A group of researchers at the City College of New York is developing a new way to generate power for planes and automobiles based on materials known as piezoelectrics, which convert the kinetic energy of motion into electricity. They will present their concept at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics will take place from November 22-24 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.A group of researchers at the City College of New York is developing a new way to... more
Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are backing out of China due to Chinas move to use more home-grown technology. At the same time, China is looking to expand its wind turbine sales into Europe.Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are... more
A new report says that offshore wind “provides the answer to Europe’s energy and climate dilemma” and will soon provide Europe with about 10% of its electricity demand.
Well, the report is by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), so it is not surprising that they think a form of wind energy is the future energy source for Europe. But the report includes a lot of compelling data and shows why offshore wind energy is such a promising source of energy for the future.
...Great Demand for New Energy Sources in Europe
...Offshore Wind Possibilities
...EWEA Target for Offshore Wind Energy Production
...The FutureA new report says that offshore wind “provides the answer to Europe’s energy and... more
In a first for small residential wind, the biomimicry-inspired turbine company Helix Wind has partnered with Atoll Financial Group to offer loans for its small helix-inspired wind turbines; so as to make installation of your own 50+ year supply of free energy just as easy as financing a car. Or solar.In a first for small residential wind, the biomimicry-inspired turbine company Helix... more
A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits.
Should the lesser prairie chicken become listed as threatened or endangered — and it’s close now — there would be significant restrictions on companies hoping to plant towering turbines across a five-state region believed to have some of the nation’s best wind energy potential.A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits.
Should the... more
With surging demand for power and blackouts common across the continent, Africa is looking to solar, wind and geothermal technologies to meet its energy needs.
One of the hottest places in the world is set to become the site of Africa's most ambitious venture in the battle against global warming.
Some 365 giant wind turbines are to be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya – used as a backdrop for the film The Constant Gardener – creating the biggest windfarm on the continent. When complete in 2012, the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya's current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world.
Until now, only north African countries such as Morocco and Egypt have harnessed wind power for commercial purposes on any real scale on the continent. But projects are now beginning to bloom south of the Sahara as governments realise that harnessing the vast wind potential can efficiently meet a surging demand for electricity and ending blackouts.
Already Ethiopia has commissioned a £190m, 120MW farm in Tigray region, representing 15% of the current electricity capacity, and intends to build several more. Tanzania has announced plans to generate at least 100MW of power from two projects in the central Singida region, more than 10% of the country's current supply. In March, South Africa, whose heavy reliance on coal makes its electricity the second most greenhouse-gas intensive in the world, became the first African country to announce a feed-in tariff for wind power, whereby customers generating electricity receive a cash payment for selling that power to the grid.
Kenya is trying to lead the way. Besides the Turkana project, which is being backed by the African Development Bank, private investors have proposed establishing a second windfarm near Naivasha, the well-known tourist town. And in the Ngong hills near Nairobi, the Maasai herders and elite long-distance athletes used to braving the frigid winds along the escarpment already have towering company: six 50m turbines from the Danish company Vestas that were erected last month and will add 5.1MW to the national grid from August. Another dozen turbines will be added at the site in the next few years.With surging demand for power and blackouts common across the continent, Africa is... more
Residents should be offered discounts on their energy bills and free energy efficiency measures when wind farms are built in their community, the Local Government Association said today.Residents should be offered discounts on their energy bills and free energy efficiency... more
Minnesota can capitalize on wind energy and spark job growth in a down economy with the right amount of government support, according to a recent report by think tank Minnesota 2020.Minnesota can capitalize on wind energy and spark job growth in a down economy with... more
The scale at which the wind power industry seeks to dominate the energy market is gargantuan. Turbines twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, offshore wind farms slated for imminent construction along both US shorelines, manufacturing plants to replace defunct auto factories, and the potential for a massive surge of new jobs puts this renewable energy onslaught head and shoulders above anything else in the category.
Wind is labor and capital intensive and the Federal Government has taken a keen interest in pushing policy through that fast-tracks construction on big complexes. A warm fuzzy from the Fed gives venture capitalists the security necessary to finance this uncharted American windmill wonderland. The result, however, is new facilities popping up like weeds that remain frozen due to transmission issues. The old grid simply cannot handle the new load.
[Click the link for full interview with Rob Gramlich, Policy Director for AWEA]The scale at which the wind power industry seeks to dominate the energy market is... more
Electricity growth has increased over the last decade. Coal in particular accounts for over 50 percent of U.S. electricity and over 32 percent of its carbon emissions. However, with constant media coverage on the urgency to use renewable energy to power our homes, utility leaders seem to be fighting a time-battle to create innovative ways to produce energy whilst keeping up with user demand.
