hedgehog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sat Feb-05-11 01:08 PM
Original message
What is it with Republicans and any kind of new technology?
The Republican run county legislature here in Oswego Co, NY turned down a wind farm that would have brought in much needed jobs. The republican governor of Ohio has turned down any development of high speed rail. Now, they've taken a stand against compact fluorescent bulbs:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
SpiralHawk (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Sat Feb-05-11 01:10 PM
Response to Original message
1. As they have so often said, Republicons want America to FAIL
Edited on Sat Feb-05-11 01:15 PM by SpiralHawk
The chief overpaid RepubliCon SpokesWanker -- Rush DraftDodger Limbaugh -- has said it often...
Compact fluorescent bulbs = dim, slowly brightening light from exorbitantly expensive bulbs that won't work in many fixtures
Also containing toxic materials, instead of an inert tungsten filament. In my own experience with them, I have been completely unimpressed by their average lifespan, which seems to be no more than three times that of the incandescent bulbs costing a tenth as much.
IIRC, CFLs have also been subsidized to make their prices as low as they currently are. Once the ban on incandescent bullbs takes effect, that subsidy will vanish.
I read the other day that CFL's were set to increase in price by at least 3 fold once the ban is in completely. Wish I had kept the link ...This from Sept. 2009.
KC
Some argue that C.F.L. cost is no longer a barrier. Non-incentivized prices for C.F.L.s have come down dramatically in the last few years, with retailers selling the basic spiral types for two dollars apiece or less.http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/as-cfl-sales-fall-more-incentives-urged/
Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at the University of California, Davis, believes incentive programs can be very effective, but only if they go hand in with good products.
Government officials “are hanging the hook on the lack of incentives. It’s a little chicken and egg,†Mr. Siminovitch said. “We’ve had C..F.L. incentive programs for years and years. You have to have a sustainable product that survives on its own attributes.â€
Large utilities in California are phasing out mass-market C.F.L. promotional programs, but regulators in the state just approved a $78 million incentive budget to be spent between 2010 and 2012.
Ratepayer advocates in California have lobbied for a near-term phase out of such subsidies because they claim the market is already flooded with C.F.L. bulbs. As evidence, they point to an assessment by energy industry consultant KEMA which estimates about 42 million C.F.L.s purchased through utility programs are currently in storage in California residences. And then there are the promotional C.F.L.s being auctioned off on eBay.
Also containing toxic materials, instead of an inert tungsten filament. In my own experience with them, I have been completely unimpressed by their average lifespan, which seems to be no more than three times that of the incandescent bulbs costing a tenth as much.
Wind farms = incredibly expensive, unreliable electricity from horribly ugly, land-gobbling windmills
High speed rail = bottomless money pit to operate empty trains
Compact fluorescent bulbs = dim, slowly brightening light from exorbitantly expensive bulbs that won't work in many fixtures
Stupid Republicans.
SpiralHawk (1000+ posts) Sat Feb-05-11 01:10 PMFIFY for the truff. :wink:
Response to Original message
1. As they have so often said,Republiconsdemocrats & Obozo want America to FAIL
"Limbaugh was not drafted during the Vietnam War draft lottery, as his birth date's high rank (152) was well above the 125 rank below which service members were drafted. He was classified as "1-Y" (later reclassified "4-F") due to a Pilonidal cyst."
There's a few wind farms near Karin. I've rode through a couple of them, on trips to hydros or to substations that I had to visit. While I'd be up for someone putting a wind farm near me, a natural gas peaker turbine--something in the neighborhood of 10 MW or so--would probably make more sense. Hell, there's a story in the Albany Times-Union today about the Albany landfill, and all of the methane it generates, and how that methane pisses off the neighbors of the landfill. Put in an electric-generating plant to be fired by the methane generated, and you'd get another 3-4 MW going to the grid.
Our new Representative, Chris Gibson (R, NY-20) has proposed a nuclear power plant for his district. I'd be all in favor of that.
They hooked a generator to our landfills methane a year or so ago. It should be good for a long long time. The dump has only got a few more years of permitted operation left in it before they have to move.
LED bulbs, they are a-comin'.
If they can work out the hashneess of the light they'll be better accepted. Even at their OMG!!!111-high price.
Wind farms = incredibly expensive, unreliable electricity from horribly ugly, land-gobbling windmills
High speed rail = bottomless money pit to operate empty trains
Compact fluorescent bulbs = dim, slowly brightening light from exorbitantly expensive bulbs that won't work in many fixtures
Stupid Republicans.
