Slowing down the wind (a finite resource)

[Heywood]

Wind does move planetary heat....so he got that right.
Wind turbines do slow down the wind that powers them....so he got that right.

Now lets make a couple of assumptions.
Assumption 1. The average wind turbine generates 1.8 megawatts.
Assumption 2. The world uses 143 petawatts(143 quadrillion watts) annually.
Conclusion: 79,444,444,444 wind turbines rated at 1.8 megawatts would be needed to meet the current energy demands.

The surface area of the world is 196,940,000 square miles. So 403 wind turbines per square mile would be needed to meet current annual world energy consumption.

I bet 403 wind turbines per square mile would significantly slow the winds down. I bet 1 wind turbine per square mile would slow the winds down and thus increase the temperature measurably in certain places.

It is foolish to think that wind power has no downsides and this politician is saying, "Hey we should consider the downsides". If you're going to demonize him, do it for something meaningful...like he's against gay marriage or something.

[Rahul]

So in other words low IQ white voters in Texas voted for a low IQ white politician.

Where did you get the impression for that?

I have yet to read a study comparing IQ among white non-hispanic people from different states. Chances are that any differences in IQ among those are practically nil.

I know a lot of conservative republican voters. And then thing that really freaks me out, the same as religion, is that being religious or a conservative republican does not frequently hinge on IQ IME.

I would hazard a guess that people with low IQs would be more likely to go along with how they were raised and those they lived among.

So idiots would continue voting for Democrats or Republics it you happened to have been raised among Democrats or Republicans.

Whereas higher IQ people would be more likely to split from the group they were raised among if they could find compelling, logical reasons to do so. This would all depend, of course, on whether they agree logically or not with the group they were raised by.

As for the Red/Blue divide. All the large cities in Texas already vote Democrat. It's only the rural citizens that are keeping Texas Republican. And that's getting closer and closer every year.

41% of Texans voted for Obama in 2012.

[Jacob(smooth)]

I bet 1 wind turbine per square mile would slow the winds down and thus increase the temperature measurably in certain places.

Then you're what we in the real world refer to as "a fucking moron"

[Heywood]

I bet 1 wind turbine per square mile would slow the winds down and thus increase the temperature measurably in certain places.

Then you're what we in the real world refer to as "a fucking moron"

It wouldn't be hard to design a test to determine if I am the fucking moron or if you are. You can buy thermometers that are accurate to within a thousandth of a degree.

In laboratory with a controlled temperature set up a heat lamp to shine on a surface of a specified area to simulate the sun. Now set up a fan which blows at a constant speed across that surface. Measure the temperature of the air above that surface. Now place a pin wheel on that surface to slow the air blown over the surface. Take the temperature above the surface again. If there is a measurable difference, you are the moron. If there isn't, I am the moron.

[The Valkyrie]

Someone sent me this.



I thought no. Can't be right. So I did snopes. It IS a misquote, but not by much.

"Wind is God's way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it's hotter to areas where it's cooler. That's what wind is. Wouldn't it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up? Now, I'm not saying that's going to happen, Mr. Chairman, but that is definitely something on the massive scale. I mean, it does make some sense. You stop something, you can't transfer that heat, and the heat goes up. It's just something to think about."

So there you go. Stop building wind turbines, you might slow down the wind.

I... I... I don't even...

Fucking WHAT?! People voted for this guy?!

My brin just tried killing itself reading this.

How do these idiots remember to breathe?

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Wind does move planetary heat....so he got that right.
Wind turbines do slow down the wind that powers them....so he got that right.

Now lets make a couple of assumptions.
Assumption 1. The average wind turbine generates 1.8 megawatts.
Assumption 2. The world uses 143 petawatts(143 quadrillion watts) annually.
Conclusion: 79,444,444,444 wind turbines rated at 1.8 megawatts would be needed to meet the current energy demands.

The surface area of the world is 196,940,000 square miles. So 403 wind turbines per square mile would be needed to meet current annual world energy consumption.

I bet 403 wind turbines per square mile would significantly slow the winds down. I bet 1 wind turbine per square mile would slow the winds down and thus increase the temperature measurably in certain places.

It is foolish to think that wind power has no downsides and this politician is saying, "Hey we should consider the downsides". If you're going to demonize him, do it for something meaningful...like he's against gay marriage or something.

Seems legit.

---

Then you're what we in the real world refer to as "a fucking moron"

It wouldn't be hard to design a test to determine if I am the fucking moron or if you are. You can buy thermometers that are accurate to within a thousandth of a degree.

In laboratory with a controlled temperature set up a heat lamp to shine on a surface of a specified area to simulate the sun. Now set up a fan which blows at a constant speed across that surface. Measure the temperature of the air above that surface. Now place a pin wheel on that surface to slow the air blown over the surface. Take the temperature above the surface again. If there is a measurable difference, you are the moron. If there isn't, I am the moron.

Wind speeds were a lot lower when there were tall sailing ships criss-crossing the oceans. Once they stopped using sails the wind speeds increased. If governments were to put huge fleets of sailing ships out in the ocean they could reduce the severity of hurricanes. The ships' sails will slow down the winds.

[Jacob(smooth)]

Then you're what we in the real world refer to as "a fucking moron"

It wouldn't be hard to design a test to determine if I am the fucking moron or if you are. You can buy thermometers that are accurate to within a thousandth of a degree.

In laboratory with a controlled temperature set up a heat lamp to shine on a surface of a specified area to simulate the sun. Now set up a fan which blows at a constant speed across that surface. Measure the temperature of the air above that surface. Now place a pin wheel on that surface to slow the air blown over the surface. Take the temperature above the surface again. If there is a measurable difference, you are the moron. If there isn't, I am the moron.

I'm speechless.

Are you actually serious or are you yanking my chain?

[LastPoet]

What? I thought those were fans, to cool us down in the summer! Don't ask me why they are running them on winter time...

[Jacob(smooth)]

Wind speeds were a lot lower when there were tall sailing ships criss-crossing the oceans. Once they stopped using sails the wind speeds increased. If governments were to put huge fleets of sailing ships out in the ocean they could reduce the severity of hurricanes. The ships' sails will slow down the winds.

Seems legit. I mean a sail is bound to slow the wind down a lot more than a wind turbine right?

Although....

We've built a lot of houses and shit. Could they be slowing the wind down at all? . And fences! I built a fence at the bottom of my garden and it definitely makes my garden more sheltered. What have I done?! I must have slowed the wind down LOADS!

Or is that the secret reason for deforestation? I mean trees are like way denser than turbines or houses. Maybe they have to be cut down to speed the wind up!

[pocaracas]

Oh noes... the Earth... every-so-often, it makes a new mountain!! blocking the wind... the Earth is out to get us!!!