post your chicken coop pictures here!

[jimbob86]

Quote: Yes. They are not quiet.

Possums like them, for they provide a pretty steady supply of smashed birds.

Glad I don't live near one.

 

[Guvnah]

Yes. They [windmills] are not quiet.

Possums like them, for they provide a pretty steady supply of smashed birds.

Glad I don't live near one.

I often drive from central Colorado to eastern Kansas. I am aware of a few windmill farms along the way. Some of them stretch for 15 miles or more. A lotta birds get offed, I'll bet.

One time traveling at night I really got to appreciate the extent of some of those farms. Each windmill has a blinking red light at the top of the housing. With the lights, you can really see how DEEP the farms are! Red lights all the way to the horizon.

Interesting thing about those lights. They all blink in unison. the entire field of windmills. End to end. Front to back. It's almost eerie.

The blinking fields allowed me to see several more windmill farms I wasn't even aware of. Even ones beyond the horizon -- since the sky almost glows like red lightning in the clouds when they blink on.

Now I'm curious to see what that looks like from an airplane, and I'll be paying attention to that when I fly to the east coast in January.

One other thing about these lights... I always thought towers and such had blinking lights to warn pilots not to run into them. But these lights are at the top of the housing of the units, not at the tips of the blades. The blades extend WAY beyond the top of the housing, of course. Maybe pilots are trained to avoid them... But it just seems to me that it's a tragedy waiting to happen.

 

[Cluckies]

I was wondering why they don't just put up solar panels in death valley, never cloudy, etc. so I googled it, Bureau of land management voted it down. because of how it would disturb the landscape. So than I wondered why they don't just put in roads made of solar panels. wouldn't ruin the landscape and would get plenty of sun...

 

[Cheep N Peep]

I would think that cars running over them would break em. Maybe a solar panel highway roof?

 

[lynnehd]

I was wondering why they don't just put up solar panels in death valley, never cloudy, etc. so I googled it, Bureau of land management voted it down. because of how it would disturb the landscape. So than I wondered why they don't just put in roads made of solar panels. wouldn't ruin the landscape and would get plenty of sun...

Actually, you can apparently drive a truck over the solar panels we have, although I'm not sure that's a good idea again and again, lol

Solar panels aren't as efficient in temps >85f, so they might not work as well during the summer in that climate.

 

[perchie.girl]

There are Big beeping solar farms in the Mojave. They dont use photo voltaic cells though. They use directed sun light to heat fluid. Or Molten salt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_plants_in_the_Mojave_Desert

Pretty interesting read.

And yep temps make a difference in the operation of regular panels.

deb

 

[bigmrg74]

I was wondering why they don't just put up solar panels in death valley, never cloudy, etc. so I googled it, Bureau of land management voted it down. because of how it would disturb the landscape. So than I wondered why they don't just put in roads made of solar panels. wouldn't ruin the landscape and would get plenty of sun...

There are a few projects out that that are looking into doing that.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/05/11/3657220/solaroad-producing-energy/

I don't think that they could get those panels tough enough that they would work to replace asphalt on interstates. But hell, if nothing more than using them in parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways, that would be a huge amount of solar power collected.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I would worry about the ice in winter on that glass too. Plus the exanding and thawing and resulting potholes. It would never last here in the north.

 

[Cluckies]

I would worry about the ice in winter on that glass too. Plus the exanding and thawing and resulting potholes. It would never last here in the north.

True, that is why I suggested the southwest for it.

 

[ShrekDawg]

True, that is why I suggested the southwest for it.

Oh yeah, the southwest would probably be ideal, plenty of sun and for a long time and strong sun. Was just thinking though if they ever decided to try to make it a national thing or anything it would not work well here probably haha