Links

Wind Farms Take Root Out at Sea - NYTimes.com

The turbines are formidably expensive and tricky to install and maintain, but countries blessed with ample sea breezes, like Britain and Germany, are coming to view them as a major part of their efforts to curb the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists say contribute to climate change.
..
Still, costs remain stubbornly high. Mr. Hannibal figures that the power to be produced by new German offshore wind projects will cost 130 to 140 euros, or $175 to $185, per megawatt hour, which is about triple the wholesale power price. Locating turbines farther offshore also adds expense by increasing the time to reach them to bring maintenance workers and replacement equipment.

Like the oil industry, offshore wind operators are turning to solutions like floating hotels and helicopters, but these do not come cheap.

Mr. Hannibal said that costs are coming down at the rate of 40 percent per decade, but he concedes that the industry still has much to do to become competitive. The high costs mean that there is little incentive to build these plants without hefty subsidies.

$48 - the right price for a tonne of CO2? | Business Spectator

"This has all the characteristics of a stealth approach toward making a greenhouse gas rule more justifiable by exaggerating the social benefits," National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich said.

Amish, English farmers adapt | Port Clinton News Herald | portclintonnewsherald.com

Last year Richard Moore and Rachel Hintz of Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster conducted an extension of a 2011 Iowa survey that found that 83 percent of the Amish who responded thought there was insufficient evidence to determine if climate change is occurring, compared to 47 percent among non-Amish farmers.

The researchers noted, however, that only 12 surveys from the Amish were returned.