Nuclear power plants in the 1500 Megawatt range cost 30-40 Billion dollars just to build.

Wind Farms in the 1500 Megawatt range cost 300-400 million dollars to build.

Put in the zeros:
40,000,000,000 vs 400,000,000....

For the price of one 1500 Megawatt nuclear plant, we can build 100 1500 megawatt wind farms.... 1500 MW Care to revise your argument?

~Sticky

It's a market thing. You aren't 'storing' you are selling high and buying low. This is a valid and established tactic in the power generation game. Go get educated : http://www.amazon.com/Market-Operations-Electric-Power-Systems/dp/0471443379

But the wind doesn't care when the price is high, and doesn't always cooperate when the price is low...

~Sticky

Even though the USA and Mexican power networks have the same fundamental power frequencies (i.e. 60 Hz), they operate out of sync and can't simply "connect". To get around this, companies install a High Voltage Direct Current system (HVDC) or a Variable Frequency Transformer (VFT). However, these connections are VERY limited in what they can bring across due to the nature of the equipment. HVDC installations are many many more times the price of conventional substations, and usually have a lower capacity due to the type and complexity of equipment necessary (thyristor banks can only handle so much current). Additionally, HVDC only becomes cost effective after 100s of miles, short distances are very inefficient. VFT installations are incredibly maintenance intensive, they are basically massive electric motor-generator pairs, Mexican electricity spins a drive and US electricity is generated in sync on the other side, with severe losses due to friction heating and other mechanical stresses. Current VFT design is limited at 100MW, making it cheaper to just build a small gas fired plant (especially in Texas).

HVDC/VFT installations are pretty expensive, and when it comes down to it, the cost of electricity in Mexico is probably pretty similar to the US. It's not like Mexico gets a cheaper deal on fossil fuels, they buy natural gas from the same places we do. Plus their operational efficiency is nowhere near ours, which washes out our issues with labor and environmental compliance (in Texas, it's really not that bad. Apparently Texans are fine with pollution). These HVDC/VFT ties cost a lot to build and operate, so the providers charge a lot to move electricity across them. Additionally, the US cannot rely on Mexican power in the same way we rely on Canadian power, so additional capacity has to be reserved for these connections, which costs even more money. It's the reliability issue, and reliability is what caused the Northeast Blackout's cascading outages in 2003.

That's why.

~Sticky

Cause at $1.5-2.0 Million per mile for 30 miles of transmission line, they are looking at around $45-60 Million for 115KV transmission out there. Add another $10 Million to add to the 138KV sub in Dalheart, at least another $15 million for their own substation near the wind farm, plus another $10 Million for interconnections between wind turbines and the wind substation. Settling any right of way issues, better budget at least $5 million. And add in 10% for miscellaneous changes and unforeseen consequences. Plus another 10% for the program management....

We're talking $100-115 million dollars being spent on transmission line construction, and this all before this project makes any money. Plus, THREE YEARS? I know you are marketing to the venture capitalists, but I don't think so, try 5 years minimum.

And this is BEFORE costs per wind turbine, which run in the $2-3 Million per turbine due to them being in high demand right now. So that's another $200-300 Million on top of that. Tax credits will shave off almost 70-80% of the purchase price of the turbines over 10 years though. Didn't know we taxpayers were subsidizing this construction, didya?

WANTED: Investors with serious balls. Require big brass ones, with money to spend in a shite economy. Will not receive return on investment for at least 5 years if ever. This is Texas, Wussies, Pussies, and Wimps need not apply...

~Sticky

~Sticky
/Step 2: Reprogram nano-bots to consume Earth...

~Sticky
/You don't use grep on systems that can explode. You do it manually. And sometimes it costs $375 million to do things right manually.

:) HappyFunUniverse is about not impinging others freedom. So, instead of quarantining them, we'd simply wall ourselves in and arm up. Since we're polite, we'd inform the non-vaccinated (or NVs) that if they come within 50 feet of a Vaccinated (or V), the V will exercise their freedom to defend themselves against disease by going all shotgun on the NV. Because Freedom isn't about justifying 50 feet, it's about doing what you believe.

The NV's, since they are proponents of freedom as well, will automatically recognize this as a valid way of doing business. Riiiiight.

And let's not forget, the NVs are downstream of the Vs. So, the Vs pee in the water all the time, and dump sewage in it too. Why? Cause we're free to do so. And since everyone is all about freedom in HappyFunUniverse, it's all good. Even when the NVs develop dysentery.

Sometimes having rules is a real good way to make sure everyone gets some freedom.

~Sticky

You don't have a choice. Freedom is freedom until you impinge on someone else's rights, then you get punished. Used to be that you'd just be shot by the guy you impinged, but then we figured out that humans are fallible, especially when they think their rights have been impinged, so the punishment is handed out by people with no involvement in the matter (a jury).

And I'd like to point out that it's perfectly feasible for someone to find you and lock you up without killing you. It's done every day, usually after a jury convicts you.

You follow a set of rules to enjoy the benefits of society. If you decide not to join society, then I don't care. But, since you are on slashdot, I think you are enjoying society.

~Sticky
/I'm done with you trollbait.

OH!! I didn't realize we were talking about HappyFunUniverse, where everyone is free to make whatever decisions they want without regard for consequences!

