While this post technically will go under the Green Tech category here at The Inquisitr it equally could go under the Funny category because it really would be funny if not for the fact that it is stupid. According to the folks over at Treehugger there is an author over at The New American that is trying to make the case that wind power is more dangerous than nuclear power because there have been more wind power related deaths than the zero death rate encountered in the nuclear industry.

That’s right folks – the suggestion the author is making is that nuclear power is safer than wind power because there hasn’t been a single nuclear plant related death in 40 years. With the short life of wind power though we have a growing number of deaths; which Treehugger kindly listed out for us

Summary of Wind Turbine Incidents (December 2008):
• 41 Worker Fatalities, 16 Public- Includes falling from turbine towers and transporting turbines on the highway.
• 39 Incidents of Blade Failure- Failed blades have been known to travel over a quarter mile, killing any unfortunate bystanders within its path of destruction.
• 110 Incidents of Fire- When a wind turbine fire occurs, local fire departments can do little but watch due to the 30-story height of these turbine units. The falling debris are then carried across the distance and cause new fires.
• 60 Incidents of Structural Failure- As turbines become more prevalent, these breakages will become more common in public areas, thereby causing more deaths and dismemberment’s from falling debris.
• 24 incidents of "hurling ice”- Ice forms on these giant blades and is reportedly hurled at deathly speeds in all directions. Author reports that some 880 ice incidents of this nature have occurred over Germany’s 13-years of harnessing wind power.

Source: Treehugger

They go on to suggest that this type of death toll will rise rapidly in the the future as more and more rooftop solar panels are installed around the nation.

What a great rib tickler for a Sunday afternoon.

Wind power causes more deaths than nuclear power is a post from: The Inquisitr

Yes folks renewable energy is making great strides and while it may not be the kind of forward movement some one like it has for the first time shown the largest increase in US electrical capacity. These figures come from the newly released Electric Power Industry 2007: Year in Review report.

In 2007, for the first time, renewable energy sources, other than conventional hydroelectric capacity, accounted for the largest portion of capacity additions. Total net summer capacity increased 8,673 MW in 2007. Wind capacity accounted for 5,186 MW of this new capacity. Natural gas-fired generation accounted for 4,582 MW. Two new coal-fired plants with summer capacity totaling 1,354 MW were placed in service in 2007. However, retirements and downward adjustments to existing capacity resulted in a 217 MW net reduction in coal-fired capacity.

While some might be getting all exuberant over the figures and suggest we are seeing a paradigm shift I think they need to take a step back and realize that creating renewable energy isn’t the same thing as getting it to market. One of the biggest problems facing the renewable energy proponents is the getting the energy from all those wind farms and other such solar energy farms to where it is needed. This is the problem that is facing California with it’s push into renewable energy – no-one wants the required transmission lines going through their backyards.

Until we get over this not in my backyard attitude or come up with a better way to get all this energy to where it needs to go we can build all the wind farms we want and create all the solar capabilities we want but it won’t do one bit of good.

[pic courtesy of Edison International]

The largest annual increase in electrical capacity goes to – Renewable Energy is a post from: The Inquisitr