Would you live beside a Wind Turbine?

ZuM16 · 30-05-2021 03:57AM

Sure, I’m a big metal fan.

The Continental Op · 30-05-2021 09:20AM

snoopy84 wrote: »

I felt queasy long before he vomited but to be fair the sight of anything going around in a circle makes me queasy

You must have to limit the number of threads you read here then

Heraclius · 30-05-2021 09:36AM

I find it hard to understand people objecting to noise from a wind turbine. They don't seem very loud to me. Have any of these people spend a day or a night in a city or town? Try sleeping when a motorbike decides to rev outside or a couple is having a screaming match when they are getting out of the taxi at 3am and then see now you feel about having only a wind turbine to complain about.

Ger Roe · 30-05-2021 09:38AM

YFlyer wrote: »

My problem is that they reduce the number of turbines at night time. Instead of either cutback the power stations output or sell the excess energy for pittances. Or send it to Turlough Hill.

Sooner we get smart meters, the better.

I have a smart meter, no benefit for me yet... although the power companies are immediately saving money on meter reading.

I think it's like the good friday agreement, the benefits will be only apparent over time..... It would have been good to see defined and costed benefits for the consumer published before the rollout... actual benefits and timescales, not the aspirational 'at some point in the future, good things will come' blurb that was circulated.

Why can't aspects like night saver rates be made available to consumers as soon as the meters are installed? It couldn't be that we are just paying lip service to an EU directive to get the things installed and the consumer can wait.. could it? :rolleyes:

Hamsterchops · 30-05-2021 10:35AM

Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh

No wind today, so it's silent & stationery.

Wind picks up again . . .

Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh
Woosh woosh woosh woosh

Nah, don't fancy living beside that, thank your very much.

BattleCorp · 30-05-2021 01:01PM

Wind turbines are grand if you don't like birds or bats. They mince them up quite nicely.

Markcheese · 30-05-2021 01:18PM

Ger Roe wrote: »

I have a smart meter, no benefit for me yet... although the power companies are immediately saving money on meter reading.

I think it's like the good friday agreement, the benefits will be only apparent over time..... It would have been good to see defined and costed benefits for the consumer published before the rollout... actual benefits and timescales, not the aspirational 'at some point in the future, good things will come' blurb that was circulated.

Why can't aspects like night saver rates be made available to consumers as soon as the meters are installed? It couldn't be that we are just paying lip service to an EU directive to get the things installed and the consumer can wait.. could it? :rolleyes:

Not sure how true it is ,but I've been told that esb networks is really only interested in them as a convenience to themselves - not really as a consumer energy saving / load shedding option ..
And they have gone with a fairly basic, not very flexible smart meter ...

30-05-2021 01:25PM

Heraclius wrote: »

I find it hard to understand people objecting to noise from a wind turbine. They don't seem very loud to me. Have any of these people spend a day or a night in a city or town? Try sleeping when a motorbike decides to rev outside or a couple is having a screaming match when they are getting out of the taxi at 3am and then see now you feel about having only a wind turbine to complain about.

Well it seems to be people who are mostly off the beaten path. They may have personal issues with noise anyway.

Muahahaha · 30-05-2021 01:28PM

Markcheese wrote: »

Not sure how true it is ,but I've been told that esb networks is really only interested in them as a convenience to themselves - not really as a consumer energy saving / load shedding option ..
And they have gone with a fairly basic, not very flexible smart meter ...

What exactly is the supposed benefit to the consumer from smart meters?

Might they be used by electricity companies to bring in a 3rd and higher rate of electricity used at peak between 6 and 8pm?

Banana Republic 1 · 30-05-2021 06:34PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

Wind turbines are grand if you don't like birds or bats. They mince them up quite nicely.

Better they drown in an oil slick.

BattleCorp · 30-05-2021 06:36PM

Banana Republic 1 wrote: »

Better they drown in an oil slick.

An awful lot more native Irish birds and bats have died because of wind turbines than oil slicks.

The Continental Op · 30-05-2021 06:38PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

An awful lot more native Irish birds and bats have died because of wind turbines than oil slicks.

iirc from UK figures 500 times as many get killed by cats every year.

