MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Uruguay wants to become one of the world’s leading wind power producers
The Uruguayan government has set its sights on becoming one of the world's leading wind power producers as part of plans to produce 90% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015, although much of the plan is still on the drawing board. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWell if the wind Pepe spouts all the time is taken into account we will soon be No 1
Jan 08th, 2013 - 12:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0Wind? you'd think they would be better with solar...
Jan 08th, 2013 - 04:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0U go Uruguay!!!!! Solar is the best long term investment, (lasts and lasts) but there's a much smaller upfront cost with wind.
Jan 08th, 2013 - 05:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0He knows whats up, carbon credits are shaping up to be important too.
And with those 500 electric buses he's ordered, dude is Smart!
A laudiable goal indeed, and it makes sense to produce wind power with all of the windbags that they've got just across the River Plate.
Jan 08th, 2013 - 02:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Oh I do love the uninformed crap the wind power and electric car fanatics spout!
Jan 08th, 2013 - 06:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I live not too far from one of these so called wind farms and guess what? EVERY time I see it there is always one and sometimes two of these useless monstrosities standing still, obviously braked.
And let’s not overlook the fact that the whole life cost: manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, alternator replacement, gearbox replacement and the eventual reduction of the site when the thing is time expired IS GREATER THAN IT WILL EVER PRODUCE IN ELECTRICITY VALUE OVER THE ENTIRE LIFE OF THE THING!
And we can expect some lively scenes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nSB1SdVHqQ overspeed destruction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nSB1SdVHqQ machinery head fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nSB1SdVHqQ compilation of disasters.
Britain, at last, is waking up to the nonsense that is wind power and removing the government subsidies that make it profitable for the manufacturer. This has resulted in a big reduction of future sites
BTW, it’s not Pepe providing the electric buses, it’s none other than Juan Carlos López Mena, the owner of Burquebus the ferry and bus transport company who SAYS he is doing it, but I suspect having had an engineer look at the details rather than Pepe wet himself over the idea, he has realised they won’t fit the bill either, not without a lot of redundancy (buses on standby to rescue those which have gone ‘flat’ on the route). Do not forget he is talking about operating buses up to 160 km per route. Recharge time is not going to match filling a diesel bus back up!
The whole industry of wind power and ‘electric vehicles’ relies on the gullibility of the masses. I am a professional electrical mechanical engineer and used to design alternators, starters and other electro-motive equipment and yes, there are brushless motors, computer managed systems, etc. that have increased the system eff
CFK is the number 1 producer of wind, in the region.
Jan 08th, 2013 - 07:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sorry, couldn't resist :-)
Solar power is very inefficient due to cost
Jan 09th, 2013 - 08:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0@6 cont.
Jan 09th, 2013 - 10:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0increased the system efficiencies somewhat BUT you still come back to the basics. Why do you think Toyota won’t release the information on the whole life costs of their range of combined system cars? It is not because there are technological secrets involved, it’s because even the dummies will be able to see for themselves what a con all of this is. The Toyota Prius is known as the Pious in the industry.
And electric cars which show operating costs in the fraction of pesos. Where does the electricity come from, anybody thought about that? From existing generation!!! Get real folks.
Never overlook the energy density of the fuels we are looking at here:
(in Mj/kg or equiv):
Solar 0.2;
Wood 10;
Ethanol 26.8;
Diesel 45.8;
Methane (NG) 55.6;
Uranium 570,000;
Enriched Uranium (reactor grade) 3,700,000.
See the problem (or opportunity) here? I bet you solar and wind lovers don’t!
8 ChrisR (#)
Jan 09th, 2013 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Have you any idea of the costs involved in charging a Prius?
What is the cost/km on a city road oron a country road?
There is no such a thing as a free lunch!
