Chinese farmer invents 'wind-powered' car
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
BANJIEHE, China -- A Chinese farmer has invented a wind-powered, electric car that he says could save his country from the pollution caused by its rapidly growing car market. An hour from downtown Beijing, the dusty village of Banjiehe looks an unlikely place to produce scientific innovation. Its rows of brick, utilitarian houses are surrounded by cornfields and fruit trees. But in a small tractor workshop, 55-year-old farmer Tang Zhenping has invented the prototype of a car that he believes could revolutionize China's auto industry. Tang's model -- built in just three months for around US$1,600 -- is electric
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Dinosaurs passing wind may have caused climate change
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
Dinosaurs passing wind may have caused climate change Huge plant-eating dinosaurs may have produced enough greenhouse gas by breaking wind to alter the Earth's climate, research suggests. 2:46AM BST 07 May 2012 Like huge cows, the mighty sauropods would have generated enormous quantities of methane. Sauropods, recognisable by their long necks and tails, were widespread around 150 million years ago. They included some of the largest animals to walk the Earth, such as Diplodocus, which measured 150 feet and weighed up to 45 tonnes. Scientists believe that, just as in cows, methane-producing bacteria aided the digestion of sauropods by fermenting...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Night-Warming Effect Found Over Large Wind Farms in Texas
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
Large wind farms in certain areas in the United States appear to affect local land surface temperatures, according to a paper published April 30 in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study, led by Liming Zhou, an atmospheric scientist at the State University of New York- (SUNY) Albany, provides insights about the possible effects of wind farms... The results could be important for developing efficient adaptation and management strategies to ensure long-term sustainability of wind power. "This study indicates that land surface temperatures have warmed in the vicinity of large wind farms in west-central Texas, especially at night," says Anjuli...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind Farms Warming Texas
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
New research finds that wind farms actually warm up the surface of the land underneath them during the night, a phenomena that could put a damper on efforts to expand wind energy as a green energy solution. Researchers used satellite data from 2003 to 2011 to examine surface temperatures across as wide swath of west Texas, which has built four of the world's largest wind farms. The data showed a direct correlation between night-time temperatures increases of 0.72 degrees C (1.3 degrees F) and the placement of the farms. "Given the present installed capacity and the projected growth in installation...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Obama's Back To The Future Energy Policy
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
President Obama describes his energy policies as ones that "invest in stuff that's new" and "stop subsidizing stuff that's old." But several of Obama's energy priorities are very "old stuff" -- wind, electric cars, batteries, trains -- much of it predating the gasoline engine, and little finding much commercial success despite massive public investments.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Obama: End Tax Breaks For Oil In Order To "Double Down" On Wind And Solar (video)
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
<p>"Instead of taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's never been more profitable, we should be using that money to double down on investments in clean energy technologies that have never been more promising.</p>
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
New wind power guidelines are for the birds
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration offered new guidance Friday on where wind farms should be located to reduce the number of bird deaths while promoting increased use of wind power. A bird advocacy group that lobbied for mandatory standards said the new, voluntary guidelines will do little to protect hundreds of thousands of birds killed each year by wind turbines.
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Broken down and rusting, is this the future of Britain's 'wind rush'?
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
A breathtaking sight awaits those who travel to the southernmost tip of Hawaii’s stunningly beautiful Big Island, though it’s not in any guidebook. On a 100-acre site, where cattle wander past broken ‘Keep Out’ signs, stand the rusting skeletons of scores of wind turbines... a technology that is supposed to be about saving the environment is instead ruining it. In other parts of the U.S., working wind turbines are killing hundreds of thousands of birds and bats each year, but here the wildlife can perch on the motionless steel blades. ... No one who has driven past one of America’s...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind energy to the rescue. Well, not exactly…
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
So, how is that alternative, renewable wind energy coming along? No need to split hairs. Give us a general idea. “To the nearest whole number, the percentage of the world’s energy that comes from wind turbines today is: zero,” says Matt Ridley at the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Oops...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Video: Taxpayers subsidize wind-farm generation … and non-generation
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
Taxpayers have put out billions in subsidies over the last three years for Barack Obama's green-energy stimulus program, which has produced such success stories as Solyndra, Beacon Power, and Ener1. But what happens when taxpayers subsidize efforts that actually produce electricity? As people in the Pacific Northwest have discovered, they end up subsidizing green-power generation -- and non-generation: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest — built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced — are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
On Energy, Massachusetts Tilts At Windmills
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
Green Energy: Bypassing abundant supplies of environmentally friendly and reliable natural gas, the Bay State forces its utilities to buy energy from offshore wind farms. The tilting at windmills continues. It is instead found in the vast resources locked up in the Outer Continental Shelf, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off Alaska and in the vast shale formations that bless the U.S. with an abundance of oil and natural gas. A nationwide boom in natural gas production is set to fuel nearly 900,000 jobs and add roughly $1,000 to annual household budgets by 2015, according...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
