Comments on: PhotoHunt – Dirty

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:14:44 +0000

stop the stupidity of some people that have no idea about engineering, telling us what to do. If they told us what they wanted then left us alone to do it the work would progress faster.

That sounds very much like the daily conversations we have at work, so I can understand your frustrations.

By: ivan

ivan — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 20:34:08 +0000

A slight aside from my post and our comments, although not completely unconnected – My role at work is tech support to the Engineers

Good for you, we engineers need some support, or maybe I should say a buffer, to stop the stupidity of some people that have no idea about engineering, telling us what to do. If they told us what they wanted then left us alone to do it the work would progress faster. (Sorry about the rant but I’ve just spent most of the afternoon trying to explain to an idiot why the very expensive equipment he just bought won’t do what he wants it to do – could be done for less than half the cost but that wouldn’t look ’sexy’)

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:14:08 +0000

Thank you for the explanation

I knew that wind turbines were not very efficient and cost effective in that they couldn’t store any extra energy and that the energy they generate has to be used immediately. But I didn’t know about what you just explained to me.

I find the situation unacceptable on many levels!

A slight aside from my post and our comments, although not completely unconnected – My role at work is tech support to the Engineers

By: ivan

ivan — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:51:06 +0000

Regarding the odd wind turbine on a site turning, it usually means that the generator is being used as a motor to turn the blades in order to prevent serious maintenance problems. This means that all those on a site without enough wind will be turned over on a regular time scale by drawing power from the grid. Some sites can draw as much power as they generate over a year and that offends me as an engineer.

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:30:02 +0000

I can’t remember where the one in this photo is, but it was near or in Lincolnshire. I wouldn’t like to live downwind of it either!

By: gitwizard

gitwizard — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 15:16:23 +0000

Good take on the theme.
As Ivan says, steam isn’t pollution (but is it only H2O in that steam?) but I wouldn’t like to live downwind of it.
However, these power stations burn Dirty fuels to produce that steam, I used to deliver parcels to the massive industrial park that was Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire.

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:07:19 +0000

It is the tall chimney I don’t like, it sticks out like a sore thumb (the second photo I showed you). It may have to close due to EU emissions policies.

I have always wondered why half of the wind turbines in this country seem not to be working. Only a few at each site seem to be working at any one time…

By: ivan

ivan — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 00:19:28 +0000

I like that picture but do think they could have painted the cooling towers a better colour to help them blend in.

At least having a conventional power plant means that it covers a small area rather than the hideous, inefficient, blots on any landscape that are wind generators that have to cover dozens of square miles just to provide a fraction of the power generated by a normal plant.

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:13:15 +0000

Thanks Susanne.

By: CherryPie

CherryPie — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:12:53 +0000

It isn’t Nuclear, it is a fossil fuel plant. I can’t remember exactly which one though…

I was hoping someone would identify it for me.