[rescue] DC Voltage distro (Was:SGI Challenge L... )

[james]

On Mon, 2004-09-20 at 21:06, Phil Stracchino wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 20, 2004 at 08:31:49PM +0100, Mike Meredith wrote:
> > On Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:17:12 -0400 (EDT), Ethan O'Toole wrote:
> > > There was talk of them building a ton of them on the eastern shore of
> > > Virginia. Evidentially they sort of, you know, chop up alot of birds.
> > 
> > That's a new objection to me. The envs haven't thought of that one over
> > here ... they just think they look ugly. Personally I think they look
> > fine.
> 
> I've heard this before, but frankly it's never sounded very plausible to
> me because, well, you know ....   a big wind turbine just doesn't *turn*
> all that fast.  I don't think I've ever seen a horizontal-axis wind
> turbine turning over about 15-20rpm.  The vertical-axis turbines get up
> to about 30rpm.

Um, the tips of the rotors are going several hundred miles per hour.
There was a prototype windmill that blew up because of the air pressure
*reflected* from the tower hitting the blade and causing an eddy force
in the blade.