Eideard

Proposed for the Aalborg Waterfront in Denmark, a new housing development would feature 60 apartments, from 4 to 12 stories high, all supplied with a 100 percent renewable energy source…

C.F. Møller’s architectural design features a south-facing roof-plane, fitted with 1,200 sq.m. of photovoltaic and solar thermal panels. The solar paneling is reportedly capable of producing 104,000 KWh of electricity annually, which is estimated to be enough to cover the yearly electricity demand of every apartment. In addition, four vertical axis low-noise wind turbines take advantage of strong western winds, creating an additional power supply to recharge electric cars. A rainwater collection system is used to irrigate the surrounding gardens, whilst the lush landscaping helps maintain a clean air environment. Tall window openings allow for natural light to filter through to the apartments’ living zones, an example of the passive-housing standards that are incorporated to ensure reduced energy consumption all round.

This slide-like shape of the building creates a distinctive silhouette, which is positioned between Aalborg’s main bridges. The roof-plane appears as if it is stretching into the water’s edge, where an underpass shelters a public gazebo and café. The extension of the roof is a visual display of the building’s power plant, and whilst it may take precedence over optimum, waterfront views, it’s essential to the building’s sustainable design.

Delightful. I can picture this design in a few comparable locales where I had clients back in the day. Most certainly in the vibrant waterfront of Portland, Maine.

Just keep their backwards governor from sticking his nose in. He’d probably insist on replacing the solar panels with coal-burning potbelly stoves.

Personally, I find these attractive. And they aid fishing.

Google and a New York financial firm have each agreed to invest heavily in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbone for future offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Seaboard that could ultimately transform the region’s electrical map.

The 350-mile underwater spine, which could remove some critical obstacles to wind power development, has stirred excitement among investors, government officials and environmentalists who have been briefed on it.

Google and Good Energies, an investment firm specializing in renewable energy, have each agreed to take 37.5 percent of the equity portion of the project. They are likely to bring in additional investors, which would reduce their stakes…

Marubeni, a Japanese trading company, has taken a 15 percent stake. Trans-Elect said it hoped to begin construction in 2013…

“Conceptually it looks to me to be one of the most interesting transmission projects that I’ve ever seen walk through the door,” said Jon Wellinghoff, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission. “It provides a gathering point for offshore wind for multiple projects up and down the coast.”

RTFA. The whole article.

But, it’s an interesting concept which projects a length to the electrical transmission spine which compensates to a certain extent for the vagaries of wind. The vagaries of the American electorate? That’s a completely different question.

Click on photo for news video
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

There was US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the man deciding the fate of the controversial wind farm, sitting on the bridge of a Coast Guard vessel and peering out across the Sound with binoculars a few hours after meeting with Native Americans opposed to the Cape Wind project.

“Very meaningful,’’ said Salazar about his visit that included a private sunrise meeting with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe on a Cape Cod beach, and a later discussion with the Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe on Martha’s Vineyard…

Salazar announced no conclusions yesterday about the advisability of locating the wind farm in the scenic Sound, but his visit to the Wampanoag and the area underscores just how high-stakes the Cape Wind farm has become to the Obama administration, which is hoping to accelerate renewable energy efforts and show the world it is serious about fighting manmade climate change. If completed, the project’s developers say it will supply, on average, the equivalent of 75 percent of the energy needs of Cape Cod and the Islands…

Salazar’s visit appeared to ease the Wampanoag tribes’ longstanding complaint that the federal government never took them seriously when they said the wind farm would interfere with their spiritual sun greetings and be built on ancestral grounds that were dry land thousands of years ago…

Speaking to the reporters, Salazar reiterated that a final decision on Cape Wind would be made by April.

He said he was not “holding my breath for a consensus’’ among Native Americans and the project’s developer…

I don’t think it matters to the future of energy and environmental costs whether or not the folks concerned about their view are Native American priests or Kennedy-level brahmins of Massachusetts politics. They’re standing in the way of clean energy for the whole region strictly on selfishness.

The world’s southernmost wind farm has been opened in Antarctica, the first in what could be a number of renewable energy projects aimed to lower the frozen continent’s reliance on diesel for power.

