|
|
|---|
|
American Politics Journal Atrios Barry Crimmins Betty Bowers Buzzflash Consortium News Daily Howler Daily Kos Democatic Underground Disinfotainment Today Evil GOP Bastards Faux News Channel Greg Palast The Hollywood Liberal Internet Weekly Jesus General Joe Conason Josh Marshall Liberal Oasis Make Them Accountable Mark Morford Mike Malloy Political Humor - About.com Political Wire Randi Rhodes Rude Pundit Smirking Chimp Take Back the Media Whitehouse.org More Links |
Japan's
wind farms save its ass
while their nuclear plants flounder
Japan's wind turbines were to get a
new theme song, it would be Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries",
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.
Isn't that a stupid way to open an opinion column?
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!
We could produce a lot more wind energy but BIG OIL bribes the more crooked party to say,
"Green energy is gay" and they think anything is better than being gay - even being radioactive is better.
And the spineless Democrats aren't much better.