There is always a loss of electricity as it travels through wires. The natural resistance of the material and other factors cause this. It has nothing to do with how the power was created. The electrical power, large scale grid power, we have is always the same thing basically, always created the same way. Coiled wires and magnets with a spinning motion, be it hydro power spinning it, nuclear steam spinning it, coal steam spinning it, wind turbine spinning it, etc. They all have a loss over wiring, and yes depending on the material, and the gauge of it, and etc., the loss can be calculated and predicted. This is why Tesla's work on how to send electricity without wires is such a big deal. Though it's never moved forward since then and Tesla passed before getting it 'ready for prime time'. Some of the stuff from the movie 'The Prestige' deals with some of the work he did in Colorado Springs where he powered lights on the ground with electricity from distant transmitters using no wires.
You can smelt enough aluminum and steel and copper to build a Boeing 747 with electricity from a windmill, and drive any power tool you can fit into a commercial truck - windmills produce enough energy to make themselves many times over. But heat engine solar is where it's at, if you're talking direct solar energy.
I am not sure how significant this is compared to say hitting power and telephone lines in a high speed dive at a field mouse. Most other healthy birds are not killed, by wind machines as they are very aware of slight changes in air currents and these machine greatly distrube the air, both at least a diameter up steam and several diameters down steam. It would be interesting to see if keeping some hungry full grown cats in a fenced in area around the wind machine stopped the loss of raptor life by that machine. House windows kill at least 1000 times more birds / unit area than wind machines do.
My bedroom window view is of a wind turbine array at the top of the next hill. And I often illegally sneak onto the property just to look up. But the one thing I don't see is a pile of dead birds anywhere around the base of this 200 foot tall wind turbine. I honestly believe that wind turbine fields have no downside. As long as you section off the land from the public- for the one in a quadrillion chance one of them will fall down on you, there is no downside.
thank you for those kind and thoughtful replies;noting as I do, what Oli says, I suppose that instinctively. I understood that windmills must take energy from somewhere and I further note that we simply do not know what will happen around the world. If we take energy from the wind. My instinctive understanding of great nature is that she would not let us break the fundamental law that you don't get something for nothing. Once again thank you for your careful and considered replies.
every ordinary, non scientist person to whom I have told my idea of a hand crank, easily turned by through gears,driving ahuge flywheel, powered by prisoners; as thought the idea of a good one; for example, in England in the United Kingdom. We have hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Each of whom could be sentenced to producing so many kilowatts of power. Now I understand that that could not provide enough electricity to power a factory or a town, if we could find a way to store their efforts. Perhaps in the form of kinetic energy, than it might turn out not to be quite such a silly idea.
oh but the naysayers love to say how many birds are killed... I have noticed the same thing Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I like it!!! Put those cons to some useful work. Forget having them pick up trash on the highways...have them power up a small town.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Years ago, in similar thread, I noted that if dumb or defective sense birds were killed by wind machines, then bird lovers should support the construction of many to improve the bird's gene pool. None said: "Yes, I am convenced." so I concluded bird lovers tend to be illogical and we could imporve the human gene pool by their elimination. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!