Article

2010-12-12 Britain

Student fee 'savings' will fund windmills in Africa

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Posted by tipper 2010-12-12 04:30|| || Front Page|| [11126 views ] Top

#1 Apprentice windmill engineers and operators needed. Housing and free university educational options offered. Serious inquiries only. Write:

Governor
Government House Cape Colony
Camps Bay, SA

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-12 05:18|| 2010-12-12 05:18|| Front Page Top

#2 Pancho, saddle my horse and hand me my lance

Posted by Cheaderhead 2010-12-12 08:10|| 2010-12-12 08:10|| Front Page Top

#3 FTA: The Central England Temperature record, the oldest in the world, showed the fortnight covering the end of November and start of December as the coldest ever since the daily record began in 1772.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-12-12 08:44|| 2010-12-12 08:44|| Front Page Top

#4 "Lord Stern"? Is that "Darth Lord Stern", or just "Darth Stern"?

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-12-12 09:23|| 2010-12-12 09:23|| Front Page Top

#5 None of this, however, remotely concerned the warmists, who were in fuller cry than ever. In the Mexican resort of Cancun (where, for six days running, local temperatures also fell to their lowest, for the date, since records began 100 years ago)

Translation
Don't bother me with facts, my mind is made up.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2010-12-12 11:30|| 2010-12-12 11:30|| Front Page Top

#6 Despite the article headlne, I cannot find any direct reference to Windmills, wind geneators or towers.
And nothing about water pumping windmills.
(The best windmill use in rural African vilages)

Posted by Redneck Jim 2010-12-12 11:35|| 2010-12-12 11:35|| Front Page Top

#7 Redneck Jim , well spotted.
Here is correct link.

Posted by tipper 2010-12-12 11:57|| 2010-12-12 11:57|| Front Page Top

#8 Actually, small scale wind power could be of great benefit in rural Africa, both for pumping and for power generation. I use three power generating windmills at my ranch and, when the wind is up, they charge up my battery bank nicely.

However, when I say "small scale," I mean "small scale." Give an isolated village a unit capable of producing 30 Amps in 30 mph wind, a 60 amp bank of solar panels, regulators, an inverter, and a decent well-cell battery bank, and they can have lights, satellite TV, the Internet, shortwave, and all sorts of other things.

However, I'm quite dubious of both the morality and actual feasibility of a "smart grid" or "green grid." We should be using these technologies to decentralize, not create dependency. And they are still Hippie Power: they work when they work, and don't when they don't.

And, in Africa, you have to be careful which type of village you give them to. There is a minimal of social cohesion and prosperity necessary. If the choice is between starving to death and selling your windmill, you sell your windmill. If you don't give a damn what happens to your village, you sell your windmill. Etc etc... Zimbabwe.

Posted by Secret Master 2010-12-12 15:12|| 2010-12-12 15:12|| Front Page Top

#9 Actually, small scale wind power could be of great benefit in rural Africa, both for pumping and for power generation.

Absolutely true though what, precisely, African villages would power with the windmills is another question. Many, if not most, would benefit much more from a water well and in a world of limited resources that should be a priority.

Posted by AzCat 2010-12-12 15:59|| 2010-12-12 15:59|| Front Page Top

#10 Are they mad? Britain is going broke, and they generate funds to be spent on new projects that have no local benefit? If they keep this up, they'll be fighting the next election against the EDL!

Posted by trailing wife 2010-12-12 18:41|| 2010-12-12 18:41|| Front Page Top

#11 Absolutely true though what, precisely, African villages would power with the windmills is another question

Internet access. Shortwave radios. Lights. Communications of various sorts. How about a tiny electric pickup truck for use around the village? Doesn't have to be more complex than a golf cart. The list is endless - though you're right that clean is water is more important.

Frankly, with 30 amps of power comes the ability to step up into the modern world, educate yourself, and better the lot of your children.

Think of it this way: you have chickens. Your pretty good with chickens, but there are things you don't know. Last week your chickens started eating their own eggs. This is a bad thing, because your daughter's diet is partially egg based, and she is quite healthy. So you go onto the Web for advice. You learn that your chicken coop is too small. You learn that they need to roost higher. You learn that they need more muscle shell in their diet. You fix these problems, and your child goes on eating well & being healthy.

Posted by Secret Master 2010-12-12 22:05|| 2010-12-12 22:05|| Front Page Top

#12 Nice thought but Internet access requires computers and software and servers and, in remote locations, radio links and someone who can maintain and operate it all. I'd think that those sorts of skill sets aren't going to be widely available in locales where they haven't discovered how to dig water wells yet. And everything else you've mentioned costs money which those folks don't have, both initially to implement then the constant ongoing costs of maintaining everything.

I love the idea but I'm skeptical about skipping right over all of those centuries of development and diving right into the modern era when even the most basic necessitites are still lacking in so much of the third world.

Posted by AzCat 2010-12-12 23:43|| 2010-12-12 23:43|| Front Page Top

00:00 trailing wife
23:44 trailing wife
23:43 AzCat
23:21 AzCat
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22:42 JosephMendiola
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22:23 gorb
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22:05 Secret Master
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