Archive for the 'Wind Power' Category

Leventhorpe school in Sawbridgeworth has decided to lead the way when it comes to communities going green. They’ve decided to install a wind turbine to help power the school.

The turbing will produce enough electricity to power three family homes which will save the school 1,200 pounds a year. That’s 14,000 kWh of electricity within the shool year making this school one of the first and hopefully not the last.

The cost to install one of these turbines at a school like Leventhorpe is 20,000 pounds. The students determined that in the first month of service they created enough energy to toast 24,371 pieces of bread! That’s a lotta toast. Hope it’s a big school.

technorati tags:Wind, Power, London, Leventhorpe, Alternative, Energy

Wind power is becoming the fastest growing energy source on the planet. Last year wind electricity-generating capacity increased by 24 percent as compared with 2.5 percent for coal, 1.8 percent for nuclear power, 2.5 percent for natural gas, and 1.7 percent for oil. Within the last decade wind energy has increased 12 times from 5,000 megawatts to 59,100 megawatts.

There are ups and downs to this huge growth seen in wind power. An up side is the fact that wind power is clean, super clean with no emissions like oil based fuels or nuclear waste like nuclear power has. On the downside, wind power takes up a lot of space. Wind farms take up acres upon acres of land with loud turbine Windmills.

Some of the largest contributors to the increase in wind power is the advances made in technology to lower the noise production of these large turbines and to increase the efficiency of them to allow smaller footprints for wind farms. Also heading the way in helping wind power gain a footing is the 1.9 cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity produced from a wind farm. Money always helps markets grow.

We found this information at Common Dreams News Center. You can read more about wind power and replacing fossil fuels with alternative energies at their article… The Race to Replace Fossil Fuels

technorati tags:wind, power, alternative, energy, tax, credit, fossil, fuel

Currently there are 31 states in the US putting out more than 9,000 megaWatts of power.

The biggest wind power state happens to be the biggest state with just under 2000 megaWatts of power, 1995 MW. Several other states in the nation have well over 100 MW power output with the lowest states at 1. Every little bit helps.

Like solar power, wind power, is absolutely free, provided by mother nature herself. The trouble with wind power and why a lot of states are still without generators is the difficulty to harness it and make a difference. Sure saving the world and making a cleaner living is motivation for some, when the all mighty dollar is in the equation, efficiency usually wins out.

Wind towers, and windmills, are close to 100 yards at the tallest point and need blades over 30 yards to really pull in enough wind to turn a large enough generator to make enough power to make a difference in the grid (that wonderful place where all your energy needs come from.)

However, many states, getting tax incentives in some cases, are putting up wind towers where large open land is easy to come by and where wind speeds are kept high. The other downfall of wind power is that the blades and generators can make a large noise pollution which most people are not a fan of.

Luckily companies like General Electric are making headway into both of these avenues of wind power research. More efficient blade designs and generator combinations as well as quieter designs are moving forward everyday.

A great place to find out more information on the United States and their wind power capabilities is at the American Wind Energy Association.