Unfortunately, this is not the only problem they seem to be facing. In an interview on MeettheBoss.com, Michael Morris, Chairman of American Electric Power says that any move towards a cleaner energy future will have to combat two, major challenges: NIMBYs and a lack of proper federal legislative control.
"There is an inertia in the country of nothing in my backyard," says Morris. "We all want energy. We want all of it that we can get. We want it cheap, and we want it clean, and we want no opportunity to see where it came from."
Morris's concerns should be taken seriously. AEP is the largest electricity generator in America, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states over 39,000 miles of network. His influence in creating a sustainable future will be vital over the next decade.
Morris believes that now is the perfect time to build out a better electricity network. "It's great for jobs [and] if we're ultimately going to make this country greener and less dependent on fossil-based fuels, it's essential," he says. "Federal legislative control and a legislative federal cost allocation authority would really take down the barriers that are holding back the capital investment needed."
View the interview now on www.meettheboss.comElectricity growth has increased over the last decade. Coal in particular accounts for... more
"Wind power may be the key to a clean energy revolution: a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science finds that wind power could provide for the entire world’s current and future energy needs.
To estimate the earth’s capacity for wind power, the researchers first sectioned the globe into areas of approximately 3,300 square kilometers (1,274 square miles) and surveyed local wind speeds every six hours. They imagined 2.5 megawatt turbines crisscrossing the terrestrial globe, excluding “areas classified as forested, areas occupied by permanent snow or ice, areas covered by water, and areas identified as either developed or urban,” according to the paper. They also included the possibility of 3.6 megawatt offshore wind turbines, but restricted them to 50 nautical miles off the coast and to oceans depths less than 200 meters.
Using this criteria the researchers found that wind energy could not only supply all of the world’s energy requirements, but it could provide over forty times the world’s current electrical consumption and over five times the global use of total energy needs.
Turning to the world’s two largest carbon emitters, China and the United States, the researchers found that wind power has the potential to easily supply both nations.
“Large-scale development of wind power in China could allow for close to an 18-fold increase in electricity supply relative to consumption reported for 2005,” the researchers write. “The bulk of this wind power, 89%, could be derived from onshore installations. The potential for wind power in the U.S. is even greater, 23 times larger than current electricity consumption, the bulk of which, 84%, could be supplied onshore.”
Expanding their view to the top ten carbon emitters, the researchers found that Russia, Canada, and the United States (in this order) had the greatest capacity for wind power. However, they note that much of the area available for wind power in Russia and Canada is far from any cities, making their construction costly. In addition, the authors note that the public may oppose wind turbines in particular areas, especially remote, ecologically sensitive regions. Still, they conclude that “despite these limitations, it is clear that wind power could make a significant contribution to the demand for electricity” in most high carbon emitting countries.""Wind power may be the key to a clean energy revolution: a new study in the... more
The French Development Agency financed the highest wind farm of China and the first one of the Yunnan region. The wind energy, as a supplement to the hydro power, must be an efficient answer to the increasing demand of electricity for the three and a half million residents of Dali.The French Development Agency financed the highest wind farm of China and the first... more
If Hermann Oelsner had his way, statuesque wind turbines would dominate the landscape of the Western Cape, breathing fresh air into South Africa's beleaguered power industry.
Seventy kilometres north of Cape Town, down a dirt track with a sign warning, "beware this property is protected by snakes", are the four 17-storey-high structures that make up the country's first private wind farm.
Last year, amidst nationwide black-outs, Mr Oelsner oversaw the commercial launch of Darling Wind Farm to produce electricity for Cape Town city council.If Hermann Oelsner had his way, statuesque wind turbines would dominate the landscape... more
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is interviewed by Current Green's Leah Lamb about his run for Governor and environmental initiatives. Questions were submitted by the Current Green community, alongside a few picks from our pals at Treehugger, Grist, Huffington Post, Chelsea Green, and Good Magazine.
Don't have 60 minutes to watch the entire interview: not to worry, check out the segments below:
In the first study of its kind, two reserachers from the midwest are reporting that they are noticing a slowing of wind speeds in the US, particularly along and east of the Mississippi River, reports the Associated Press. With all of the hype around renewable energy, this isn't good news, especially since the culprit may be that nasty climate change again.
Eugene Takle (Iowa State) and Sara Pryor (Indiana University), the two co-authors are reporting a 10% drop in wind speeds along the east coast over a decade, which if you think about it is quite a bit since average wind speeds are typically 10-12 mph. In addition, the midwest is noticing an increase in low or no wind days. The states particularly affected are "Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia, Louisiana, Georgia, northern Maine and western Montana."
Why Are Wind Speeds Slowing?
