Wind farms wtf

[Rumckle]

That and rich people who live in beach resort towns for 2/12ths of the year don't want their views obstructed, even though I personally find wind turbines to be aesthetically pleasing.

I don't really understand that, I mean the beach is nice and all, but there is nothing to see out there, just more water. I much prefer some turbines to break up the monotony, especially if they were purple.

[slothrop23]

id much prefer a big windmill in my back garden than uranium. 

[Doktor Howl]

id much prefer a big windmill in my back garden than uranium.  

And I prefer both to burning hydrocarbons.

[Jasper]

What about maglev wind turbines?  How come those don't get talked about?

[Rumckle]

The problem I have with nuclear is storage of the waste, I'm not saying that it is impossible to store safely, but it is pretty damn expensive (according to Wikipedia the life cycle cost of Yucca mountain is $90 billion).

Also, nuclear power isn't renewable (at least not until/if fusion becomes available) so we'd have to replace it with something else eventually.


Also, to note nuclear power seems to be working pretty well in Finland (although it only provides about 25% of the power).

[slothrop23]

id much prefer a big windmill in my back garden than uranium.  

And I prefer both to burning hydrocarbons.

with you on that. I'd be more than happy to replace oil and coal with traffic wardens and solicitors

[slothrop23]

Are solicitors not too slippery to catch fire?

This is true!  but we could trick them into it by saying we are not sure about the legalities of our new windmill, they'd be there in a shot.  thats at least 9 letters and 14 phonecalls. and then. the napalm.

[Cain]

Would those be the same French nuclear scientists who, when Chernobyl happened, lied about the fallout from it possibly effecting France and, as that lie was discovered and subsequent investigations proved, also lied about numerous other incidents, leaks and near misses in the nuclear industry?

Don't get me wrong, the likes of Greenpeace lying about nuclear power and it's downsides pisses me off as well.  Radiation is, in most cases, not very dangerous at all, except in very large doses or from sources which are rarely used when making nuclear power, and the effects of fallout from Chernobyl have been grossly overestimated.  But the nuclear industry has a major tendency to hide it's dirty laundry while hiding behind the veneer of scientific neutrality, and that should be taken into account.

[slothrop23]

also.   chenobyl was the setting for modern warfare, which is the best first person shooter ever imo, so, every cloud...although in this case, more of a yellowey green.

we have a recently abandonded nuclear power station not far from us, apart from looking awesome its in an area of outstanding natural beauty.  strangely no one has died from the impact of it, and no flora or fauna has been affected by its use.  the main problem is that it costs 1bn to put up and 1.2bn to shut down.  small fry compared to a planet i guess.