What do you do for a living?

[Weeble]

Mechanical Engineer by training. Did the engineer thing for a long time then project management with a few weird jobs in between. Got pink slipped in '09 and said I'm done. Fly fish in one form or another as much as I can. Two handed skating is gonna start as soon as it quits raining and the Manistee goes back to normal.

[highlander2]

Male stripper at night = get to fish all day! It's a tough gig but someone's gotta do it

[fireman10]

Works that thing I do 21 days a month. The other 9 days I'm a fireman/paramedic. After 21 years it's still the best job going.

[skeg]

Art director and creative group head at an advertising agency....one word: ADSLAVE. :/

...time to quit.

[sisyphusmpn]

Originally Posted by highlander2

Male stripper at night = get to fish all day! It's a tough gig but someone's gotta do it

Brian,

That explains a lot! Now I know why you slept in a separate tent out in the channel. You used that time to practice your moves.

[coho55]

Design the inside of Cabelas stores, buy the mounts and put it all up. Fun job.

[SkagitMiester]

Originally Posted by coho55

Design the inside of Cabelas stores, buy the mounts and put it all up. Fun job.

How cool is that!

[gey4spey]

Retired from being a general contractor two years ago at age 41, moved with my wife to Craig, MT and now I fish dries for trout at home and chase anadromous fish around the west. Never been happier. Working 60-80 hours a week for most of a decade was worth it!

[Oregon-Jet]

I manage two Wind Farms for maintenance and production.

[max.garth]

Well I'm retired for 20 years, but was involved on the Apollo program at Carnarvon WA (electronics) in the period 1965/75, then the RAN, Australian Navy in Helicopter simulators 1975/1986 and then on OTHR, HF radar at
Alice Springs until 1993 when I bolted to peace and contentment.
Just a question, trying to get answers, how efficient are wind Farms,
output and input wise. Are they worth the bother when we could do hydro
in big heaps. Like a dam that holds about 20 Sydney Harbors as a supply house.
MaxG

[raspberry-patch]

Max,

The fast and simplified answer to your question is that Wind energy transfer is limited by Betz's law. The power available is a function of the (1/2) area swept, the coefficient transfer and velocity of the wind to the third power. This latter function signifies the critical importance of wind velocity. Wind Velocity has an another element, not usually discussed, wihich I will acknowledge, but discuss no further - turbulence versus laminar flow.

If interested in details, I discuss some of these issues in a Whitepaper, but it is directed towards the telecom community. See Pages 7-10.

The real question-answer should not be about efficiency of transfer, but what is the LCOE - Levelized Cost of Energy. There can be a debate on the construct on the model, but it will help make a rational decision on the cost-benefits of a particular method. As noted above Wind Velocity is critical, but cost to generate should be <0.10 USD/ KWHr. LCOE is the financial measure to determine effectiveness of investment for providing energy.

The US DOE regularly reports on regional LCOE by method, Coal is the cheapest, but forget where everthing stacks up. I am not sure what the current utility standard for wind is today, but it can effective in "windy locations".

LCOE does not address the "neighbourhood" issues associated, which all energy methods have.

David

[xgolfman]

pimp.......

[max.garth]

Well I'm 82.4, I measure age in real time lately, like each day is counted.
And some I forget to count.
But thinking and calculating isn't on my agenda.
As I understand it, a wind generator uses 1.5mwatts input to get started
and then generates about 2.5 mwatts but uses nearly as much to do it.
I'm definitely NOT looking for an argument, about this. I'm just curious.
I'm not green, pink or red, just curious.
Any papers on the things, without the guffuffle and easy to get, any Net info..
Thanks a lot.
MaxG.

[raspberry-patch]

Max,

No argument with me. I deal with pro-wind, anti-wind, pure diesel until the ice age is here, solar, purchasing agents who want all work in China (to lower costs), need to make US Disable Veteran commitments, et cetera. I provide advise, propose and adapt energy solutions, and if accepted deliver on them or refer them to people who can deliver quality work. I think this is the answer to the question, who are looking for .....

Power Out = 0.5 * Air-Density * Velocity to the third power * Swept Area * Cp.

What you are focusing on is Cp - the coefficient of transfer, I believe. So in effect, you are asking

Power Out = Power in the Air at the Turbine * Cp.

By Betz's Law, the maximum Cp can be is 0.53 (or is it 0.57 - one of those). If the coefficient was 1.00 (in other words, take out all wind energy), then there would be no air movement behind the turbine. So Cp is the effectivity of transferring energy from air to the turbine, and limited to below 0.60 (so I do not make the same error above). By the Cp is not a static value, and depends upon air-density, wind speed, turbine design et cetera, as it relates to environment to the design of the turbine (and how it has been tuned). So it is a variable.

Typically Cp will between 0.30 to 0.40.

In other words, if the wind is blowing such that there is 100 W of energy per square meter, a turbine will generate 30 to 40W per square meter of energy to the demand - typical.

I believe this the answer you are asking. If you wish to discuss this in greater detail, please create another thread or email me direct.

David



ps .. My company does not sell wind turbines, et cetera, but we provide the infrastructure to support telecom energy demands - rectifiers, converters, transfer switches, energy monitoring, et cetera. My role is an advisor to help telecom and data companies make the best decisions for their objectives, as an advisor whose company will not see a benefit of a decision as it pertains to the source, whether it is positive or negative. As such, I can speak well or ill of specific elements - wind, solar, generators, et cetera, as a party who will not be impacted by the outcome. So to my customers, when in this space, I have no argument to make or defend, but some advise, whiteboard design, which they can choose to support, ignore, et cetera. (Also like listening to them, and learn what drives them). In other words, I do not have a horse in the race.

[BROWN BOMBER]

Man I got to get back to school. Custodial Engineer. Clean schools for the next generation of fly fishers.