A Gust Of Wind Power
Posted by Big Gav
Wind power is much in the news this week. Besides the announcements of the giant offshore wind farm planned for the UK, the Guardian has a report on an island offshore Norway that depends almost entirely on wind for their electricity supply (via Energy Bulletin).
On the remote Norwegian island of Utsira stands a small hydrogen plant with two wind turbines gracefully rotating in the sky. "In 50 years' time, they will be everywhere. No one will use oil any more!"
The factory is the first of its kind to produce electricity by combining wind power and hydrogen, a completely pollution-free method. On a good windy day, which Utsira has plenty of, where speeds average 10 metres [33ft] per second, the turbines can power the whole island. Any surplus is used to break water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. On days when the wind is weak, the stored hydrogen is used to produce electricity, either by burning it in a combustion engine or fusing it chemically with oxygen in a fuel cell, a kind of battery. The only by-product of the operation is water.
The Alternative Energy Blog also has a flurry of articles on wind power lately - covering China, Australia, Armenia, and Vietnam.
Over at TreeHugger they have a reader survey asking if wind turbines are "beauty or blight". Personally I find most windfarms look quite pleasing - especially when compared to the alternatives.
TreeHugger also has a note up commenting on research showing the danger to birds posed by turbines is less than previously thought.
For those who thought they could survive the Long Emergency by standing under windmills and catching dinner, we have bad news. A recent Danish study shows that migrating birds learn quickly to avoid routes that pass through windfarms- less than one percent of the birds get close enough to risk a collision. The birds gave the turbines an even wider berth at night, sticking more closely to the middle of the corridors between turbines. Many avoided the wind farms altogether and found alternate routes.
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