While it's still way too early to know if this is a long-term, permanent change, in theory it makes sense. Since the Earth's poles warm faster than the equator, especially now thanks global warming, it means the differences in temp between the two locales would decrease. A more uniform temp across the globe means less air pressure (the stronger the barometric pressure, the stronger winds that are produced). "Lower pressure means less winds."
On the other hand, there are several reasons why research stations may falsely report slower winds, for example, as trees grow they may suddenly block monitoring stations causing false reads on wind speeds. Also, there is still much that scientists don't understand about wind and weather patterns. While the monitoring stations may be reporting slower wind speeds, the researchers admit that computer simulation programs are not noting this. Although, scientists in Australia and Europe are also noticing similar speed reductions, which gives more credibility to the US study.
Whether this will have any effect on power production is also up in the "air." There are NASA scientists saying it shouldn't make much of a difference, while there are researchers saying a 10% or greater reduction would have a huge impact on the ability to produce energy. For now it seems there are believers on both sides of the aisle and it will just take more data and more research to determine whether what we are seeing is real. Until that time, wind turbines can just pray for good wind. The full report will come out in the August issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Geophysical Research. :Associated Press
Note: Computer simulations and models of the future are only as good as the data supplied. I noted this a while back but it wasn't what anyone wanted to hear. If the people building the models are unable to foresee all of the factors involved in events then they can't predict them.
The fact that excessive CO2 in the environment is bad is a given as are the facts that the oceans are absorbing CO2 and this is changing their composition, making them more acidic which is killing coral reefs. It is a fact that we are burning O2 out of the atmosphere faster than the biosphere can replace it.
The actual outcome of the combination of all of these factors is impossible to predict with 100% accuracy. To think there will be no effect is ridiculous but to predict the mildness or severity of such effects is also not possible. The fact that there will be some effect is pretty much unquestionable and we can only hope we have overestimated rather than underestimated them....In the first study of its kind, two reserachers from the midwest are reporting that... more
" Today's wind turbines are like race cars with one gear. Slow off the line and crippled at high speeds, the turbines are effective at generating electricity only within a sweet spot of moderate wind speeds.
Scientists from Purdue University want to change this by creating intelligent wind turbines that shape-shift with the wind. These smart wind turbines would help maximize the amount of electricity generated by wind power while ensuring longer life spans for wind turbines.
"We eventually want to put aerolons or actuators on the blades to quickly adapt how the blade flies through the air," said Jon White of Purdue University, an engineer working on the project.
"One second you will have one kind of blade, and then the next second it will change into another shape, depending on the wind speed," said White."
More at link!" Today's wind turbines are like race cars with one gear. Slow off the line and... more
On May 11, 2009, PG&E informed the Mendocino coast of its decision to cancel plans for a pilot wave energy project, Mendocino WaveConnect near Fort Bragg, California.
The Mendocino coast is now encouraging PG&E to reconsider their decision to cancel Mendocino WaveConnect and suggests WaveConnect move the launch site to the waterfront Mill Site.
Background: PG&E canceled Mendocino WaveConnect based on the Noyo Harbor being too narrow and shallow. The Mendocino community agrees and asks PG&E WaveConnect to consider re-situating the wave energy equipment launch at the now defunct, empty, waterfront Mill Site in Soldier Bay. PG&E may easily develop and construct a state-of-the-art launch there, tailored specifically to their needs. The Mill Site is completely empty now, awaiting this development and establishment of Mendocino Energy...with Mendocino WaveConnect as the first project.
To learn more about our excellent solution and suggestion to PG&E, please read this article.On May 11, 2009, PG&E informed the Mendocino coast of its decision to cancel plans for... more
18.03.2009: The Dutch company Advanced Tower Systems (ATS) has put up one of the world’s largest wind power plants with a hybrid tower at Grevenbroich (western Germany).
After the concrete tower was erected on the wind test site at the end of 2008 (see S&WE 1/2009, page 116), ATS recently built the steel tower segment on top of it. With the installation of the 2.3 MW turbine nacelle from Siemens and the rotor, the pilot project is now completed. At a hub height of 133 m, the plant reaches an overall height of 180 m. The tower consists of a lower part composed of long, narrow pre-cast concrete units made by ATS and an upper section made from conventional steel elements. It was erected and is being operated by ATS Projekt Grevenbroich GmbH.
“The tower allows great hub heights and thus a higher energy yield to be achieved at comparatively low overall costs, and it is also easy to transport”, explains ATS Managing Director Frans Brughuis. Compared to a hub height of 100 m, the ATS system improves the energy yield by approximately 20 %. The higher costs for the hybrid tower are recovered after about four years.18.03.2009: The Dutch company Advanced Tower Systems (ATS) has put up one of the... more
