities, 16 Public-

Includes falling from turbine towers and transporting turbines on the highway.

• 39 Incidents of Blade Failure-

Failed blades have been known to travel over a quarter mile, killing any unfortunate bystanders within its path of destruction.

• 110 Incidents of Fire-

When a wind turbine fire occurs, local fire departments can do little but watch due to the

30-story height of these turbine units

. The falling debris are then carried across the distance and cause new fires.

•

60 Incidents of Structural Failure-

As turbines become more prevalent, these breakages will become more common in public areas, thereby causing more deaths and dismemberment’s from falling debris.

• 24 incidents of "hurling ice”-

Ice forms on these giant blades and is reportedly hurled at deathly speeds in all directions. Author reports that some 880 ice incidents of this nature have occurred over Germany’s 13-years of harnessing wind power.

Source:

Treehugger

They go on to suggest that this type of death toll will rise rapidly in the the future as more and more rooftop solar panels are installed around the nation.

What a great rib tickler for a Sunday afternoon.

THE INQUISITR link

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

This would make sense if I was against death. I am not. All people die.

I am against nuclear power plants not because they kill people but because they can ruin people's LIVES. Not because they will chop you in little bits immediately and not harm anyone that they don't chop into little bits, but because they can give millions of people leukemia that lasts for years, poison your fod and water, make a place uninhabitable and you don;t even know it is happening. What happens if an overcrowded island like Japan loses a sizable chunk of land to contamination the way Ukraine did? What if their very limited water supply is contaminated? Food supply? Do you have any idea how difficult it would be to live and work and produce anything on an island with no food and water? What do you think would happen to the cost of manufacturing anything there? Do you think a nuke plant could make up for it?

Not too mention they are just way too expensive. Not efficient at all.

Again, I am not opposed to death. You gotta die of something.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I know for a fact there was at least one worker death building the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. Worker fell from a scaffold inside the containment dome while under construction. Why do falls count for wind turbines and not nuclear plants? Do you think no one has been killed in a traffic accident while engaged in working for a nuclear power plant? what nonsense.

One could say that more people have been killed building schools than in nuclear accidents. Stop building schools!

[Pooky 3,787]

Gary, why not read the article again, carefully, and think long and hard about whether it is pro- or anti-nuclear power.

Then get back to me.