Industrial Wind Turbines will cure cancer, save kittens and create world peace
Administrator | Oct 10, 2012 | Comments 10
There have been a quite a few exaggerated claims regarding Industrial Wind Turbines (IWTs) in the media as of late. I suspect that they have a lot to do with the upcoming U.S. Presidential election and the ominous financial consequences to wind turbine industries with the possibility of cancellation of the Federal Production Tax Credit for renewable energy, by the U.S. Congress. As James Delingpole, columnist for Britain’s, Telegraph newspaper aptly stated regarding a report by the pro-wind Labour party, “large scale industrial wind farms can: cure all known forms of cancer, rescue drowning kittens and bring about lasting world peace”
(http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100178585/wind-farms-cure-cancer-save-kittens-create-world-peace-says-new-wind-industry-report/ ). Here are a couple more worth mention:
1. First we have a claim in an article authored by Kate Marvel, Ben Kravitz, and Ken Caldeira that appeared in Nature Climate Change
(http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1683.html).
They suggest that if we harness atmospheric winds with giant kites with wind turbines built in, it would generate 1,800 TW or 100 times the amount currently being produced worldwide. This is truly a “pie in the sky” fantasy… a fanciful assertion contrived to give credence to the notion of wind power as a significant contributor to increasing energy needs. The smart grid implications alone would require the
engineering genius of the like of “Scotty” from Star Trek. This example highlights the use of the language of ideas, not for logical (scientific) precision or merit, but for its rhetorical effect… it is unfortunately a very powerful persuasion.
2. The second claim concerns an announcement by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of an apparent breakthrough to solve intermittent wind power storage with the discovery of a vanadium redox flow battery technology capable of grid storage
(http://cleantechnica.com/2012/10/05/pnnl-unienergy-new-redox-flow-battery-for-wind-power/ )
. Apparently, the simple addition of hydrochloric acid in the flow chamber makes this technology temperature stable enough to perform industrially, and is being hailed as a revolutionary development. This is despite the fact that this has already been shown to produce only an incremental improvement in this technology after hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been invested in research and
development over many years. And, this does not even begin to address the exorbitant cost of this technology. There are also several other technical hurdles to be overcome concerning energy density and limited life of various other components. Like Industrial Wind Turbines, it is a technology that will be reliant on extensive continuous subsidy. There was of course no mention of the extremely toxic nature of this technology. One need only look at the recent catastrophic events surrounding an explosion and leek of hydrochloric acid in South Korea (http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120927001079&cpv=0) .
To top off these fanciful assertions, several days back Chanel’s Paris Fashion Show entry by Designer, Karl Lagerfeld featured a runway floor that gave the appearance of solar panels, lined with 13 replicas of wind turbines, in the setting of the Grand Palais
(http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/10/05/Chanel-Spring-2013-Eco-Chic-Show-100512.aspx).
This was no NIMBY fashion affair as Lagerfeld is quoted by Yahoo News as stating, “‘Energy is the most important thing in life,’ he replied elliptically, enthusing about the ‘beauty’ of wind turbines. ‘If I had to build a house, I would put them in the garden’”. This is same fellow who likes to feature animal furs in his clothing creations and seems particularly fond of those lovely white pelts of seal pups, who
are brutally clubbed and at times skinned alive for his fashionable expression. Perhaps he could incorporate feathers from the birds that are killed by IWTs… there’s no shortage of supply with hundreds of thousands meeting their demise in this manner every year.
David Norman, Rogue Primate of Bloomfield
Filed Under: Letters and Opinion
And you’re polite, too. Such class.
Your opinions are of zero interest.
You’re a real humanitarian Fed Up. How fortunate for you that you are convinced that clubbing seals to death is all for their own good. The brutal killing of any living creature can never be justified as being for the good. Seak hunts are a sad commentary on our society. Of course we already know that you do not want to be bothered with “this anti-seal hunting crap”. Weren’t you the same individual who was on about bullying and nastiness not long ago? Seems to me that you live in a glass house.
