NEWEST WIND

Whether any of these flashy new ideas in wind energy prove out, wind energy is certainly emerging and evolving.

Some question wind’s cost and efficiency but turbines now generate electricity at near price parity to fossil fuel-generated power and are getting bigger and more efficient.

Some raise aesthetic objections to turbines but others see them as beautiful, elegant and inspiring. Certainly they compliment the landscape and do it less harm than the coal mining that tears the tops off mountains.

Turbines too near wildlife habitat can disrupt or harm but wind producers work hard to site safely and use ever-safer blade configurations. Surely the harm is not as bad as that of all these oil spills.

Turbines too near people can create noise pollution but standards limit how close to communities a wind tower is sited and design has drastically reduced the damaging sound.

Anecdote: A lawsuit was brought in Texas against a wind installation on the grounds that it caused noise pollution and hearing damage. Evidence largely pertaining to older turbines was introduced. Then the defense introduced proof that at the base of the new model turbines a normal level conversation could readily be held. The judge threw the case out of court.

Two things NewEnergyNews has discovered in general about the wind energy industry: (1) Every time there is an objection, the question is confronted openly and frankly and resolved to any reasonable person’s satisfaction. (2) While the other energy industries persist in causing oil spills, radioactive waste, water pollution and excessive water consumption, and respiratory illness-inducing and climate change-causing air pollutions, wind energy moves quickly to eliminate whatever minor harms it might cause.

This ain’t your grandfather’s windmill we’re talking about.

Farming the wind efficiently
Matthew Knight, November 9, 2007 (CNN)

WHO
British Wind Energy Association (BWEA), UK Government; Viktor Jovanovic, designer, Stormblade Turbine; Terra Moya Aqua (TMA) (Duane Rasmussen, president and Ron Taylor, chairman/inventor); Quiet Revolution Ltd

WHAT
Wind energy is the world’s fastest growing energy technology. With enormous success comes growing scrutiny, inevitable problems and remarkable innovations like the Stormblade Turbine, the Terra Moya Aqua and Quiet Revolution’s QR5.

click to enlarge

WHEN
- Wind energy in the UK is expected to reach 3000 megawatts by 2010, providing 5% of the country’s energy.
- The current UK leadership is calling for 10% of the country’s electricity to come from renewables by 2010.
- Jovanovic's Stormblade has been in development since 2001.
- TMA was invented 11 years ago.
- The 1st QR5 was installed in 2006.

WHERE
- A 2005 German government report questioned wind energy’s cost and its efficiency as a method to reduce emissions.
- Jovanovic is based in London.
- TMA is based in Wyoming.
- Quiet Revolution Ltd is based in the UK.

WHY
- The UK investment in wind installations is presently at 1 billion pounds ($2.07 billion).
- Jovanovic's Stormblade Turbine is a new design. It operates in wind speeds higher than other turbines, allowing it to harvest harder winds.
- Terra Moya Aqua (TMA) uses a vertical axis and is easier to run, quieter and free of ground resonance, making it the most efficient design yet. It is propellerless and therefore more repair-free. And it is smaller, so less an aesthetic obstacle.
The QR5, designed for city and residential installation, is a vertical axis, 5-meter tall, carbon-fiber, triple helix structure, light and quiet and capable of generating 10,000 kilowatts/year.

QR 5

QUOTES
- Jovanovic, about his father’s inspiration of Stormblade: "It was only when my Dad died that I revisited the ideas we talked about…And then I got thinking about wind turbines…The internal aerodynamics [of the Stormblade] creates a pressure stream, which is directed radially towards the center…This induces centrifugal reaction force in the airflow that causes the stream field to expand strongly downstream of the rotor. The higher mass flow and higher velocity reduction behind the rotor result in a higher energy output from the wind turbine."
- Rasmussen, TMA: "The turbine is far more robust than traditional models of turbine… Because the turbine looks like a building it also means the avian population is not in danger…"