Wind is the world’s fastest growing alternative power source. Experts have said that wind could provide up to 12% of the earth’s electricity within two decades. These imposing gauntlets of giant toy like whirligigs situated on hilltops or standing tall off coastal shores not only attract tourists but also opponents. These stories of conflict stretch the length or our country, from small seaside towns to wide expansive western plains. People and progressive utility companies are struggling to find solutions that preserve the ecosystems but offer a sustainable future. Tune in here to witness the changing horizon for a cleaner future. Send in your stories or any related information regarding wind energy to: offthegrid@voiceyourself.com.
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Catching the Wind in Antarctica
Belgium’s new Antarctic station, Princess Elisabeth
On six continents, wind energy is struggling to compete with fossil fuels. But in Antarctica, wind is carving out a big role.
Matthew Wald - The New York Times , November 4, 2008
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America flies on leading zephyr of global wind power
Wind power is now a priority.
Commitment to wind power in the U.S. has become a priority in recent years, and federal and state actions are fueling a surge in wind power projects. In May, the U.S. Department of Energy published a report, 20 percent Wind Energy by 2030: Increasing Wind Energy's Contribution to U.S. Electricity Supply, covering the goals and challenges faced in the U.S. of reaching a 20 percent overall power production target from wind by 2030. The U.S. wind industry has its roots in 1970s California. By 1986, California had installed more than 1.2 GW of wind power, propelling the state to world market leader status with just shy of 90 percent of all global wind installations at the time. However, growth in the U.S. wind energy industry was brought to an abrupt halt in 1986 after federal investment tax credits for wind energy projects stopped in 1985.
By Fiona Smith - EnergyCurrent.com | Aberdeen, TX , October 07, 2008
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“America’s Wind Power Imperative” - Solving the global...
Wind and agriculture are compatable.
Wind power has been America’s second largest source of new electrical capacity for the past three years running – behind only natural gas – experiencing 45% growth levels in 2007. Although wind currently provides only 1% of U.S. electricity needs, there is enough wind resource in the U.S. to supply several times our total national electricity usage. This is great news, given that the rapidly intensifying climate crisis demands that we kick our addiction to fossil fuels as quickly as possible.
By Tom Weis - Wind Power Solutions , September 23, 2008
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Wind Power May Gain Footing Off Coast of U.S.
Proposed wind-power sites.
Amid a national debate over offshore oil drilling, the federal government is preparing to unleash development of another offshore energy source: wind. The Interior Department, the agency that handles oil-and-gas leases in U.S. waters, is preparing to lease swaths of the outer continental shelf to companies that want to erect massive wind turbines. With the public-comment period for the proposal scheduled to end Monday, competition is heating up to develop wind projects on the shelf, the same underwater formation largely covered by an oil-drilling ban that has become a contentious issue in the presidential race.
By Jeffrey Ball - The Wall Street Journal , September 03, 2008
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Air Storage Is Explored for Energy
Underground storage of wind energy.
When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg dreamed out loud last week about a New York skyline filled with wind turbines, one of the most serious issues raised by the naysayers was that the wind does not always blow when you need it. But a New Jersey company plans to announce on Tuesday that it is working on a solution to this perennial problem with wind power: using wind turbines to produce compressed air that can be stored underground or in tanks and released later to power generators during peak hours.
By Ken Belson - The New York Times , August 26, 2008
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Bloomberg Offers Windmill Power Plan
Quite rooftop windmills.
In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy. The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration. Mr. Bloomberg said he would ask private companies and investors to study how windmills can be built across the city, with the aim of weaning it off the nation’s overtaxed power grid...
By Michael Barbaro - The New York Times , August 20, 2009
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How Wind Farms May Really Replace Coal Mining
Proposed windfarm on MTR site.
The late John Flynn, an environmentalist raised in West Virginia's Big Coal River Valley, was a farsighted man. In 1995, Flynn met a Catholic sister fighting poverty there. They talked about the abuses that Massey Coal Company's operations had inflicted on the valley. There were the mining jobs denied to local people and an economy on its knees, people forced out of their homes to accommodate mining in hollows, and front porches blanketed by coal dust. Flynn wondered aloud about placing windmills on top of the mountains surrounding them to produce power. Why, he suggested, couldn't an array of windmills replace the giant coal mines that dominated the valley?
By Peter Slavin - AlterNet , August 19, 2008
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Wind energy lobbyist maps U.S. power superhighway
Wind power distribution system.
Cutting photocopier costs was once Randall Swisher's top concern, now it's redrawing the United States' power grid into a $60 billion superhighway. When Swisher became executive director of the industry group the American Wind Energy Association in 1989, he had four employees and fuel was cheap. So the energy business largely ignored him. Ten years ago, cutting office costs topped the agenda. But now, with all-time high fossil fuel prices and rising worries about global warming, AWEA boasts 68 employees.
By Timothy Gardner - Reuters | Washington , August 01, 2008
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Texas Grid Owners Join Forces to Build Wind Lines
Power from the Plains.
Several Texas transmission owners have formed a consortium to build the US$5 billion in new power lines to take advantage of the state's abundant wind generation, the companies said in a regulatory filing Thursday. The consortium, comprised of existing transmission operators, includes Dallas-based Oncor, the state's largest power delivery companies...
Reuters | Houston , July 28, 2008
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Appalachian Residents Have Found the Antidote to Coal
If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of our failed energy policies, he should go and see the future of renewable energy in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia. Yes, renewable energy in Appalachia. Something historic is taking place in West Virginia this summer. Faced with an impending proposal to stripmine over 6,600 acres -- nearly 10 square miles -- in the Coal River Valley, including one of the last great mountains in that range, an extraordinary movement of local residents and coal mining families have come up with a counter proposal for an even more effective wind farm.
By Jeff Biggers - The Huffington Post , July 09, 2008