Neither is good for the birds but it does put a different perspective on it.

Banana Republic 1 · 30-05-2021 06:38PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

An awful lot more native Irish birds and bats have died because of wind turbines than oil slicks.

Says you!

BattleCorp · 30-05-2021 06:42PM

Banana Republic 1 wrote: »

Says you!

Maybe I should have added 'here in Ireland' to the end of my sentence.

One other point. Oil slicks get cleaned up or dissipate, wind turbines keep on killing birds and bats for years.

Ubbquittious · 30-05-2021 06:42PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

What exactly is the supposed benefit to the consumer from smart meters?

Might they be used by electricity companies to bring in a 3rd and higher rate of electricity used at peak between 6 and 8pm?

Yep id say standing charges and peak time rates will balloon in the next 10 years while other rates will decrease

The Continental Op · 30-05-2021 06:43PM

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48936941

Research from the London School of Economics (LSE) estimated in 2014 that by 2020 there could be anywhere between 9,600 and 106,000 bird deaths a year from wind energy in the UK - in other words, we're not sure.

It compared this with the estimated 55 million birds killed by domestic cats in the UK each year.

The Continental Op · 30-05-2021 06:45PM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Yep id say standing charges and peak time rates will balloon in the next 10 years while other rates will decrease

I don't know why they cannot give a reduced tariff according to the amount of wind power generated. If your electric car charger was connected to the internet then a smart charger could charge only from wind power if you had the time to leave the car on charge or at a higher rate if you just wanted it to charge as quickly as possible.

Ubbquittious · 30-05-2021 07:13PM

The Continental Op wrote: »

I don't know why they cannot give a reduced tariff according to the amount of wind power generated. If your electric car charger was connected to the internet then a smart charger could charge only from wind power if you had the time to leave the car on charge or at a higher rate if you just wanted it to charge as quickly as possible.

Shur they can do lots of things. Technically there is no reason it wouldn't work but so many big foreign corporations are after pumping billions into renewable power in Ireland that ~€2,000 annual energy bill for households needs to stay in place in order for those corps to see a return

The system can tolerate a few % of mavericks with 20KWp of solar panels, a capstone micro turbine running on fish oil in the shed for peak loads and a few old server racks full of PylonTech batteries but once there's a significant number of those fellas around paying feck all on their bi-monthly bill the CRU and the electricity providers will start bringing down the kaibosh.

YFlyer · 30-05-2021 07:20PM

Ger Roe wrote: »

I have a smart meter, no benefit for me yet... although the power companies are immediately saving money on meter reading.

I think it's like the good friday agreement, the benefits will be only apparent over time..... It would have been good to see defined and costed benefits for the consumer published before the rollout... actual benefits and timescales, not the aspirational 'at some point in the future, good things will come' blurb that was circulated.

Why can't aspects like night saver rates be made available to consumers as soon as the meters are installed? It couldn't be that we are just paying lip service to an EU directive to get the things installed and the consumer can wait.. could it? :rolleyes:

On one of Duncan's shows, it was claimed that smart meter could switch on when excess energy in the grid to say heat the hot water tank or charge electric vehicles at much cheaper price.

YFlyer · 30-05-2021 07:27PM

The Continental Op wrote: »

I don't know why they cannot give a reduced tariff according to the amount of wind power generated. If your electric car charger was connected to the internet then a smart charger could charge only from wind power if you had the time to leave the car on charge or at a higher rate if you just wanted it to charge as quickly as possible.

Exactly. Leave all the turbines operating at night time. Sell electricity at a much reduced rate during that period.

Muahahaha · 30-05-2021 07:29PM

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Yep id say standing charges and peak time rates will balloon in the next 10 years while other rates will decrease

oh god, sounds like smart meters will result in people waiting until 8pm to turn on the kettle for fear of higher electricity bills.

YFlyer · 30-05-2021 07:35PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

oh god, sounds like smart meters will result in people waiting until 8pm to turn on the kettle for fear of higher electricity bills.

Or perhaps do the washing and drying at non peak times.

Ubbquittious · 30-05-2021 07:45PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

oh god, sounds like smart meters will result in people waiting until 8pm to turn on the kettle for fear of higher electricity bills.

