People ask me, “How do you find something to write about every day?” And I tell them that I merely wait for some liberal politician and/or environmental freakazoid to announce their latest loony plan to “save the planet.”
So, thank you, Mayor Michael Bloomberg for announcing your “windmill power plan” that would put wind turbines on every building, city bridges, and everywhere else throughout New York for the purpose of “producing ten percent of the city’s electricity in ten years.”
Anyone who has to live near wind turbines will tell you that they are not just noisy neighbors, but their incessant noise can make you crazy. There are reports of medical conditions being attributed to being around wind turbines day-in and day-out.
The problem is exacerbated by the need to keep the turbines turning even when there is no wind; otherwise mechanical problems can occur. So wind turbines are hooked up to a source of reliable energy like that from a coal-fired plant to keep the blades moving.
If, I hear you saying, you have to hook up the turbines to electricity from a coal-fired, natural gas or nuclear plant, why do you need them in the first place? Good question!
Right now, in terms of all the wind turbines in the nation, the amount of electricity being produced adds up to about one percent of the total.
To put it another way, generating electricity with wind turbines is just about the most stupid way you can devise when compared to other methods. The exception to this is the use of solar panels that produce even less electricity nationwide than wind turbines.
Who, in fact, really likes wind turbines? Answer: The people who make and install them. The reason for this is the tremendous federal subsidies involved. In 2006 alone, the federal tax incentives paid out cost taxpayers an estimated $2.75 billion.
Then, of course, is the fact that the wind does not blow all the time. According to energy industry expert Robert Bryce, in economic terms that means “electricity generated by wind costs more than twice as much as that generated by coal, natural gas, or nuclear power.”
Mayor Bloomberg is afflicted with the same madness of all liberals; the belief that any cockeyed notion that pops into their head and requires a lot of money, plus produces a great deal of pain for the most dubious results, must be implemented.
The Mayor has been on a tear since taking office to force everyone to stop smoking, to eliminate trans-fats from all restaurant menus, and other meaningless intrusions into the private lives and choices of New Yorkers and anyone visiting the Big Apple. Simply leaving people alone never seems to occur to him.
Finally, let it be said that wind energy proposals that are based on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, i.e., global warming, are inherently erroneous because the Earth is not warming. For a decade now, it has been cooling and it is likely to continue cooling for decades to come.
The notion that wind energy will reduce our dependency on foreign oil is another myth. That can be achieved by drilling for and extracting the millions of barrels of oil that exist in and around the U.S.A..
If you think life in New York City can make some people crazy, then put wind turbines everywhere and watch everyone go crackers.
One thing’s for sure, the city’s pigeon population would be decimated within a year. The sound and sight of all birds would vanish from the city.
