 Poster: A snowHead
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MOUNT HOOD does its bit to slow global warming.... (but I thought GWB said there was no such thing?) 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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And I always thought high winds closed chairlifts.............
Seriously, from the statistics boards on the lifts in La Plagne you need about 500kW to power an average 4-person chair. That's a pretty big diesel generator (for power outages) and not a small wind turbine. One wonders whether the total energy input required to make the turbine and backup power source will ever repay itself ? Surely hydro power would make more sense as a C02 friendly renewable power source in mountain areas. Or does the energy expended in making the steel and cement for the dam tip the equation ? Nothing's simple.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I don't know about wind powered chairlifts but the Jungfrau Region railways are powered by hydro power from the local river no Dams involved, also because they use their motors for breaking which feeds power back into the system for every 3 trains coming down one is powered back up.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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kuwait_ian, Lots of 'green' resistance to creating reservoirs in certain mountainous areas too, especially those classed as 'dry' mountains. The Mont Ventoux resort in the south of France gets little precipitation but surprisingly low night time temperatures. Plans to introduce snow cannons by building a small reservoir were strongly resisted, and have since been completely abandoned.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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There's a very long payback on building dams and it's doesn't make financial sense to build small dams. (i.e. MW's not a few hundred kW's)
Wind turbines only operate in a set 'window', if the wind is too strong the turbine has to be automatically disconected from the gear box or it twirls itself to bits. A simlar thing happens with run of river hydro plants, when there's too much water the water bypasses the dam but then the height difference is not so great so the power output reduces.
For the above reasons green power nearly always needs a backup power supply be it the grid or a standby generator. The chances of the water/wind flowing/blowing at the right levels to supply the ski lifts is unlikely.
If you would prefer to travel on lifts supplied mainly by Hydro power (via the grid) then come to Austria.
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DB, At Mont Ventoux the idea was simply to have a water source for snow cannons, not to power lifts. But the greens were probably correct - the fragile ecology of a 'dry' mountain would be bound to be upset by the introduction of an all-year-round water source. The wind turbine might have worked there, but as the former record-holder for the strongest wind gust ever known (320 kph in 1967) a definite candidate for self-destruct... boy can it blow up there.
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I have to say that the thought of wind turbines being stuck along the top of my favorite mountain range does not appeal, they tend to be noisy close up as well and I woner how well they'd cope with say several meters of lying snow ?
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Not a problem on the Ventoux, it's a shame, but you can rarely ski right at the top, all the snow just gets blown off before it has a chance to settle. Fascinating place... ok it's only 2000m (just under) but as it's completely isolated from the other Alpine 'foothills', it's aptly named as the 'Géant de Provence'...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Isn't this also feared as one of the worst climbs in the Tour de France ?
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kuwait_ian, That's the one, the southern approach with temperatures in the 100s can literally be a killer (re Simpson, the British cyclist, memorial near the summit)
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