Wind power is the earliest way to generate power, but there's a reason it stopped being used.

Tai Hai Chen wrote:
As depicted in 10,000 BC, wind power has been used since at least 12,000 years ago. But why they stopped using it to power ships? Two words. Fossil fuel. Using wind power to generate electricity is a waste. That's why poor underdeveloped countries don't use wind turbines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVD97uwlS2U

Tai Hai Chen wrote:
As depicted in 10,000 BC, wind power has been used since at least 12,000 years ago. But why they stopped using it to power ships? Two words. Fossil fuel. Using wind power to generate electricity is a waste. That's why poor underdeveloped countries don't use wind turbines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVD97uwlS2U

Wake wrote:

Tai Hai Chen wrote:
As depicted in 10,000 BC, wind power has been used since at least 12,000 years ago. But why they stopped using it to power ships? Two words. Fossil fuel. Using wind power to generate electricity is a waste. That's why poor underdeveloped countries don't use wind turbines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVD97uwlS2U

Wind is generated by atmospheric pressure differentials that are begot by the solar emissions. This is an EXTREMELY inefficient process. It takes a hell of a lot of solar emissions to make any significant wind.

Wake wrote:
The most efficient windmills, in the perfect windspeed, for their specific blade designs, is 59% or so. On the average you can say that in significant wind you can get about 50% efficiency.

Wake wrote:
Winds within the power generation range do not occur very often. During the intervals in order to sync the windmill's blade speed to the power line frequency you have to expend electrical power to drive the blades.

Wake wrote:
If you attempt to save this power by bringing the windmills to a complete stop they are so large that to get them up to speed before engaging them in a good wind condition uses more energy than doing the alternative.

Wake wrote:
Now you have another problem: Cobalt and Lithium are not particularly rare but they ARE rare in mine-able quantities.

Wake wrote:
These are normally obtained with EXTREMELY large open pit mines.

Wake wrote:
The mining and separation process is an extremely expensive and environmentally un-friendly process.

Wake wrote:
Because wind and solar energy are so infrequent you must use battery storage to save the energy when it is generated to use at other times.

Wake wrote:
There are LARGE trucks moving around that open pit mine. See if you can identify them.

Wake wrote:
The bottom line is that it costs more in energy to build these "renewable" energy sources, install them and maintain them then they will make in their lifetimes.

Tai Hai Chen wrote:
As depicted in 10,000 BC, wind power has been used since at least 12,000 years ago. But why they stopped using it to power ships? Two words. Fossil fuel. Using wind power to generate electricity is a waste. That's why poor underdeveloped countries don't use wind turbines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVD97uwlS2U

Into the Night wrote:
[quote]Wake wrote:
[quote]Tai Hai Chen wrote:
[quote]
There is no 'perfect' windspeed of any windmill. So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

dehammer wrote:

Into the Night wrote:
[quote]Wake wrote:
[quote]Tai Hai Chen wrote:
[quote]
There is no 'perfect' windspeed of any windmill. So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

The truth is that there is a perfect windspeed for a specific windmill. This is due to the generator. It has to spend at a specific rate to produce the power that can be sent to the lines. IF the wind goes too slow they cut out the generator, and allow the windmill to spin in a maneuver they call "windmilling" (who'd of though lol)

IF the wind is too fast, they have to cut out the generator and "feather" the windmill to prevent it from damaging the system. What this does is turn the blade to the wind to reduce the surface. Newer system have a wider range but none yet can do all windspeeds.

dehammer wrote:
You stated that as long as the blades were spinning it would produce electricity.

dehammer wrote:
That is not true.

dehammer wrote:
The truth is there is indeed a range it will work and a large range on both sides of that that is not useable.

Into the Night wrote:

dehammer wrote:
You stated that as long as the blades were spinning it would produce electricity.

Never said any such thing..

