The only thing missing from this graphic is a unicorn flying across the top, but it might get whacked by that wind turbine! When I read about the UMPI wind turbine, I just had to comment, as it is a huge FAILURE. Much of this is a puff piece promoting ideology, though there are some good things, such as citing Colbys choice of a biomass boiler. The huge mistake on here is the focus on UMPIs wind turbine. As usual, it its effort to put lipstick on the wind industry pig, the reporting is wrong. The goal was NOT 700,000 kw, it was an absurd 1 million. From the Bangor Daily News on May 14, 2009: University officials anticipate the turbine will produce about 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and save the institution more than $100,000 annually in electricity charges This turbine is an atrocious waste of taxpayer money. It has been a lemon from the start, requiring extensive repairs. Just like the industrial size turbines, where a number of them are down and not producing even on days the wind actually blows enough to produce electricity. The UMPI turbine has a four year record of producing just around 12% capacity factor, even in its usually breezy Aroostook River valley location. Scaled up to industrial size, the wind projects around the state come in at around 25% capacity factor. Anything that cant even produce at 50% of its design capacity has to be considered A FAILURE! The only good that comes from the UMPI wind turbine is educational. Mainers should educate themselves from its publicly available data and learn the real lesson: wind power is bogus, doesnt work enough to warrant taxpayer subsidies, doesnt begin to put a dent in reducing carbon or other pollutants, and will be ruinous to Maine if we continue to blast away our uplands for this folly. pressherald/2014/09/21/the-ultimate-sustainable-campus-map/
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 04:00:16 +0000