wind turbine

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas today announced the launch of its new offshore wind turbine – the V236-15.0MW. It replaces US conglomerate GE’s 14MW Haliade-X as having the distinction of being the world’s largest offshore wind turbine.

Donald Trump hates wind turbines, and he repeats this constantly. He regurgitated his false gripe about the green energy source killing birds yet again last week during the final presidential debate.

So just how threatening are wind turbines to our feathered friends? There are much bigger threats to the global bird population than this green energy source.

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British prime minister Boris Johnson declared today at the Conservative Party conference that the UK would become “the world leader in clean wind energy.” He committed £160 million ($207 million) to upgrade ports and factories in northern England, Scotland, and Wales in order to build wind turbines.

A study from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) found that painting one out of four white wind turbine blades black reduces the number of birds killed by the blades by 72%.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• UN: A decade of renewables quadruples capacity — and it’s led by solar.
• The advantages and challenges of super-tall wind turbine towers.
• Extreme weather is driving battery-powered energy storage.
• Crops under solar panels is a win for both.

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Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today in EGEB, New England energy company Eversource buys into offshore wind. Wind turbine technician an in-demand job in Texas. Georgetown University solar farm draws criticism.

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Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today on EGEB, U.S. oceans are about to get a little more crowded by wind turbines. China and India are the main players behind the massive expansion of solar power production. Scientists publish a new study that rebukes a previous one that claimed that powering a country only with renewable energy is impossible.

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Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.

Today on EGEB, wind power producers are bound to be more competitive by using AI technology. Scientists want to create polymer that takes 10 times less energy to make. GE, in alliance with Arroyo Energy, has been awarded a new contract to build wind turbines for Chile. Expand
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A startup in France called ‘Newwind’ has designed a special product which can be best described as a fake tree with small wind turbines for leaves. The company has already deployed a few units that are currently generating electricity in Paris and it is now testing the market in the US. Expand
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On Sunday, Scotland produced 106% of its electricity needs -over a 24 hour period – via wind farms. Scotland joins a select group of countries that have had peak moments (or days/months/forever) when their electricity needs comes from non-polluting renewable energy. Iceland runs completely on hydroelectric and geothermal, Costa Rica ran for 75 straight days in 2015, Portugal ran for four days, Denmark generated 140% of their demand, Germany broke 95% for a few moments and there are many other countries with wonderful clean energy achievements. With places like Hawaii aiming for 100%, Rhode Island building its first off shore wind farm and the US Department of energy readying the mainland’s grid to be able to handle 100% – we will see reports like this proliferate in the future.

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Today is the 46th Earth Day. Though from the perspective of the earth, it’s probably closer to its 1.6 trillionth day. Nonetheless, Earth Day is supposed to be an occasion to demonstrate your support for environmental protection.

You can show your support in very simple ways like using less energy or finally recycling those dead batteries that have been piling up in your junk drawer, or you can try to pick up some new habits and initiate yourself to new and greener technologies. Expand
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With the Paris climate talks taking place this week, I thought it fitting to share an idea I came up with a few years ago while visiting the French capital. ‘Moulin Eiffel’ is taking the 130-year old Eiffel Tower, the iconic symbol of Paris, and outfitting it with a vertical axis wind turbine. The idea is that the tower seen around the whole world would genuinely (not BS) become energy neutral and a symbol for a sustainable energy future.

I had originally considered the option of placing a traditional “windmill” on top of the tower like you increasingly see in farms around the world, but with all of the equipment located up there already plus factoring changing wind patterns and the all important aesthetics, the vertical model works the best. This is how:
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