Britain has a big dream they're working on, to use wind power to provide electricity to a large portion of the country. I don't remember the percentage but they're going for wind power in a big way. As is Europe in general.
Wind power growth blowing away forecasts discusses the progress. Apparently they are well ahead of their forecast growth, and are on target to supply enough electricity from wind to provide the electricity needs of Glasgow and London.
Here's an interesting idea: Attach a large kite to a cargo vessel, using the kite similarly to a sail. It will decrease the fuel required to move the ship. With decreased fuel you have decreased pollution, especially important as ocean ships tend to use the dirtiest of diesel fuel available.
Now, why use a kite? Why not use a regular sail? First, this system can be retrofitted onto existing ships very easily. Second, there's a technical advantage in that a ship using a kite does not "heel" in heavy wind, keeping the ship and crew safer.
See: Beluga Shipping to Try “Wind Hybrid” Kite Propulsion Assist for Cargo Vessel
Company: Skysails
In California's Altamont Pass there's a long-running experiment in alternative energy resources. There are hundreds of wind generators that collectively generate around 5 megawatts of electricity. I live nearby and regularly drive through the pass, so they are a familiar sight in my life.
It is such a beautiful idea. The wind blows, spins a machine, and the machine makes electricity. No muss, no fuss, and you can still use the ground for other purposes such as the cattle grazing on those same hillsides. Cleanly produced electricity that can be made anywhere.
The problem are the bird-kills at the site. The level of bird-kills in the Altamont Pass site has tarnished wind energy in general with a meme of the towers being unsafe to birds.
Unexpected Downside of Wind Power (Will Wade, Wired News, 02:00 AM Oct. 14, 2005 PT)
This article covers a plan to study the bird-kills in a new way. The situation in the Altamont Pass site has already been studied carefully, learning several useful things about the siting and design of towers. Newer towers don't have the problems the very old towers at Altamont have, plus there is a lot of knowledge now about where to place the towers so they aren't near birds to begin with.
In this new study they plan to shut down portions of the wind farm. Assumably as each set of towers are shut down, they're going to compare bird-kills and learn some more about which tower design is worse or better.
Altamont isn't the only scene of a showdown. Environmental groups have already blocked a proposed wind-power facility in the Mojave Desert, and opponents of another project, in Nantucket Sound, have cited wildlife concerns in their lobbying efforts. A recent government report found that sites in other regions could pose a threat to bats.
Clearly wind energy is turning out to be a mixed blessing to environmentalists. On the one hand it offers such cleanly generated electricity, how could any environmentalist complain? Well, we can't lose sight of the big picture, and often a solution to one problem creates problems elsewhere. That's what is happening, the environmentalists are perhaps saying "wait a minute, let's not create more problems here, let's study and see how to solve both problems". Though, in the case of the Nantucket project, the opponents strike me as being more worried about their property values (supposedly the wind towers are ugly) and not the birds.
e.g.: Miller stressed that the Center for Biological Diversity is not opposed to wind farms, but said they must be built in areas where they will have minimal impact on wildlife. "We definitely support wind power, but it needs to be sited in appropriate areas."
Here's to more truth, and here's to clean energy.
Wind Energy
Top Myths About Wind Energy
http://www.bwea.com/energy/myths.html
There's a bunch of weird ideas tossed around about wind energy. This article is by the British Wind Energy Association, and attempts to debunk those ideas. The instigation is they've several wind energy projects happening in the British Isles, and there is varying ideas about the projects.
I wonder just where the energy will come from ???
