Breakfast with Santa

"The Wind Farm Scam" by John Etherington. You can get a copy on Amazon. Or, a library might have a copy.

The bottom line in my own words: Wind power was sold to the public on the promise that it would replace other, dirtier forms of energy. And that it would reduce global CO2 levels.But, because wind can't generate steady output it necessitates back up power. Power that must be kept running at the ready to switch over to on a seconds notice. (You can't power up a coal fired plant to produce electricity within moments.) This negates any savings of greenhouse gas emissions.

Wind can't replace coal, gas, oil or nuclear - it depends on them to guarantee supply when needed. The people who work the grid, those people at the switches, must be ready at a moments notice to switch over to conventional power supplies, which must be run constantly to be able to give us constant power. And yet they are mandated to use wind power when available, which makes for much switching, back and forth, constantly. Their job must be like air traffic control on a larger scale.

Look at it this way -- it is a hot August afternoon. Not a flicker of breeze anywhere. You settle in the couch in your air conditioned room to watch TV. But there is no TV and there is no air conditioning. Why? Because there is no wind. So, without the constant backup (remember, wind power can't be stored to be used later) we would have brownouts and blackouts just when more power is needed most.

I, along with others on both sides of this issue debated Angus King in a public hearing. Let me just say that no matter how charming the man may be, no matter how pat he has his spiel, how glib he assures the public, the man is running scared. And that is because he knows the moment people get really educated to the scam, he is toast. And he and his subsidy sucking buddies will be left in the dust. This is precisely why Gov. Baldacci et al fast-tracked the legislation that allowed this to happen. The public was left blind-sided and out of any consideration. It became fact before the facts were known.