Went down to the lakefront on Sat after practice. Couple things. Garage is now pretty much up and takes a lot of the openess of that area. Also sign posted regarding the future location of the Practice facility. Also noted that Kellogg is putting new building in with geothermal heating and cooling (not sure if it is for that one building or to supply campus.
For those that question the Practice facility
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been thinking for awhile that the new building and the location would definitely be ideal for solar ... maybe even wind turbines
I doubt you could get a wind turbine permit in Evanston. They are beautiful from two miles away but very annoying up close.
There is no such thing as a beautiful wind turbine. Instead, they kill hundreds of thousands of beautiful creatures every year. Particularly magnificent eagles and other raptors. All of that for generating a miniscule amount of power. Wind turbines should be banned everywhere. Period.
CaliforniaCat,
You are 100% correct. Wind turbines are one of the worst hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American public. They are ugly, and the bird damage,particularly to raptors, as you point out, is hideous. The death toll here on Lake Erie where I live, is appalling.
You are 100% correct. Wind turbines are one of the worst hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American public. They are ugly, and the bird damage,particularly to raptors, as you point out, is hideous. The death toll here on Lake Erie where I live, is appalling.
No Chores,
Thanks for your support on this subject. I'm disgusted with the positions taken by the Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation on this important matter. It's good to know that some other people realize how awful these wind turbines are to nature.
Thanks for your support on this subject. I'm disgusted with the positions taken by the Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation on this important matter. It's good to know that some other people realize how awful these wind turbines are to nature.
It is a problem with wind turbines.
The professor across the hall from me at Pitt, Dr. Mel Kreithen, had a huge private grant to research the problem. I don't know what he found out. He didn't publish that much, probably because his funding was private. He ended up dropping dead in his lab at the young age of 56.
Yeah I get measurably worse mileage when I use 10% Ethanol gas and the price is the same where I live.
This post was edited on 4/9 5:21 PM by Deeringfish
This post was edited on 4/9 5:21 PM by Deeringfish
Something I know about... sweet. Ethanol is made from feed corn. Humans eat sweet corn which is a tiny part of the market place. While feed corn can be consumed by humans, it needs to be processed immensely into high fructose corn syrup and is pretty terrible for you (he writes while enjoy and delicious Coca-Cola).
Most of the feed corn goes to cows, pigs, and whatever else. I guess you could make the argument that ethanol is inflating the price of corn, which is then causing cattle farmers to inflate their prices, and so on; however, a bushel of May corn is trading 3.85 a bushel. Dec corn is trading 4.09 a bushel. That's not that high. I've seen corn prices over 7.50 a bushel. So I don't believe that Ethanol is taking food out of starving people's mouths.
What's the problem with Ethanol? You need to grow the corn. What does that take? Tractors, cultivators... that run on gasoline. Then you have to transport the corn to the ethanol factory in trucks that run on gasoline. Then you have to run the factory which is again using energy. Yes, it takes energy to turn the corn into ethanol. Once the corn gets to the factory, you turn 1 unit of energy into 1.3 units of energy in the form of ethanol. In Brazil, they use sugar cane and turn 1 unit of energy into 8 units of ethanol energy. Then ethanol can't be piped. It has to be shipped in trucks... which again requires gasoline. Essentially, you're not getting anything back at the end of the day using corn ethanol.
Roughly 40% of the corn harvest goes toward ethanol production. That prime acreage could be used for feed or human consumption. It is a huge transfer from many consumers to relatively few farmers. Get rid of it.
But Americans are waking up to the ethanol hoax, as evidenced by the comments here.
But Americans are waking up to the ethanol hoax, as evidenced by the comments here.
Ok like "Shakes" we're talkin' Science which is my game. What they call "wind turbines" aren't really turbines of course they are actually sleeker versions of a wind mill.
A private engineer in I believe Chicago broke new ground on this design though and has installed a number of them in Chicago's taller buildings. These are vertical in nature and utilize much smaller paddles that spin in a much tighter rotation. Thus they are safe on top of large buildings, while their omnipresent cousins (sleeker windmills) are NOT safe perched on top of buildings.
I have attached a link for you guys to look at regarding the newer, quite and safer version of the so called turbine. I have seen these in use in Las Vegas and talked to the owners of the buildings. They completely power the buildings and these entities actually sell power back the NV power.
Here's the link: http://inhabitat.com/eddy-gt-wind-turbine-is-sleek-silent-and-designed-for-the-city/
You can eat Feed Corn as well. It just doesn't have as high a sugar content. But when it is dried, it can also be ground into a corn flour and used in everything from tortillas to muffins and more. But much is used for feed for animals. So using corn for ethanol production actually cuts down on protein production in meat and diverts acreage away from soybean and other crop production. Recent high beef prices is one of the side effects. Besides, corn is an export product and millions are starving elsewhere that exports of corn could help. It is not a good use of resources. I am fine with ethanol production from waste products and weeds or even sugar cane, but not from corn (unless it is to drink). Yet federal law mandates and increasing amount of ethanol to be used each year. It started with 5 billion gallons in 2005 and is mandated at over 14 B gallons in 2014 and is scheduled to go to 36 B gallons in 2022. If we are already at 40% of the corn crop needed for ethanol production, what would be the requirement in 2022? And they are already approaching the blend wall. And a whole lot of land gets cleared and planted adding to CO2 release. The mandate needs to be modified immediately and a bi-partison bill was passed by the Senate as part of the Keystone XL bill that was vetoed. THe administration seems intent at not only maintaining but increasing the mandates.
People were made to think that ethanol was a 1:1 substitute for gasoline but it contains only 60% of the energy. Therefore, you would likely get at least 4% lower gas mileage with E10. I have talked to people who have used E85 (only because he got tax credits for using it) and the gas mileage is horrendous. E15 has been passed by the EPA but it has real problems with potential damage to engines.
People were made to think that ethanol was a 1:1 substitute for gasoline but it contains only 60% of the energy. Therefore, you would likely get at least 4% lower gas mileage with E10. I have talked to people who have used E85 (only because he got tax credits for using it) and the gas mileage is horrendous. E15 has been passed by the EPA but it has real problems with potential damage to engines.
