Interesting blog on fracking

[Dave Liquorice]

Sorry I wasn't clear, the War of the Worlds tripods taking over should have been refering to the thousands of windmills that have sprouted up in that area in the last 5 years or so.

You barely notice the plylons. Just recently half the the 400 kV line from Carlisle south to Lancaster/Preston has been restrung, nice bright shiny cables and clean glass insulators. Don't half show how mucky the other half of the line is!

Almost flaming anywhere they could, the windmills have completely ruined the landscape.

[Dave Liquorice]

And you don't want the arc tracking along the insulator as it will leave a mark/deposit that will encourage further arcing and/or leakage along that path. Eventually the insulator will fail.

One of the ones at the top of "our" pole did that a few years back. Every time they tried to restore power the insulator would breakdown, arc across and trip the line. We just happened to be outside when they tried a power restore and noticed, rang the DNO who passed the message on. The guys that came to replace it where quite pleased as they where having problems finding it though they had narrowed it down to our spur or the segment of line that our spur leaves.

Got the impression they where using some form of ground current/voltage test equipment that they moved between restore attempts and noted the readings, higher the ground voltage/current the closer they are to the fault, I think. Any body know?

[Huge]

That's because you can't count.

[Huge]

Or No-Salt is available in supermarkets. That's 100% KCl.

[David.WE.Roberts]

One thing everyone seems to have missed.

You can cure the problem of pylons by burying the power lines.

However, with wind turbines....oh, hang on....

[tony sayer]

Its a wonder this one hasn't got some domesticated climbing plants to help disguise it a bit;!...

[tony sayer]

In article , Java Jive scribeth thus

Well it wasn't a structured a question if you look at it again..

Pylons do something useful like cart power from where its generated to where its needed .. Windymills OTOH are a useless waste of money and energy for what they produce all of .63 MW at the moment.. ..

Ah! Yes I'd forgotten you aren't that in favour of Nuclear are you?..

And see the power bills hit unprecedented heights of course..

And the longer we wait the more they'll cost..

[Dave Liquorice]

I think you need to take a trip down to Carlisle along the M74. There is a 400 kV line running along there but you won't notice the pylon every half mile or so tucked away in the valley bottom as there will be tens of windmills in view, along the ridge line, waving blades over the horizon or in full view on nearer hills.

Given the choice between a row of well spaced, static, grey, mostly low down pylons or a veritable forest of great white moving things on the hill tops I know which I'd prefer.

[tony sayer]

In article , harryagain scribeth thus

Thats a dual circuit 400 kV transmission line..

As referred to above..

[Tim Streater]

You're talking complete c*ck: why am I not surprised?

As others have pointed out, one is many times less inclined to notice pylons.

Yes, you, because you're (one of) the loons) who is so keen on wind. And that's it since you're still talking the same c*ck as when I put you in my k/f.

[Dave Liquorice]

Oh good I didn't think my guesstimate last night was that far out and is actaully reasonably close.

25 foot conductor to ground seems *awfully* low. A vehicle can be up to 16 foot high stand on top of it and you are only 3' from the line... OK most vehicles are only 13' high but that only leaves 6' for some one stood on top. Less than half the insulator length, hum...

Are we mixing up feet and metres again? Minimum of 25 m would fit better with the sag on the 400 kV line that follows the M74/M6.

[OG]

It'll be ignored because it's a blog...

... by someone who is really really sure it'll all be OK really.

He was the chairman of Northern Rock for 3 years. Guess how that ended up.

(hint, it wasn't OK really)

[OG]

So, with that recommendation, let's have a look at his blog

Five Myths: "First, that shale gas production has polluted aquifers in the United States" so he says "The Environmental Protection Agency closed its investigation at Dimock, in Pennsylvania, concluding there was no evidence of contamination" and hyperlinks the word "closed" to this report

which is mostly about a site in *Wyoming*.

However, it does make reference to Dimock; and if the blogger had read the report *he claimed in support of his argument* he would have read:

"... the agency concluded its inquiry without following through on the essential question of whether Dimock residents face an ongoing risk from too much methane, which is not considered unsafe to drink, but can produce fumes that lead to explosions.

The EPA also never addressed whether drilling ? and perhaps the pressure of fracking ? had contributed to moving methane up through cracks in the earth into their water wells.

As drilling has resumed in Dimock, so have reports of ongoing methane leaks. On June 24, the National Academy of Sciences published a report by Duke University researchers that underscored a link between the methane contamination in water in Dimock and across the Marcellus shale, and the gas wells being drilled deep below."

[OG]

"more than half"?

[OG]

Until you read it. What a load of tripe!

[Huge]

It has been. Apparently it's about 50% at the moment.

[Java Jive]

It wasn't a even a question if you look at it again.

In your opinion, which doesn't count for much up here in the highlands. We are the people who have to look at the result.

According to figures given by Arfa, there are 88,000 pylons in the UK (which seems a very small number to me, but as I don't know any better, I'll go with it), and there are just under 5,000 wind turbines, so, to the nearest whole number, there are 18 pylons for every turbine.

How then can one be an eyesore, and the other not?

I'm not, but that is not the point here. The point is ...

As I presume it's intended to be an answer to the above, this statement ...

... directly contradicts ...

By choosing NOT to build any more nuclear power stations, and instead going for cheaper carbon-based ones, we could probably afford to bury the cabling, as arguably should have been done half a century ago in the first place.

[The Other Mike]

The tallest 'off the shelf' UK tower with the exception of river crossings is

50m, most are a max of 46.5m. These heights are only used when maximum clearance over other structures is needed.

[The Other Mike]

Across the whole of the UK there are roughly 4 x more transmission system pylons than wind turbines and more than 72 x more wind turbines than large power stations

22,000 pylons vs 5,000 wind turbines vs 69* large power stations

There are 88,000 pylons including the distribution network, the number on the transmission network, 400kV 275kV and 132kV is just 22,000*

The big difference is that pylons rarely run along high ground, blend into the landscape and fulfil a very vital service. Wind turbines are often on high ground, stick out like a sore thumb and do nothing other than leach money from the poor to benefit rich offshore based parasites.

69 large power statons, or one for every 3500 sq km and almost invisible in comparison to wind turbines *

[The Other Mike]

Scotland doesn't count :)

505ft is correct according to the CAA.