'Best Article on Wind Farms You Will Ever Read'
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
That’s the verdict of British writer James Delingpole, in a blog posted in the Daily Telegraph, about an article by Kevin Myers published in the Irish Independent online version, brought to our attention by a Paul Chesser Facebook post. (Got all that? Ain’t the Internet grand?) Myers’ focus is on the potentially fatal results of European wind energy, should this form of green delusion be carried to its logical extreme, and the pure destruction of wealth its massive misallocation of resources already represents (imagine hundreds of Solyndras). Thanks to members of the Michigan House and Senate, since 2008 the same...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind power plug pulled in Illinois
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
The wind power industry is predicting massive layoffs and stalled or abandoned projects after a deal to renew a tax credit failed Thursday in Washington. The move is expected to have major ramifications in states such as Illinois, where 13,892 megawatts of planned wind projects — enough to power 3.3 million homes per year — are seeking to be connected to the electric grid. Many of those projects will be abandoned or significantly delayed without federal subsidies. The state is home to more than 150 companies that support the wind industry. At least 67 of those make turbines or components...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
China voices 'deep concern' over US wind tower dumping probe
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Saturday expressed its deep concern over the United States' anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into Chinese exports of wind towers. "The act will not only hamper bilateral cooperation in the field of new energy and harm the interests of US industries, but also go against global efforts to tackle the challenges of climate change and energy security," the MOC said in a statement on its website. The merchandise covered by the investigation is steel towers that support the engine and rotor blades for use in wind turbines with electrical power generation capacities in...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wasteful Wind Power
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
Let's try to understand wind power. Every wind farm needs backup generators to supply power when the wind fails. If there is no wind, zero electricity is produced by the turbines and all power comes from the backup generators (mainly coal or gas in my native Australia). If wind speed exceeds design capacity, the turbines are shut down to prevent damage, and all power comes from the backup generators. In freezing still air, the wind turbines take electricity from the backup generators to prevent damage from cold. And they draw power to get reconnected. When the wind blows strongly all...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind Power and the free market
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
The Institute for Energy Research (IER) is committed to free-market policy solutions for America’s energy needs. IER has repeatedly argued that reducing the federal government’s intervention in the energy sector would reduce prices for consumers and, especially in our current recession, would create thousands of good jobs for unemployed workers. In this context, a recent opinion piece on FoxNews by Steve Lockard—CEO of a company making wind turbines and a board member of the American Wind Energy Association—was quite ironic. Lockard was trying to appeal to conservative readers by claiming that the Congress was threatening to destroy American jobs through...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Keller district campus is plenty green, but what about that wind turbine?
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
The story behind a story is often more interesting, but too often, we forget to ask questions needed to learn it.An example: The Keller school district is rightfully proud of its energy-efficient Timberview Middle School off Old Denton Road in Fort Worth. With its fruit and vegetable garden, geothermal heating and air conditioning, rooftop solar panels, white roof to absorb less heat, and waterless urinals, the year-old structure is billed as a school of the future .... Another component of the campus is its lone wind turbine, next to the athletic field by the concession building. Paid for with voter-approved...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind-farm project in Paynesville a year behind schedule
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
A wind farm that was to be the first such large-scale operation in central Minnesota is about a year behind schedule. Edina-based Geronimo Wind Energy has the necessary permits to build the 95-megawatt wind farm. But the company hasn't been able to find a utility company willing to buy its energy. Geronimo spokesman Charlie Daum attributed the delay to a slow market. "That's really the only thing that's holding us back right now," Daum said, adding that the situation was "not a concern as much as a frustration." By now, as many as 60 turbines, each about 400 feet high,...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind farm damages action settled (U.K.)
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
A couple have settled a High Court damages action against the owners and operators of a wind farm they say drove them from their farmhouse home with its "unbearable" noise... ...They blamed the "whoom whoom whoom" and the low frequency "hum" of giant turbine blades for their exile in a case that was closely watched by the wind farm industry. They said the "intolerable" noise disrupted their sleep, made them feel ill and was so severe that it warranted a reduction in council tax and rendered the £2.5 million farmhouse no longer marketable as a family home. Mr and Mrs...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
Wind Fuels Fight in Oil Patch
Posted by admin / Under Wind Power
An Indian tribe that wants to drill for oil is clashing with a Missouri company that seeks to install windmills on the grassy prairie here, in a fight over access to land that illustrates the growing tensions between developers of old and new forms of energy. The Osage Nation, which owns the mineral rights in the area, has drilled for oil for decades. The proposed wind farm would be located on a patch of this land where the Osage said they have discovered oil. The farm's turbines and substation would impede the extraction of the oil, the tribe said. "It's...
Published on Monday 21st of May 2012 05:30:25 AM
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