Chris
Jan 09th, 2013 - 02:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Nuclear Power in Uruguay
I hesitate as a layman to comment on a field in which you are an expert. I see nothing wrong with the physical practicality of nuclear energy
Unfortunately human errors in design and operation tends to get in the way and cause accidents
During the government of Dr Lacalle it was proposed to build a nuclear facility at Paso de los Toros on the CANDU model which had at that time suffered various design faults in Canada including cracks in the main pressure vessel. Popular reaction against the project was so strong that not only was it abandoned but a law passed prohibiting the installation of nuclear poer plants in ROU. Both Argentina (at Atocha) and Brazil (at Angra dos Reis) have nuclear plants but in what state they are is difficult to ascertain
I am not certain if such plants are economicaly viable. The decommisioning costs are astronomical and then there is the problem of the disposal of nuclear waste. Some of that stuff has a radioactive half life of 13,000 years. Thats a great legacy for us to pass on to future generations
When a nuclear accident occurs all governments try to minimise the scale of it with disinformation and often just damn lies
The accident in which most directly affected me was that at Windscales in 1957. A relative of mine was a dairy farmer in Cumbria at the time. A couple of bays later some stuffed shirts rolled up in a smart car. “Soory old chap but you will have to pour your milk down the drain for the next day or two”
“Why?
”Oh something to do with caesium 90 contamination in the pastures“
”whats that?“
”Dont know old boy. We arent boffins. Just doing the job we are told to do”
Jasus Mary and Joseph. London, 300 miles away, which wasnt in direct path of the plume received in one day 200 times more radioactivity than normal
Leaks have continued from the Calder Hall facility so that the Irish Sea is now one of the most polluted by radioactivity in the world. Run out of space. Will continue later
Please continue
Jan 09th, 2013 - 03:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 09 Ozgood
Jan 09th, 2013 - 04:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0A Prius is a hybrid vehicle: it has an engine (increased from 1600 to 1800 because the original really was underpowered) and a battery / electric motor set. Normally it is not necessary to charge the battery unless you have the 2012 Prius Plug-In Hybrid.
The operating cost of the Prius is unknown for the real life user. Battery replacement is a movable feast, Gen 1 batteries (12 years on market) were USD 5,500 plus fitting, Gen 2 now cost USD 3,649 inc. fitting and some dealers are offering the Gen 1 at this cost. There is no price for Gen 3 yet. I cannot find any declared prices for batteries in the UK, but they will be more costly than in America: reckon on the dollar price being the same in Sterling.
Mileage is very variable, especially when you treat it like a petrol or diesel vehicle and expect similar acceleration and cruise speed and generally disappointing. The Prius manages 10th out of 10 in the manufacturers declared combined cycle in the UK. The Honda Insight (petrol hybrid) is top at 83.1 mpg, the Prius manages 65.7. Bear in mind that you cannot get this mpg in practice due to the nature of the test but it does give a good indication between manufacturers and their models.
Toyota claim they make a profit on the Prius but industry experts have doubts when you consider the recycling costs intrinsic with anything with ‘lithium’ in the name. The vehicles are not cheap either and the Prius has been slated for being a basic car in many respects but if you want one because you want to be ‘green’ then it’s your choice, but it will be very pale green or yellow.
The real mpg cars are the small, mini sized diesels which are approaching 70 mpg in practical, everyday use.
Ok Troy I will.
Jan 09th, 2013 - 04:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sir William Penney the foremost atomic scientist of his day was sent to make a report on the Windcale accident. The PM of that that time MacMillan censored most of his conclusions. Then a situation almost akin to a comic opera ensued. The two chimneys being over 400 feet high were condemned as being highly radioactive though I think they have now been demolished at enormous cost. At one time the local jackdaws whose reading skills of warnings in English were a bit limited decided that the radioactive towers were an ideal place to build thier nests. Boffins hired a local gamekeeper to shoot them but they were out of range of a shotgun Then they tried the local falconer until it was pointed out to them that the falcons would eat thier prey and assimilate the radioactivity. Just an anecdote but how stupid can humans get messing about with the consequences of thier actions! Way off topic I know
13 redpoll
Jan 09th, 2013 - 06:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Back in 1999 I think it was, I was asked to go and offer an opinion on the Magnox pellet fiasco which resulted in a whole shipment (a whole ship load) being rejected by the customer Fukishima Electric if I remember correctly.
The whole thing hung on the compliance of the mixed fuel pellets final diameter being within tolerance or not (as agreed with the customer).