Yes and Google ads around ~8pm if that's your time for all different brands of tea since the data will end up being sold to the Almighty Goog at some point.

You might say, they can't do that because of the Giddapoor. But there will be a little button on your online bill that says "Click here for extra analytics features, save money, you can't go wrong! Then you'll be brought to some terms and conditions page which you'll accept and they'll have the data.

Muahahaha · 30-05-2021 07:52PM

YFlyer wrote: »

Or perhaps do the washing and drying at non peak times.

I think some people do that now anyway. But it can be dodgy running a washing machine or dishwasher when rates go down after 11/12pm and then going to bed as these appliances can and do go on fire.

Capt'n Midnight · 30-05-2021 08:03PM

BattleCorp wrote: »

An awful lot more native Irish birds and bats have died because of wind turbines than oil slicks.

Not even close.

31 tons of oil killed a minimum of 1524 birds of 17 species. Nearly 91 per cent of these were guillemots and just under 5 per cent were gannets. Two grey seals and one otter also died. That's a large road tanker.

Ships carry a lot more.
https://www.southernstar.ie/news/chequered-history-of-bantrys-oil-terminal-half-a-century-on-4173605

From 1968-1979 – just over 10 years – there were 33 oil spills recorded at Bantry Bay.

On October 21st 1974, over 650,000 gallons of oil was pumped into the bay after a 16-inch valve was left open for 30 minutes on the tanker Universe Leader.

The oil polluted over 30km of coastline. In these areas, the vegetation and the lichen were seriously damaged.

Later on the Betelgeuse disaster there released a million gallons of oil.

Midlife crisis man · 30-05-2021 08:13PM

I would live beside a wind turbine no problem. The noise from the turbine in the OP isn't that bad and you get used to it no problem.
It generates one third of the electricity for the college which is a huge cost saving per year so the benefits outweigh a few people complaining of a mild whirring noise.
It looks great too. First commercial wind turbine in the world on a college campus which is a nice boast and great branding for the town

Capt'n Midnight · 30-05-2021 08:30PM

Banana Republic 1 wrote: »

Better they drown in an oil slick.

Climate change is the biggie according to the RSPB.

YFlyer · 30-05-2021 08:41PM

Muahahaha wrote: »

I think some people do that now anyway. But it can be dodgy running a washing machine or dishwasher when rates go down after 11/12pm and then going to bed as these appliances can and do go on fire.

Is that a concern? People put on a load during daytime and head to work.

30-05-2021 08:51PM

The Continental Op wrote: »

I don't know why they cannot give a reduced tariff according to the amount of wind power generated. If your electric car charger was connected to the internet then a smart charger could charge only from wind power if you had the time to leave the car on charge or at a higher rate if you just wanted it to charge as quickly as possible.

Well, they are probably trying to recover costs and turn a profit,
Im not sure how that competes with traditionally generated methods which usually/can have reduced rates at nighttime when the demand for electricity is lower but the base load still has to be met, my understanding has been that for some reason, this is when windturbines are also mostly generating electricity, so wind energy has to compete with lower cost traditionally generated electricity?
The thing is, a person who needs to charge an electric car is going to need it done and completed within a set time, whether there is renewably generated electricity or not.

A smart meter might be more viable for the consumer if the consumer could select times to use electricity when an excess of renewable electricity was produced, so long as the consumer needed it at that time,

storage is

YFlyer wrote: »

Exactly. Leave all the turbines operating at night time. Sell electricity at a much reduced rate during that period.

Night time is when traditionally generated electricity is cheaper as the base load still has to be met, generating stations are still up and running, but the deamnd is lower. Due to the intermittant nature of wind energy, I'd say you take what you can get when you can get it, you cant just say let it run at night. Storage is the main consideration, so tracking weather so it's possible to know when to try minimise the base load generation.
Smart meters connected to the internet so long as its connected to something saying there is likely to be wind energy available, tomorrow or next week based on historical data.

AllForIt · 30-05-2021 08:56PM

Not if it's one of those ones way out in the sea.

Would you live beside a Wind Turbine?

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