Lynne Kiesling
Virginia Postrel and Kate Coe have started Deep Glamour, which "explores the magic of glamour in its many manifestations, from movies, fashion, and advertising to real estate, politics, and sports."
Today Virginia has an energy-related post, about the visual elegance of wind turbines, and their use in advertising:
These images epitomize grace, one of the essential components of glamour. The blades appear to turn effortlessly, generating energy without waste. They look as autonomous as a bird in flight. Everyone, including me, leaves out the massive power lines required to carry the electricity some place where it will be useful. These are glamorized images.
This will be a great regular read. Welcome!
The blades appear to turn effortlessly, generating energy without waste.
a) They only appear to turn effortlessly when they are turning at all...which isn't a whole lot. Which is closely tied to
b) If, by "without waste," you disregard the opportunity costs of constructing these ridiculously expensive contraptions for a sub-20% efficiency, then yeah, there isn't any waste.
I'd contend that the protestations of the ecofascists aside, wind is a wasteful path to anything resembling "alternative energy." It isn't.
Wind Turbines are nnot so good if youre a bat. The dramatic change in air pressure they create literally explodes the bats inside as it passes nearby. And to think I was worried about seabirds!