How many incandescent light bulbs have ya broke inside your home? No big deal, just sweep up the glass. Now, what if they had one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind inside them? Mercury is not somethin' ya want layin' around in your house after ya break one of these bulbs no matter how small a quantity it is! Especially with pets and kids runnin' around!
If we broke fluorescents at the HD, we had to treat it like Haz Mat. What are we gonna do, have a Hazardous Material recycle bin in every home? Boy don't that sound like a good idea!
They hooked a generator to our landfills methane a year or so ago. It should be good for a long long time. The dump has only got a few more years of permitted operation left in it before they have to move.And maintenance on that half-assed little generator will cost a hundred times more than the same power generated at a normal plant. A far better use of methane at landfills is to simply flare it off - if it's really a problem, which it isn't.
How many incandescent light bulbs have ya broke inside your home? No big deal, just sweep up the glass. Now, what if they had one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind inside them? Mercury is not somethin' ya want layin' around in your house after ya break one of these bulbs no matter how small a quantity it is! Especially with pets and kids runnin' around!
If we broke fluorescents at the HD, we had to treat it like Haz Mat. What are we gonna do, have a Hazardous Material recycle bin in every home? Boy don't that sound like a good idea!
Sparky, do you remember the pipe line they put down RT 16 to carry the methane from the landfill to UNH? I kept wondering how much boost it was going to take to get it there. I don't figure it is under all that much pressure coming out of the ground.Exactly. The wackos went nuts over methane at an abandoned landfill near me until Clinton's nutty EPA put in a series of pipes to flare it off. They spent several hundred thousand dollars on it. Then, of course, the tiny volume of methane pissing out of the dump wouldn't support a flame. So, they ran a natural gas line to the dump and flared natural gas so the wackos could see that fire and be happy. The property was covered with briars and pokeweed, and a great place to rabbit hunt until we lost it to all the EPA earthmoving and cyclone fencing.
Wind farms = incredibly expensive, unreliable electricity from horribly ugly, land-gobbling windmills
High speed rail = bottomless money pit to operate empty trains
Compact fluorescent bulbs = dim, slowly brightening light from exorbitantly expensive bulbs that won't work in many fixtures
I agree with you on High speed rail and CFLs but not Wind farms. I'm sure not everywhere does them the same but here a large wind farm was just put up. They used land that was not fit to grow crops and was undeveloped, basically land that wasn't very usable now has a use. They also run almost all the time, are very reliable and don't look that bad where they've been put.
I can't believe they can't see the irony in calling windmills new technology. Ancient cultures used them to crush grains. You'd think one of the history experts (especially those well-versed in the history of the middle east because there's archeological evidence from ANCIENT PERSIA) would clue them in so they wouldn't show the entire fricking networked world how totally stupid they are.
Cindie
And they are absolutely horrible for migratory (and other) birds.
KC
I can't imagine coal plants are good for birds... The pros outweigh the cons with wind mills in my opinion.
Uh, how are coal fired plants harmful to migratory birds? Since the emission crack downs of the 90's, coal fired energy is a lot less dangerous than the blades of those turbines. The last stat I read said 10,000 birds have met their end do to wind turbines!
...and the bugs.
I read an article a few years ago about a wind farm in California that had lost 40% of it's out put due to bug splattered blades. They had to clean them every month and at quite some cost. A fellow invented a film to put on the blades to reduce the bug splatter drag. ....and the evil bastard got rich.
I agree with you on High speed rail and CFLs but not Wind farms. I'm sure not everywhere does them the same but here a large wind farm was just put up. They used land that was not fit to grow crops and was undeveloped, basically land that wasn't very usable now has a use. They also run almost all the time, are very reliable and don't look that bad where they've been put.
I can't imagine coal plants are good for birds... The pros outweigh the cons with wind mills in my opinion.
Personally, I want it all used. Nuke plants. Natural gas plants. Wind farms. Solar farms. Especially coal plants. Even wood-fired plants (they're called "biomass," and the South has a lot of forests to use for these).
We have over two hundred years of proven coal reserves right here at home, even if not one additional seam is ever discovered.
Use it all. And I forgot hydro power in my post above. Ya wanna know what the DUmbassed NYS Thruway Authority, which has control of the various canals in NYS, did some years ago? A bunch of the locks on the Erie Canal had hydro generating capacity--not much each, mind you, but put together . . . they could be something--and some idiot ordered that electric generating capacity removed. What an eeeediot. :thatsright:
Hell, we generate all kinds of hydro up here! Guess where the majority goes? You got it! The "lefty" coast of WA, OR, and CA!
The western Adirondacks--near Karin's area--have quite a few hydros, too.
What is it with Republicans and any kind of new technology?
One word proves we like it.....DIEBOLD.