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Wind has become so predictable and commonplace that it's hard to imagine where all the U.S. turbines could be hiding -- currently enough to power more than 12 million homes. Fortunately, we don't have to imagine anymore.

Click on the image below to check out a new data visualization by the U.S. Geological Survey (a group of data junkies with a boring name). It's a map of the U.S. with pins dropped on every single known wind farm. Those dots you see? Zoom in using the magnifying glass in the upper left corner and they will explode into more dots. Zoom in further and those dots will become massive wind turbines.

Behold, America's mountains and farmlands, cities and towns in all their renewable wind-powered glory. Not boring.

have been surfing around looking for a vertical axis residential turbine in the 1 to 2 kWe size range since my spouse and I discussed it earlier this week without much luck, any suggestions?

Testing by the Sandia Lab confirms all of the above in side-by-side tests of VAWTs and HAWTs, finding that VAWTs will produce 15-25% less electricity for the same swept area with likely higher costs. [11]

A new white paper report finds that wind energy is keeping electric bills low for American homes and businesses, thanks to plummeting wind energy costs driven by technological improvements. The report was compiled by staff at the American Wind Energy Association and uses publicly available data and more than a dozen studies from government, utility, and other independent sources to explore how wind energy affects consumers’ energy bills.

A major highlight of the report pulls from just-released Department of Energy data showing consumers in the states that use the most wind energy have fared much better than consumers in states that use less wind energy.

American consumers in the top wind energy-producing states have seen their electricity prices actually decrease by 0.37 percent over the last 5 years, while all other states have seen their electricity prices increase by 7.79 percent over that time period. The following chart summarizes how consumers have fared in states that produce more than 7 percent of their electricity from wind (Texas, Wyoming, Oregon, Oklahoma, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa) relative to other states.

The Earth Wind Map is an amazing project to visualize global weather conditions carried out by Tokyo based software engineer Cameron Beccario, resulting in a beautifully mesmerising depiction of the earth's winds. Weather data is produced by the Global Forecast System (GFS), operated by the US National Weather Service. Forecasts are produced four times daily and are up-to-date, providing an astonishing picture of our planet and its winds.


In detail, a gentle breeze is shown by a thin strand of green, while strong winds are bright yellow. The strongest currents are bright red.

Users can drag the globe to their desired location and click on the spot they want to find out what the wind speed is.

Users can also zoom in on the currents, which are colour-coded to show the severity of the wind. The detail is quite extraordinary. A region that looks calm at a glance is seen to be rippling with winds on closer inspection, using the mouse wheel to zoom in.


To access the 'Earth Wind Map', click here. Navigation is a matter of exploration.

Watch the video to learn more about how it works:

Wind turbines can remain productive for up to 25 years, making wind farms a good long-term choice for energy investors, according to new research.

The UK has a target of generating 15 per cent of the nation's energy from renewable resources such as wind farms by 2020. There are currently 4,246 individual wind turbines in the UK across 531 wind farms, generating 7.5 per cent of the nation's electricity.

There has been some debate about whether wind turbines have a more limited shelf-life than other energy technologies. A previous study used a statistical model to estimate that electricity output from wind turbines declines by a third after only ten years of operation. Some opponents of wind power have argued that ageing turbine technology could need replacing en masse after as little as ten years, which would make it an unattractive option in economic terms.

In a new study, researchers from Imperial College Business School carried out a comprehensive nationwide analysis of the UK fleet of wind turbines, using local wind speed data from NASA. They showed that the turbines will last their full life of about 25 years before they need to be upgraded.

This wind turbine makes use of funnels and tubes to harness wind energy. The Invelox turbine is capable of harnessing wind energy from winds which are as slow as 2mph and that is made possible by directing the wind into a funnel and then channeling it via a tube to the generator of turbine located on ground. Usually the wind turbine generator is situated on top of the tower. However, Invelox keeps the generator on ground and directs wind to it. The other obvious difference being that in conventional methods, wind energy is harnessed when it passes through the blades. With this design, that wind is captured via a funnel that leads to the generator.

