September 2008 Archives

If you've been reading my other posts you'll know that my father Kent Britain is using money from the shale oil on his land in Texas to invest in wind power. Additionally, as we have begun researching wind power options we have explored the construction and production of industrial sized wind turbines. I've tried to explain just how big these windmills can get but the pictures really don't do it justice. Quite a traffic jam results as they are traveling to the site each day. The trucks they travel on only run at 35-40 MPH, and there was quite a backup earlier today on the freeway as shown below. One might consider just how much gas is being wasted as these massive structures are transported to their sites? No matter, the cause is a good one.

Saturday, I got some shots of the central hub being hauled to it's site as shown below. To see a few shots of the wind turbine propellers curing in the Texas sun check out my other post here. So what you see below is the central hub that will be mounted on the mast, the mounting plate for the blades is between the hub and the truck cab in this photo. This is what the blades will fit into when it is all finally assembled.

The blades are about 120 feet long (which is larger than an average sized home), and there are multiple blades to be attached to each turbine so it's quite massive. Industrial grade wind turbines are created in such large sizes due to the efficiency gains that can be achieved. A larger turbine doesn't have to spin as fast as a small one in order to generate electricity, also by placing the turbine so high there is often an increase in wind speeds to be reached.

Just west of Abilene, Texas there are over 1,100 of these massive wind turbines. This used to be West Texas crude country. The wind turbines, though, will still produce power as long as they are maintained, as compared to the oil rigs that were left behind several decades ago, left to rust across the landscape. That said, there are many island countries (such as Bonaire) which received wind turbines from sponsor countries many years ago which have not been maintained. Upon falling into disrepair the turbines have stopped and while the wind keeps blowing no energy is being captured even as tourists flock by the hundreds for some of the worlds best wind surfing there. Thankfully, in the case of Bonaire there are plans to build new turbines and make the island country carbon neutral in the coming years as support for wind power has grown.

It's worth noting that the great Lone Star state now produces more electricity from wind than even California. Welcome to the Wild Windy West!

You may have wondered how the massive industrial grade wind turbines are created and shipped. In this article we'll explore the blades made at the Molded Fiber Glass Company in Texas. These blades are made of fiberglass and are shaped similar to an aircraft wing. They are then coated with epoxy to protect them from the elements and hold the form. The epoxy in the fiberglass has to have hardened for the blades to be able to be removed from their mandrels and painted, like those you see in these pictures. However, the epoxy is not fully cured and the blades are relatively soft. That is why all of these blades are stored in rows outside.

So they are stored in fixtures like the one I am standing by to hold their shape while a few weeks in the hot Texas sun finishes the curing process. It isn't done to save energy, it's just very expensive to build an industrial curing oven that holds blades this big, much less a whole lot of them.

Remember, these are merely the turbine blades. The turbines that hold these blades are built elsewhere. (See the wind turbine fastening bolts in the attached photo). Then imagine the size of the towers that hold both the blades and the turbines up high enough to harness the industrial strength wind.

When it comes to Industrial strength wind turbines pricing is usually set a complete system delivered. The price for a wind turbine like the ones shown below is 2.8 million dollars per system, including turbine, tower and blades. Each of the turbines is estimated to generate 1.3 megawatts. This is much larger than would be needed for a residential home.

Eventually the price per unit is going to go down. In these days of wind farms, the contracts are for dozens if not hundreds per contract. Not a per blade price, but for several blades per turbine. Why you may ask?

There is an old factor in manufacturing, 10 X = 1/2. Make 10 times as many of something, and the cost per unit drops in half. The pocket calculator going from $129 for my first simple calculator, to a pretty nice scientific model available at the local Dollar Store is a classic sample of what a larger manufacturing lot will do to the per unit cost. This is called economies of scale and it definitely applies to wind turbines.

Both Solar Cells and Windmills have been hovering near the breakeven point for some years. With thousands of windmills going up, the per unit cost has now reached the point where investors can put up a windmill and expect to get a return on their investment selling electricity at the going rates. We just need the economic justification to build that factory that makes several thousand square feet of solar cells and wind turbines a day to push them over the economic edge.