@Fed Up… I can guarantee you that Industrial Wind Turbines will not save the adult seals or their pups from the annual hunt. The seal hunt and the skinning of live sentient adult seals and their pups is, like Industrial Wind Turbines heavily subsidized by government, in this case federal and three provincial, governments. This is to the extent that this subsidy actually exceeds the total proceeds that the set quota of pelts could net on the open market. Interesting parallel to Industrial Wind Turbines don’t you think? Had the occasion to be witness to the seal hunt a couple of decades back. For your full measure of your appreciation let me describe what I saw fairly close up. A young grey seal, crying out and writhing from the pain of a gun shot to the back of its head, had its skin sliced with a knife from chin to tail. You could see from its reaction how much pain it was in, and see the utter terror in its eyes. The skin was then pulled and sliced from its body. The “hunter” then stabbed it several times because it was moving too much, making the skinning difficult. It actually expelled a huge amount of feces during the process… how’s that for “crap”.
It’s lucky if they are clubbed. They would die a lingering death without their mothers. Now don’t bother me anymore with your anti sealing crap.
@fed up: your comment “seal clubbing, indeed”. seems to imply that you don’t believe seal pups are clubbed before being skinned.
“Each year, the Canadian government gives hunters the green light to bludgeon to death hundreds of thousands of baby harp seals. During the slaughter, baby seals are shot or repeatedly clubbed. Sealers bludgeon the animals with clubs and “hakapiks” (metal-hook–tipped clubs) and drag the seals—who are often still conscious—across the ice floes with boat hooks.
Hunters toss dead and dying seals into heaps and leave their carcasses to rot on the ice floes because there is no market for seal meat. Veterinarians who have investigated the slaughter have found that hunters routinely fail to comply with Canada’s animal welfare standards.
“Baby seals are helpless and have no way to escape from the sealers’ clubs. A Washington Post article on the seal slaughter described it this way: “[A] seal appearing to gasp for air, blood running from its nose as it lies on an ice floe. Not far away, a sealer sharpens his knife blade. The seal seems to be thrashing as its fur is sliced from its torso.” link: http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/canadian-seal-slaughter.aspx
Video: http://bit.ly/c7aTrv
From Wikipedia…
Canadian sealing regulations describe the dimensions of the clubs and the hakapiks, and caliber of the rifles and minimum bullet velocity, that can be used. They state: “Every person who strikes a seal with a club or hakapik shall strike the seal on the forehead until its skull has been crushed,” and that “No person shall commence to skin or bleed a seal until the seal is dead,” which occurs when it “has a glassy-eyed, staring appearance and exhibits no blinking reflex when its eye is touched while it is in a relaxed condition.”[i] Reportedly, in one study, three out of eight times, the animal was not rendered either dead or unconscious by shooting, and the hunters would then kill the seal using a hakapik or other club of a type that is sanctioned by the governing authority.[ii]
[i] http://www.canlii.org/ca/regu/sor93-56/
[ii] http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178671319178.htm
Back in January, CountyLive published a blog article titled “How to face fallout from unfolding global financial crisis” (http://www.countylive.ca/?p=21163). Transition PEC had invited Nicole Foss to give this presentation. Nicole has recently written a blog article titled “Renewable Energy: The Vision And A Dose Of Reality” (http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article37232.html) which is an extremely important contribution to the renewable energy narrative… I recommend you take the time to read it.
No, can’t say that that conversation ever took place. You?
fed up… ooops my bad, should be leak not leek… although, a few days back I did get some acid reflux after eating some delicious leeks from my garden. And, I must admit that I find it difficult to fathom the accepted boundaries of the credulous folk that the like of Lagerfeld pander to, when ranting. Just curious… did your mom ever tell you to keep your hobby in your pants?
Didn’t know “leeks” contained hydrochloric acid.
Note to the wise: ranting about more than one thing (seal clubbing, indeed) at at time strains credulity and weakens one’s argument.
On the plus side, it’s nice to have a hobby.