Japan rocked with 8.9 earthquake.

[Bonny]

Hey Bonny....

In your neck of the woods, and all of Tornado Alley, wind power would be all that's ever needed!

Okay - bad joke. Just a feeble attempt to lighten things up a bit.

A Tornado would really get those blades a moving.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

A Tornado would really get those blades a moving.

Yep, and add all the hot air from all the politicians and earth could fly away for years.

[Lady's Human]

Yep, and add all the hot air from all the politicians and earth could fly away for years.

Political hot air is EPA regulated, and can't be used for industrial purposes.

It's just too toxic.

Interesting to see that article about solar. The local school district is installing solar panels at all our schools to cut down on energy costs, as well as insulating the buildings (What a concept.....insulation in upstate NY?), installing new HVAC systems, and replacing the plate glass windows with low E.

It was a bear of a budget, but I voted for it because of long term savings.

[RICHARD]

The EQ in Japan was supposed to have lasted 5 minutes.

THAT was a 9.0 shaker

I have been thru three 6.0 and above quakes that lasted about 20-30 seconds? The largest was 6.8.

The people in Japan have been having AFTERSHOCKS that are 6.0 and above.

I just cannot imagine going thru crap like that.

I would seriously think about killing myself.

[sasvermont]

Vermont Yankee is a General Electric boiling water reactor (BWR) type nuclear power plant currently owned by Entergy. It is located in the town of Vernon, Vermont and generates 620 megawatts (MWe) of electricity. The plant began commercial operations in 1972. It provided Vermont with nearly three-fourths (73%)[1] of its electrical generating capacity[2] prior to the 2006 uprate and meets 35% of the overall energy requirements of the state.[3]
In February 2010, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 against re-licensing of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant after 2012, citing radioactive tritium leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials, a cooling tower collapse in 2007, and other problems.[4] There is an absence of a clear plan to replace the electricity generated by the plant, which has caused concern among some businesses in Vermont.[5]
Governor Peter Shumlin is a prominent opponent of the Vermont Yankee and two days after Shumlin was elected in November 2010, Entergy put the plant up for sale.[6]

.............There is great concern about the de-commissioning of the plant and who will pay for it. There are some folks, mostly Republicans sorry to say, thinking that keeping this plant alive will benefit Vermonters. It certainly has had it's problems for the past few years and I hope the plant gets shut down for good. Many folks are doing the wind energy where possible. I have two friends with wind thingies on their property/homes and they put their excess back, into the grid. It would be nice if we could all have access to solar/wind energy systems. One would think our governments would want to make it soooooooooo cheap for us that we couldn't resist.

[RICHARD]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...R_HP_LO_MST_FB


Before and after pics.

Drag the bar across the photos to see how the landscape has changed.

[carole]

yes it is just terrible what these poor people are having to deal with,i think to say the japanese are resilient people is true, but i also think we all are when it really comes down to it, i have been truly proud of the way the kiwis have handled our earthquake, minus a few morons,which i am ashamed to even mention.

Yes the aftershocks just keep coming down here too, and that is the worst of it,already damaged buildings are at so much risk with further aftershocks,but to have a tsunami and eruption and nuclear blasts on top of everything else, it just unimaginable how bad that can really be.,this is one time i am glad my country is nuclear free.

Prayers and good thoughts to all over in Japan.

[Kirsten]

Wow, just read that reactor 4 is burning again, and that two workers are missing. And obviously experts fear explosions in reactor 5 and 6, the last two intact reactors.

One does not dare to go to sleep these days. The last 4 days, the first thing I did in the morning was turning on the tv to see what happened during the night, and every time, the situation in Fukushima had taken a turn to the worse.

[wombat2u2004]

It would be nice if we could all have access to solar/wind energy systems. One would think our governments would want to make it soooooooooo cheap for us that we couldn't resist.

We get big subsidies here for installing solar units, and for a while they insulated homes for free.

[Karen]

We get big subsidies here for installing solar units, and for a while they insulated homes for free.

We do get some money back for solar installation, Wom. It's just that at our house, we do not get enough sun to make it remotely useful. I grow moss better than anything else, because of the position of the house, the hill behind, and the trees across the street, etc. etc.

Sas, the problem is that solar cells are still currently pretty expensive to make, but they are getting better, more efficient and less expensive as time goes on. I keep hoping they'll get to the point that they are more affordable. My church, for instance, has a huge slate roof that could probably power the whole building if we could get solar cell up there, but it would have to be the side not facing the street because of being in a "historic district."


Back to the original topics, the news coming from Japan is increasingly scary, especially if you listen to enough news sources to get a more complete picture. It is truly tragic for Japan, and I hope anyone anywhere near the plant evacuated when they were told to do so.