Common sense isn't.
As we wait for TVA's
announcement page to be updated with fourth quarter 2001
results, we can ponder the weather data from the last few days of
the year. As luck would have it, after a string of very windy days,
the old year went out, and the new year came in, with a whimper (or
low winds). Below about 4 meters/second (about 9 mph) the wind
turbines can produce no power.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your perspective,
the temperature was also quite low during this time of low wind.
Wind turbines can produce more power with lower temperature, denser
air. So, in a way the wind turbines like cold and windy weather
best, unlike most people. The dense, cold air on the mountain was
not being taken advantage of to make power at a time when power was
needed for heating. In fact, we can be sure that the turbines
themselves were consuming power to keep the precious components
warm.
You may explore the effect of varying temperature and humidity
on the power produced by the turbines, using my TVA
Buffalo Mountain wind power calculator. Of course, variations
in temperature or humidity don't make much difference if the wind
isn't blowing.
Thanks to
NOAA for the
weather data.
Previous Bottom Line Reports:
November 2001
| Quote of the moment |
| It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed—and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn’s election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist. |
| ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), U.S. president. letter, Jan. 4, 1940, to Crown Prince Olav of Norway. The Roosevelt Letters, vol. 3, p. 302, ed. Elliott Roosevelt, George G. Harrup & Co., Ltd. (1952). Although he was sometimes frustrated with the short- sightedness of the Congress and the public concerning where the national interest might lie in facing the dictators, the President still believed that the democracies held the upper hand in the end because the system under which they operated was superior, and he had faith that eventually the good sense of the electorate would lead them to the proper responses. ~ |
Common sense isn't.
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Saturday, 2007-11-17 at 05:09:06 UTC.