But even in HappyFunUniverse, it's quite simple: I vaccinate those who wish to be vaccinated, and the rest die of polio. Then, only those who got vaccinated, or had some kind of crazy immunity, survive. You see, in HappyFunUniverse, I don't have to give you medical care when you are infected if I don't want to. Suddenly, HappyFunUniverse is not a fun place to be.

The problem is that we can't let you idiots who don't get vaccinated die in the RealWorld. We're required by law to treat you, to give you dogs when you go blind, to give you crutches when your polio takes away your ability to walk. If I didn't have to pay to treat you and idiots like you, I'd be all about letting you die out. Problem is, I don't have that freedom, so neither do you.

~Sticky

Yes, of course, the 4 day old infant, or the 4 year old toddler is going to get up in arms about how he/she hasn't been vaccinated and how they believe their parents are unfit to rear them. Children believe one thing when they are that old: what their parents tell them.

Way to jump the shark buddy.

We don't have to mandate vaccines for adults, you were vaccinated when you were little. As you grow, you are allowed to make whatever decisions you like about your own personal health and welfare, but you aren't going to be getting federal money for school, you won't be going to school, you won't be getting a government job, you'll only be able to get expensive insurance, etc. Oh, and your children have to be vaccinated.

~Sticky

As an adult, YOU can choose not to get them, that is your right. BUT, kids get vaccinations, because parents are often stupid, and try to use their children to express their political and religious views. It's the same reason child services takes kids away from bad parents.

Your children shouldn't have to risk blindness, scarring, paralysis, and death because you don't believe what the rest of the world knows is fact. Forgive me if I trust the millions of doctors, researchers, and other health professionals over a person ignorant of the risks and the science of not vaccinating. They aren't old enough to look out for their best interests, and you're too caught up in your own "beliefs" to realize that you are risking the health, welfare, and happiness of your child.

Let me know when one of your kids gets polio, I'd love to serve on that jury.

~Sticky

Troll Much?

Vaccinations are mandatory because freedom loving hippy trippers that don't consider the costs to other people's children decide not to get their brats vaccinated. And those brats infect other hippytripper brats, and those.... Wait. Could your stupidity actually be coming back on your children?

The reason people get "freaked out" when YOU tell them that YOU don't vaccinate YOUR kids is not because they are scared for their own kids. It's because of YOUR failure to protect your children from:
1. Measles - causes facial scarring, corneal scarring, and blindness
2. Mumps - can cause infertility on older victims
3. Polio - cripples children. Completely. Paralysis and often Death for those that contract it
4. Smallpox - Facial scarring, blindness, limb deformities, paralysis.

You see, they are actually recoiling in horror at what a despicable, inhuman, horrible parent you are. Children face risks. Lots of them. Before adequate medical care, clean water, and all the other modern conveniences (starting about the 1900s), lots of children died before their 5th birthday. And you have just increased their risks from our wonderful 2009 statistics back to the 1909 statistics. Not vaccinating your child opens them up to all of this, Vaccinating opens them up to a tiny risk. Easy FREAKING choice.

My two cents: You should be locked up for child endangerment if you don't vaccinate.

~Sticky

Shares in a consulting group are bull. Consultants have no assets, make no products, and have little in the way of intellectual property. In other words, the stock is WORTHLESS. Consultants do work to benefit someone else's bottom line. This company will not be selling. EVER. So you will never see any windfall from this deal. If you were to get shares, your only hope would be to work there long enough to dupe some schmuck into buying his way in as a partner. Then, you leave. Remember this if you stick around.

Insist on profit sharing. That is tangible, and performance oriented. Refuse any time limits.

~Sticky

Me too, I am the Technical Lead for a group that is entirely focused on design and consulting regarding process control security. NERC CIP is a big part of my work.

Looking for a job? :)

~Sticky

And what level of education have you completed? Usually the ones who say "education != smart" haven't completed either high school or college. Which one is you?

If you are willing to assert that a 17 year old kid knows more about automotive engineering than all engineers at GM combined, you obviously don't know what it takes to design a car, design a factory that makes a car, design the equipment that builds a car, design the processes needed to do it economically, and design how to ship and store the cars. Oh and implement it too. Did you know that was what automotive engineers do? Anyone who puts their mind to it can repair a car, and almost anyone can build one from parts. Get it? The manuals are out there, a car has basic operating principles that are easy to learn. Additionally, all the parts companies have made it STUPID SIMPLE for aspiring mechanics. This is why we can train people to diagnose and repair one, cause engineers have MADE it that simple.

By the same token, the kids at Blackhat are impressive, but are they really intelligent? Do they use easily available libraries, or do they roll their own code at all levels? Library programming is easy, that's why programmers are thinking about unionizing, cause it's so easy an overseas worker can do it. Is their code relatively bug free, or do you have to dodge minefields whenever you run it? Is the code efficient, because many self trained programmers aren't aware of N(log n), or algorithm design, two very large components of what genius programmers are involved in

Let me put it bluntly: Those who are easily impressed by the capabilities of others lack those capabilities themselves, and are ill-equipped and unqualified to make assertions that include those capabilities. You're a bushman who has met a man carrying a lighter: it's MAGIC to you and he's a WIZARD, when to the rest of the world it's a lighter and he's a smoker.

~Sticky