Cleaning the Worls One Turbine at a Time

Cleaning the Worls One Turbine at a Time

  • Submitted By: duke9388
  • Date Submitted: 03/05/2009 12:51 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 815
  • Page: 4
  • Views: 403

Cleaning the World one turbine at a time
In “Blowback”, Matthew Quirk cautions people about possible economic losses for wind power much like the catastrophe that happened with ethanol, which had cause a global food disaster. Quirk states that we are in the “boom times” for wind, which displays that wind industries are rising rapidly because the subside mandates are forcing the building of turbines (30). According to Quirk, people all over the world see wind farms as being the perfect solution; they see it as the new nostrum or “the cure” for our environment and economy. Quirk emphasizes problems with wind that are well worth paying attention to like transmission and variability. Quirk describes two types of energy transmission issues; one is how much it will cost to develop power lines from the west to the east. Quirk states that the amount of wind produced in west is readily available and the densely populated east rarely ever constructs wind. The second problem with energy transmission that Quirk notes lies in the idea of “NIMBY” (30). NIMBY stands for not in my back yard; in this case, people do not want power lines running through their back yards. The second major issue Quirk talks about is wind variability. Quirk points out that on hot sunny days there is less wind than in the evening, and there seems to be a stronger demand for energy during the day. There is a solution that Quirk stresses, which is to develop a new technology that would store the energy that is not immediately used. Quirk concludes that using wind farms would be the most encouraging source of renewable resources, but we cannot just rush into it. Our government needs to think more clearly on this matter because Quirk believes “There is no silver bullet for the problem” (31).
With this in mind, I agree with Quirk’s idea that wind energy is a promising idea for future energy consumption; and that “there is no silver bullet for the problem”, but that wind energy is the closest solution to...

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