ecogeek.org — Other countries have unveiled plans recently for large-scale renewable energy projects, but the U.S. has some impressive projects of its own. Trade Wind Energy is planning a very ambitious wind farm in Iowa. One that will cost $1.5 billion and, when completed, will generate 500 MW of energy.
Jan 13, 2009 View in Crawl 4
minossJan 13, 2009
$1.5 billion could build a nuclear plant capable of producing more than double that on a smaller amount of land. I guess when you have a bunch of empty land though they're a great option.
novenatorJan 14, 2009
You have a point, but the rural farmers would benefit much more from a massive wind farm. It is usually between $2-5000/year per wind tower on their property.
Closed AccountJan 14, 2009
Nuclear plants don't generate CO2 during regular operation. Only byproduct that can't be contained is water.
Closed AccountJan 14, 2009
Problem with nuclear plants is logistics. It can take a decade or more to get a license required to start building the plant, followed by another decade or so of construction, and the plant might be rendered useless at any time for any one of a number of environmental reasons.I agree that nuclear would be awesome -- just look at how its helped France -- but with American enviro-nuts ardently against it a lot of people just aren't willing to take the risks. It's why (if I remember correctly) no new nuclear plant has been built on U.S. soil since 1978.