Cars are becoming a primary focus in sustainable design and pollution prevention. According to WikiAnswers there were over 240 million cars registered in 2005 in the US alone and that number has continued to grow in subsequent years. While there have recently been developments in hybrid and electric cars (even solar powered cars) there has always been a fascination with adding wind power to cars.

Somehow it seems feasible to attach a wind turbine to a car and generate electricity as the car drives. Wouldn't the inertia from the car's accelerated mass (which is enough to power through the air) also be enough to power the wind turbine without wasting energy? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is no. Placing a stationary wind turbine on a car and expecting it to generate additional electricity (compared with the energy spent to move the car) would constitute perpetual motion which is considered impossible based on known physics. That said, there are several ways that wind power can be used in combination with automobiles to create useful, efficient systems.

One French company called Venturi has added wind power to their electric car which allows it to charge in other ways than just solar. The end result is an urban short-distance car that is able to extract more renewable energy from it's environment and thus be more flexible and reliable. To read about the specs on this vehicle head on over to Inhabitat for a full review. This type of wind power for cars is considered passive because it is only deployed when the car is parked. In this way competing forces are at work while the car is in movement and since the car uses pure electric energy that is important. If however, the car used some other fuel sorce such as gasoline and a wind turbine was used when in motion energy would simply be converted from one form (gas) to another (electricity) and this would probably occur at a fairly inefficient rate.

Another way that wind energy can be captured for powering a car is in the braking system. Just like parachute packs are sometimes used to slow dragsters and the US space shuttle as it lands on a runway, rapid-deploy wind turbines could be use to slow a moving automobile. This would be considered a form of regenerative braking and probably be less efficient than direct electric braking systems used on today's most efficient cars (such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight). Considering the amount of energy consumed simply by deploying a wind turbine, and the often short distances that braking power is needed, along with the need for additional direct braking (to guarantee safety in windy conditions) this type of wind power for cars would probably only be used for very specific limited systems.

As Breakthroughs in automobile technology continue wind power will surely play a role. In many ways the aerodynamic design of cars is a type of wind harnessing technology. If you have seen other wind powered cars or know of systems currently in development please share them here at Wind Power Authority.

A storm is brewing in the world of wind power. Advocates of renewable energy praise energy companies that invest in wind farms as leaders in their industry, and many people enjoy the idea of hundreds of massive wind turbines powering their communities from hundreds of miles away. Other people, however, are more skeptical.

After the rolling blackouts that plagued California in 2001 and the massive blackout that shut down the East Coast in 2003, and with the threat of terrorist attacks, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes threatening to separate us from the power plants we rely on to maintain our way of life, Americans are beginning to want energy independence not only from foreign oil, but also from local energy monopolies at home.

Wind energy has been used in rural areas for millenia, powering mills used to grind corn in Afghanistan since the 7th century. Development of the water-pumping windmill supported the agicultural expansion of North America, allowing farming and ranching in areas otherwise devoid of readily accessible water. They also contributed to the expansion of the world rail network, pumping water from wells to refill the boilers of steam locomotives used at the time. The multi-bladed windmill sitting on a lattice tower made of wood or steel remains an iconic symbol of rural America.

As Americans moved from the country into the cities throughout the 20th century, we have become increasingly reliant on the infrastructure provided for us. In 1870, 50% of the US population worked as farmers and ranchers. Now fewer than 0.5% of Americans are directly employed in agriculture. Our literal and figurative distance from farms has enabled our productivity to increase, directly improving our standard of living, but it has also put us at risk due to the increasing size of the network separating us and the basic necessities that we need to sustain life.

We have taken note of this fact, and many Americans have begun taking action. A number have subscribed to the locavore movement, only eating food that is produced near where they live, and many have begun making their houses more efficient by switching over to CFL bulbs and more efficient appliances.

Urban populations now have the opportunity to invest in wind power to further reduce their dependence on the grid with rooftop wind turbines. While the economics of rooftop wind power are questionable, many early adopters of the technology are concerned less with whether the investment will save them money, and more with the peace of mind they get from becoming energy independent.

This article will be maintained as the availability of rooftop wind turbine systems increases, so continue to check back in the future to learn about the latest rooftop wind technologies.

Current Rooftop Wind Turbine Systems:

1. AeroVironment Architectural Wind Turbine

Future Rooftop Wind Turbine Systems:

1. Blue Green Pacific Vertical Wind Turbine