Wind Energy // Current TV

Wind Turbine Power Goes Portable with Foldable Wind Generator

The designers’ concepts behind the foldable wind generator are to be able to... more

BUILDUSMAXIMUS
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3 years ago
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The day offshore wind power came of age in the UK

Think of a big power station, a 1,000 megawatt job that can provide the electricity... more

ironicbliss
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3 years ago
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The wind blows in the right direction for Indiana

~y2009m12d3-The-wind-blows-in-the-right-direction-for-Indiana

mashoffner
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Generating Electricity from Air Flow

A group of researchers at the City College of New York is developing a new way to... more

Simon_Ruymaekers
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3 years ago
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China Wants China-Grown Wind Turbines, for Itself and Europe

Big shifts seem to be stirring in the wind turbine market. Foreign companies are... more

Simon_Ruymaekers
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3 years ago
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William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind

Very inspiring and courageous speech. He built a wind mill from scraps to power... more

lookatmypix
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3 years ago
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Offshore Wind Vital to the Future of Europe

A new report says that offshore wind “provides the answer to Europe’s... more

ajrmy
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3 years ago
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Biomimic Helix Wind To Offer Financing : CleanTechnica

In a first for small residential wind, the biomimicry-inspired turbine company Helix... more

dotcommodity
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Prairie grouse could hamper wind energy growth | Green Energy News

A little prairie grouse could give the wind energy industry big fits. Should the... more

dagloman
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3 years ago
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Kenya to build Africa's biggest windfarm

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

jefftego
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3 years ago
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Residents close to wind farms should receive energy bill discounts.

Residents should be offered discounts on their energy bills and free energy efficiency... more

dagloman
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Report: Minnesota should capitalize on wind energy | Green Energy News

Minnesota can capitalize on wind energy and spark job growth in a down economy with... more

dagloman
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3 years ago
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Propeller Heads: The economic power of wind blocked by poor infrastrcuture

The scale at which the wind power industry seeks to dominate the energy market is... more

Greenpointer
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3 years ago
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NIMBY Attitude Stalling U.S. Growth -AEP Chairman, Michael Morris

Electricity growth has increased over the last decade. Coal in particular accounts for... more

JFunnell
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3 years ago
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Wind could power the entire world

"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

DeliaTheArtist
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3 years ago
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The highest wind farm in China

The French Development Agency financed the highest wind farm of China and the first... more

alternativechanneltv
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3 years ago
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2 comments

Fresh air to power South Africa?

If Hermann Oelsner had his way, statuesque wind turbines would dominate the landscape... more

unimatrix0
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3 years ago
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3 comments

Gavin Newsom Interview with Current Green

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is interviewed by Current Green's Leah Lamb... more

leahl
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3 years ago
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Wind Turbines Fear For Life: Scientists Say Wind Speeds Slowing Down

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

Mike_Johnston
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3 years ago
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Smart Wind Turbines to Switch Shapes

" Today's wind turbines are like race cars with one gear. Slow off the line... more

DeliaTheArtist
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3 years ago
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