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2007-08-24 Science & Technology

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Posted by mrp 2007-08-24 09:28|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 And yet 75 year-old windmills continue to pump water out in Nebraska - though it sometimes takes rather creative repair work, since parts are not very available.

Posted by Glenmore">Glenmore 2007-08-24 12:46|| 2007-08-24 12:46|| Front Page Top

#2 Ahhhhhmm..see thaya, I..errrrrrrrahhhhhhhmmmm....told you!
So...ahhhhmmmm...get off my...errrrrrrahhhhmmmm...back, friggin peons!

Posted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy 2007-08-24 13:37|| 2007-08-24 13:37|| Front Page Top

#3 gag. So I guess we should get rid of powerlines too. How often do they fall? How many people die from touching them each year. And of course, we need to get rid of natural gas too. How many houses blow up each year? How many people die from unlit pilots? And that's not to mention the danger gas poses after an earthquake or in a fire.

And while we are at it, shouldn't we just get rid of all planes trains and automobiles? Why, compared to wind energy, the death toll is staggering.

Posted by Unutle McGurque8861 2007-08-24 13:44|| 2007-08-24 13:44|| Front Page Top

#4 This sounds more like the danger of crap engineering rather than the danger of wind turbines, per se.

My advice: don't buy Chinese wind turbines. And if you do, don't put them in your mouth.

Posted by SteveS 2007-08-24 14:03|| 2007-08-24 14:03|| Front Page Top

#5 Currently producing tooling for some monster blades; the parent specs have been provided to us and they read like we are building an airplane; material traceability, torque values on fasteners, redundant mechanical systems, all that really cool ISO9001 stuff. Well cool if your spousal unit's bread and butter is dependent on you being the resident ISO-geek.....

Posted by USN, Ret. 2007-08-24 15:35|| 2007-08-24 15:35|| Front Page Top

#6 As a mechanical engineer who worked for many years in custom process equipment design, I can assure you that all of these problems are man-made and solvable.

This is probably just another example of the trend for system manufacturers to eviscerate their engineering staffs and rely on component vendors for "free engineering". You get what you pay for -- sometimes less.

Posted by Darrell 2007-08-24 15:47|| 2007-08-24 15:47|| Front Page Top

#7 As I understand it we've not had any accidents of that nature in the US.

Can't figure out who the manufacturer of the defective equipment which means it may be a manufacturer who advertises in the local paper.

Posted by mhw 2007-08-24 18:06|| 2007-08-24 18:06|| Front Page Top

#8 Now with the baby boomers starting to retire in droves, those engineering staffs are going to be difficult if not impossible to replace.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2007-08-24 18:07|| 2007-08-24 18:07|| Front Page Top

#9 A significant number will no doubt be hired back as consultants, bigjim-ky. Just like the old time programmers were during the pre-Y2K panic.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-08-24 21:44|| 2007-08-24 21:44|| Front Page Top

#10 sounds more like the danger of crap engineering rather than the danger of wind turbines, per se.

I agree, and I would know what crap engineering looks like, it..er..uhmmm

nevermind

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2007-08-24 22:07|| 2007-08-24 22:07|| Front Page Top

23:59 trailing wife
23:54 Zenster
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23:38 Mike N.
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23:00 ed
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