I found this meme from a left wing page and I think this a ‘teachable moment’. Technically, hes right. All energy conversion processes are governed by efficiency. No process is ever 100% efficient. Inefficiency is typically manifested by the release of heat. The kinetic energy of the wind is expended by pushing the turbine. The wind slows down because its energy is transferred to the turbine. The turbine spins to generate electricity. The transmission converts 18 rpm @ 600,000 ft-lbs to about 3700 rpm to turn a generator. That convention is not perfectly efficient. The transmission and generator give up that lost energy as heat. I found it humorous that the creator of the meme thought the remark was unintelligent. So they got up on their snarky-high-horse to imply that the congressman is an idiot when in actuality they dont know as much as they think they do.... The Congressman has a BS in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M, and a MS in Industrial Administration from Purdue. Too funny! How do I know so much wind turbines? Did I mention I designed the software that runs this test facility? emprise-usa/test-stands/wind-gearbox/index.php
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 18:52:41 +0000