By Heidi Suydam •
April 4, 2008
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Today NPR News aired a story about a rural Michigan school district that is pursuing green by using wind turbines to power their schools and offices. The Jr. High Principal, Kathy Dickens, took the initiative three years ago by applying for grants to pursue wind harvesting. As a result of her efforts The Lakers School District was awarded a quarter million dollar grant from the Michigan Public Service Commission.
With that money they purchased three large refurbished wind turbines which now power their elementary school and the superintendent’s office. They have since received another grant and energy smart incentives. The Lakers School District now owns a biodiesel processor in addition to their wind turbines. This spring their high school students will have a “Pressing Party”. They will gather sunflower seeds from the plants growing beneath their wind turbines, combine them with soybeans then press these seeds and beans to obtain oil to make alternative fuel.
By Pem Charnley •
March 13, 2008
The military games must stop. The ambiguities come to an end. Explanations need to be provided.
I reported in the Guardian last month that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) were objecting to wind farms in the UK because they felt the turbines interfered with military radar. The turbines were, in their words “in the line of sight.”
(Of course, were we not a bellicose little island nation, always eager to attack and interfere with foreign disputes, we wouldn’t need to concern ourselves with defense quite so much.)
I demanded answers. Demanded, if their objections were true, that there be immediate improvements in radar technology so that the UK could proceed with meeting renewable energy targets.
75 miles was the round figure given. Were a turbine any closer than that, then interference would be unacceptable, the UK’s defense at risk.
Yet, last week there was a U-turn by the MoD. A complete turnaround that must have caused wind farm planners along the east coast of England millions of pounds: financial waste caused by military indecision.
By Max Lindberg •
February 24, 2008
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/c3FZtmlHwcA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
This wind turbine in Denmark went out of control when it’s safety mechanism failed to operate. And the blades went round, and round, and round…until…..
By Carol Gulyas •
February 24, 2008
They say everything is bigger in Texas and that certainly applies to the giant windmills that have replaced oil derricks in the rural area of Sweetwater, in Nolan County. According to the New York Times, the towers stand 20 stories high and the turbine blades are as long as a football field, and farmers can earn $500 per month for each turbine they allow built on their […]
By Philip Proefrock •
January 25, 2008
Safety concerns are going to start being an issue with alternative energy installations. With any new technology come unanticipated concerns, as that system leaves the ideal world of the drawing board (or the computer simulation) and enters the real world. We are already well acquainted with the concerns about wind turbines and birds (for the most part, the issue of bird strikes is not that great compared to other man-made hazards for birds, and is more than offset by the benefits to birds (and all other living creatures) from using a renewable power generation. But there will also be life-safety issues around any electricity generating system, particularly as they become more distributed and widespread.
What kinds of safety issues will be faced as part of other alternative energy systems?