Wake wrote:
So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

dehammer wrote:

Into the Night wrote:
[quote]Wake wrote:
[quote]Tai Hai Chen wrote:
[quote]
There is no 'perfect' windspeed of any windmill. So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

The truth is that there is a perfect windspeed for a specific windmill. This is due to the generator. It has to spend at a specific rate to produce the power that can be sent to the lines. IF the wind goes too slow they cut out the generator, and allow the windmill to spin in a maneuver they call "windmilling" (who'd of though lol)

IF the wind is too fast, they have to cut out the generator and "feather" the windmill to prevent it from damaging the system. What this does is turn the blade to the wind to reduce the surface. Newer system have a wider range but none yet can do all windspeeds.

dehammer wrote:

Into the Night wrote:

dehammer wrote:
You stated that as long as the blades were spinning it would produce electricity.

Never said any such thing..

Here is what I was responding to.

Wake wrote:
So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

If I was pointing to the wrong person, sorry, but I'm new to this forum and don't get everything right yet.

Wake wrote:

dehammer wrote:

Into the Night wrote:
[quote]Wake wrote:
[quote]Tai Hai Chen wrote:
[quote]
There is no 'perfect' windspeed of any windmill. So long as the propeller blades aren't stalled, they are producing power for the wind produced.

The truth is that there is a perfect windspeed for a specific windmill. This is due to the generator. It has to spend at a specific rate to produce the power that can be sent to the lines. IF the wind goes too slow they cut out the generator, and allow the windmill to spin in a maneuver they call "windmilling" (who'd of though lol)

IF the wind is too fast, they have to cut out the generator and "feather" the windmill to prevent it from damaging the system. What this does is turn the blade to the wind to reduce the surface. Newer system have a wider range but none yet can do all windspeeds.

You're wasting your time talking to that moron. He is completely unaware that any specific aerodynamic shape has a wind speed at which it is most efficient.

Wake wrote:
And that is the speed at which they are geared to deliver power at the correct frequency.

Wake wrote:
Then in order to control the speed they put more and more electrical load on it to maintain it at the 60 hz correct speed. ...deleted insult...

Into the Night wrote:

Tai Hai Chen wrote:
As depicted in 10,000 BC, wind power has been used since at least 12,000 years ago. But why they stopped using it to power ships? Two words. Fossil fuel. Using wind power to generate electricity is a waste. That's why poor underdeveloped countries don't use wind turbines.

The reason today's society doesn't use renewable energy is because of demand and supply. It will be physically impossible to generate enough power. We are reliant on fossil fuels. To produce one wind turbine it takes more power and energy to build it then it will ever produce. People jump up and down about saving the planet, we are fast past that point. We are not going to go back to living in caves and in mud huts. We are not going to give up our luxury our cars phones travel. No matter what we do now renewable energy will never keep up with the human race. It takes coal mines lithium mines, Zink copper and all sorts of other minerals to produce these things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVD97uwlS2U

Movies aren't a documentary, dude. They are fictional stories. Also, fossils don't burn. We don't use them for fuel.

Ships today still use sails. Personally I enjoy using a small sloop rigged boat on the waters around Seattle. Such recreational sailing boats are common. Sloop rigging allows you to handle the boat with only one or two men.

The boats depicted in the movie are lateen rigged, which first showed up in Egypt around 3000BC. These are also the first type of boat to use a sail. Such rigging isn't used much anymore because of the difficulty in tacking across the wind with them.

There are still some tall ships (the square rigged kind) sailing the seas. A brig known as the Lady Washington has appeared in several movies, including the Caribbean Pirate movies by Disney. She is a beautiful ship, and is currently based in Aberdeen, WA. The biggest problem with tall ships today is finding a crew that knows how to handle such a vessel. Most have to find and train new crews constantly.

A tall frigate or two are still sailing the seas as well. One is Danish, another was recently damaged by a storm and is being repaired.

Sails are slow, however. Using a square masted ship, you can sail the open sea, but it would take about a month or so to cross the Atlantic. Modern oil fueled ships can cross it in much less time and carry far more cargo doing it. Modern oil tankers are some of the largest ships ever built. All naval vessels are oil or nuclear fueled these days. A sailing ship is a sitting duck in naval warfare anymore.

There are few steam ships still plying the waters as well. These tend to run in rivers or lakes and are fueled by wood, coal, or oil.

You will find wind turbines used in just about every nation, rich or poor. Most are used to pump water.