It soon became clear, looking at the paperwork and talking with the production personnel what the real problem was. The customer had tried a batch of pellets and found them acceptable and wanted to specify the product for future manufacturing control: hence the tolerance. Without any reference to the production facility the contract people AGREED the tolerance. Needless to say the tolerance was slightly tighter than what the pellets had been manufactured to. Statistical process control data suggested a 2 sigma confidence level (95.4%) at this dimension whereas the original tolerance gave 3 sigma confidence level (99.7%). Bear in mind ALL the pellets in the first batch complied with the manufacturing specification AND processed satisfactorily through the reactor.
Then the production people asked for the specification to be amended to which the contract people said no chance, the customer will see it as a downgrade and demand a reduction in price. Production then continued manufacturing as usual but (in their words) ‘fudged the data to suit the customer’. I forget how many batches the customer had used before their own people discovered ‘the fault’. Shit hit the fan, hence my involvement. I was asked to join the company in a very senior position but declined given that the management AT ALL LEVELS had known about it but brought it off in their own mind as being THE RIGHT THING TO DO!
May I suggest that your original post needs to have the years that applied recorded? The site started in 1947 (66 years ago) and was built to suit the nascent atomic energy requirement for weapons grade
Chris, I bow to your superior knowlege and expertise on this subject. But as al ayman I was trying to point out why most people are fearful of nuclear power and so are rightly suspicious of govt disinformation, be it from UK, Russia, USA or Japan on the matter.
Jan 09th, 2013 - 07:36 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes the Windscales facility was set up in 1946. Why do they keep changing the name? Windscales/Calder Hall/ Sellafield? Most folk in West Cumbria dont want the facility of BNF closed as they would all be out of work in an area plagued by unemployment
@13 Redpoll
Jan 09th, 2013 - 08:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0omg. Thanks for the story, it was certainly interesting.
Chris I am not trying to score points off you but would genuinely like your opinion. How much did the Chapelcross facility cost to decommision? See the Dounreay reactor on the coast of Caithness is also being dismantled and that a special rail terminal is being created at Georgemas Junction to handle the presumably radioactive waste for onward shipment by rail To where? Sellafield?
Jan 09th, 2013 - 09:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 014 ChrisR (#)
Jan 10th, 2013 - 04:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thanks Chris.
It seems to me that the hybrids are still a rich person's morot car. I have wondered what ever happened to hydrogen powered cars but possibly they are not energy efficent - by this I mean that H2 costs more to replenish.
I shall stick to my Fiesta TCI but even this needs a mechanic who knows what he is doing as tuning is specialised
18 Ozgood
Jan 10th, 2013 - 04:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The real problem with modern cars is the hoops they have to jump through to comply with the ever reducing emissions standards. If you look at the latest Euro6 level I think it is getting ridiculous.
To ensure your EU3 – EU6 car complies your service guy MUST have a laptop loaded with software capable of interrogating the ECU and BODY computers. These communicate down a CANBUS to ensure the ECU feeds the injectors with just the correct amount of fuel (petrol or diesel). He can do nothing to adjust this other than to ensure the various detectors (NOX, etc) are within their limits. Guess what happens if they are not? The faulty detector must be replaced with another (new preferably).
This is why people are stringing out the service intervals but it is false economy. Incorrectly fuelling the engine can poison the CAT and then you are into several hundreds of pounds to put everything back to rights, depending on your vehicle.
Uruguay has a much more serious problem. Forget foul smoke emissions, which we have in spades, the condition of the vast majority of the vehicles is DANGEROUS. Very poor brakes, often only the emergency brake (incorrectly known as the handbrake) and you can tell the cars with these problems because they drive at 20 kpk (12 mph) everywhere and hope they don’t have to stop quickly.
Many cars have very dangerous bodywork: old collision damage left unrepaired with sharp edges at child head height being the norm. One car very well known locally has no offside front wing: the mounting brackets are razor sharp, the coil spring and the drum brake is clearly accessible to pedestrians in a collision, the front screen is badly fractured, the lights do not work and I know the car is used in the dark, I have no idea what the brakes are like but it goes everywhere very slowly. The local policia cannot do anything, even the Highway Police can only refer the car to the council for their inspector to condemn.
Fortunately the number of new ca
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