So how is it done? Basically, the wind is made to pass through a passage which tapers along the way and hence, accelerates. This induced kinetic energy is then used to run the generator. The effect is known as ‘jet effect’ and is achieved by forcing the wind to blow down a passage which narrows at the end. The end result is wind with increased velocity but low pressure. The technique is known as Venturi Effect and as per Sheerwind, by employing this technique, the wind turbine can operate even when the wind blows at 2mph.

First Wind, an independent U.S.-based renewable energy company, announced today that it has made the first payment to the town of Oakfield in the amount of $600,000 as part of the community benefit agreement. Situated about 2.5 miles from the center of Oakfield in Aroostook County, Maine, early construction on the 148 megawatt (MW) project began in late 2013. The Oakfield project will provide $12 million in community benefit payments over the next 20 years. In addition to the community benefit payments, First Wind is also scheduled to make about $15 million in tax payments over the next 20 years.



First proposed in 2008, the Oakfield Wind project received unanimous approval from the Maine DEP in January of 2012. In 2011, town of Oakfield residents voted 81-21 to approve the tax and community benefit agreement. The power that will be generated by the Oakfield Wind project is contracted to be sold to Massachusetts customers of four utilities as part of a 15-year contract, and will generate enough clean energy at cost-competitive rates to power about 50,000 homes.

Major construction of the project is expected to start later this year, with a completion and generation date predicted for 2015. Vestas will supply the 48 V112 turbines with a capacity of 3.075 MW each to the Maine project.

Other communities along the planned power line or “generator lead”, which will connect the wind project to the New England electrical grid, will also receive tax revenues from the project.

Wind energy continues to improve its standing in the U.S. energy footprint, generating over 167,000 MWh in 2013 and accounting for more than four percent of electricity generation, according to the latest information from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Wind energy also has represented 30 percent of all new generating capacity over the last five years.

The data builds on AWEA's 4Q13 market review with the EIA's December generation data, and is a preview of AWEA's full annual market update in early April.

"We knew there'd be a big jump" showing wind energy uptake over the past year, given how much wind capacity was built out and completed at the end of 2012 and given a full year of generation under its belt, explained Elizabeth Salerno, VP of industry data and analysis.

Nine states now get more than 12 percent of their electricity generation from wind power, and 17 states top 5 percent. Iowa and South Dakota still rank 1-2 in U.S. wind energy generation, increasing their production in 2013 from ~24 percent each to more than 27 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Kansas leapt from 11.4 percent wind contribution to more than 19 percent, after doubling its wind energy output in 2012, and other big climbers on the list included Idaho (11.3 percent to 16.2 percent) and Oklahoma (10.5 percent to 14.8 percent). Texas continued to shine -- generating nearly 36 million megawatt-hours of wind energy in 2013, enough to power 3.3 million homes -- as the completed CREZ transmission lines are finally enabling new capacity development in the panhandle to be delivered to load centers in Dallas and Houston. California increased its wind generation contribution to 6.6 percent, which is "pretty incredible" for a state with such heavy load and demand, she said.

http://www.independent.ie/business/iris ... 71008.html
PLANS to erect thousands of wind turbines across the midlands to export power to the UK have been shelved, the Irish Independent has learnt.

An agreement between the Irish and British governments, which would allow power to be traded between both countries, is unlikely to go ahead, meaning at least 40 wind farms planned across five counties will be mothballed.

The lack of agreement comes amid concern from local communities about large-scale farms being developed here to allow the UK meet its legally binding renewable energy targets.

Two companies, Mainstream Renewable Power and Element Power, planned to erect at least 1,000 wind turbines across counties including Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, Offaly and Laois, but their plans are now unlikely to go ahead.

Contacted by the Irish Independent, Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte confirmed that a deal was unlikely.

Last year the Irish and British Governments signed a memorandum of understanding which would have seen 2,300 wind turbines being built across the midlands between now and 2020 to supply 5,000 megawatts (MW) of power to the British market....

Mr Rabbitte has said the deadline is now unrealistic because the British side is not progressing the project in the way that was expected....

A note from Davy Stockbrokers suggested that the UK had cooled on the Irish export scheme and were instead looking to developing fracking, North Sea gas and nuclear energy to meet its energy requirements.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/sect ... -1.1716726