The construction of the three-turbine Ross Island wind farm was a huge challenge in an environment where the temperature can fall as low as -57 degrees Celsius.

The wind farm will supply about 11 percent of the power to New Zealand’s Scott Base and the American McMurdo Station, and will cut diesel consumption by about 463,000 liters per year.

If the wind farm proves a success it could be followed by others, with solar generation also being evaluated for potential use, said Scott Bennett, project manager with Meridian Energy, the state-owned New Zealand power company which built and runs the turbines.

Every little bit helps. Once they get more experience they can always expand.

Just imagine the cost of shipping in diesel to Antarctica.

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A team of environmental scientists from Harvard and Tsinghua University has demonstrated the enormous potential for wind-generated electricity in China. Using extensive meteorological data and incorporating the Chinese government’s energy-bidding and financial restrictions for delivering wind power, the researchers estimate that wind alone has the potential to meet the country’s electricity demands projected for 2030.

The switch from coal and other fossil fuels to greener wind-based energy could also mitigate CO2 emissions, thereby reducing pollution…

China has become second only to the United States in its national power-generating capacity — 792.5 gigawatts per year with an expected future 10 percent annual increase — and is now the world’s largest CO2 emitter. Thus, added McElroy, “the real question for the globe is: What alternatives does China have?”

While wind-generated energy accounts for only 0.4 percent of China’s total current electricity supply, the country is rapidly becoming the world’s fastest-growing market for wind power, trailing only the United States, Germany, and Spain in terms of installed capacities of existing wind farms.

Development of renewable energy in China, especially wind, received an important boost with passage of the Renewable Energy Law in 2005; the law provides favorable tax status for alternative energy investments. The Chinese government also established a concession bidding process to guarantee a reasonable return for large wind projects…

Read the rest of this entry »

A British engineer from Hampshire has broken the world land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle.

Richard Jenkins reached 126.1mph (202.9km/h) in his Greenbird car on the dry plains of Ivanpah Lake in Nevada.

American Bob Schumacher set the previous record of 116 mph in 1999, driving his Iron Duck vehicle.

“It’s great, it’s one of those things that you spend so long trying to do and when it actually happens, it’s almost too easy,” Mr Jenkins told the BBC.

The Greenbird is a carbon fibre composite vehicle that uses wind (and nothing else) for power. The only metalwork used is for the wing bearings and the wheel unit.

Bravo! Wish I was there to see it.

The Energy Technologies Institute, an energy research consortium with a potential funding pot of $1.6 billion, has today announced the first four projects in which it will be investing.

The projects, which will receive a total amount of £20 million in funding from both the Energy Technology Institute (ETI) itself and the government, focus on offshore wind and tidal power technology.

Led by OTM Consulting, E.ON Engineering and Blue H Technologies respectively, Projects Nova, Helm Wind and Deepwater Turbine are all concerned with offshore wind technologies.

Project Nova aims to assess the feasibility of a unique wind turbine with a pair of giant vertical wings, which developers say has the benefit of ruggedness, stability and simple maintenance when compared to conventional horizontal axis turbines…

Lord Hunt, Minister for Sustainable Development and Energy Innovation, said: “Today’s announcement is a key milestone for the Energy Technologies Institute. The UK has pledged to increased…our use of renewable energy to further secure our energy supplies and help fight the damaging effects of climate change.

“In order to meet these challenge we need to turn the best innovative ideas in wind and marine power in to reality. The Energy Technologies Institute is an excellent example of Government working with the private sector to achieve a quantum leap forward in these vital low-carbon technologies,” he added.

Rock on, Lord!

BTW – look back sometime and give credit to Brian Wilson who got y’all started down this path.

Spain’s wind farms briefly provided a record 43 percent of demand for electricity early on Monday.

Spain is the third-largest generator of wind power in the world, with about 16,000 MW of installed capacity and plants to have 20,000 MW by 2010.

The lobby further estimated that wind farms in 2007 saved Spain importing the equivalent of 6 million tonnes of crude oil, which would have cost 1.104 billion euros.