Will wind turbines win the hearts of governments and community members any time soon?
Compliments of Wind Energy 7
A couple of weeks ago we shared a post on solar energy. Today we’re taking a look at another type of renewable energy - wind power. What do wind and solar power have in common? We’ll they’re two of the best options we have to reduce our dependency on oil. But their second common denominator is that they both require heavy duty most homeowners (and their neighbors) aren’t too keen on. The truth is, wind power has a lot of obstacles to overcome before it will save the day and ward off global warming.
A recent article on WashingtonPost.com examines a study released by the Energy Department on Wednesday, 1/19, and identifies the wind power theory as one that has potential. However, many obstacles need to be overcome.
1. We need a larger power grid. Without it, there’s no way to deal with a back up of energy. Our current system would leave mass quantities of wind power to waste, unable to process the power the latest, most advanced wind turbines can produce.
2. Where to put the wind turbines? On a national level, governing bodies are fighting over which regions should be used for wind power generation. On a local level, community boards and smaller governing bodies are debating whether or not wind turbines have a place in suburbia.
Earlier this week in Austin, TX a wind turbine ordinance, allowing the machinery to be set up in most city zoning districts including residential areas, failed to pass by a hair. The ordinance will be revisited for voting in February and Austin government officials are hoping some worried community members will see the turbines as a long-term solution, as opposed to an eye sore.
A similar story of citizens vetoing the benefits of turbines in their neighbors’ yards, on account of aesthetics, was recently reported in Omaha. Two concerned citizens planned to install wind turbines in their yards for power collection for personal use when their community prevented the build. Now Omaha governing officials are working to modify codes to allow for such installations.
But wind turbines aren’t being denied in all cities. Some determined homeowners are looking for ways around the use of turbines in particular, with the installation of both of these turbine styles.
Though turbines might not be the most beautiful structures in the suburban world, we encourage homeowners to look at images such as this one and try to envision wind turbines as a majestic source of renewable energy that are an important tool in the world’s arsenal to create something beautiful – a cleaner environment.
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Tags: Energy Department, power grid, renewable energy, solar power, Washington Post, wind power, wind turbines
“1. We need a larger power grid.”
I don’t think so. A smart grid would do it much better, but there is another reason why wind power will need it’s time. It’s about storing energy, like within huge accu’s, to make sure that energy will be available even during times when the turbines don’t produce any energy, because of maintenance reasons or because there are simply times without enough wind.
“2. Where to put the wind turbines?”
I’m from Germany, the world champignon when it comes to solar and wind power. We have had all of those fights and some are still on the way. The stupid thing during the whole process were the following: 87% of all Germans are totally for clean/green energies, but they don’t want to have the power plants it in their backyards. After the fights Coal/Nuclear vs. Clean/Green Energies ended successfully for clean/green energies (meanwhile we produce 15 to 19% clean/green energy, up to 2025 at least 25%, the new generations of coal power plants are at least 15% more efficient than the ones around the world and nuclear power plants went totally of the grid within the next 20 years) the fights started again, but this time only about locations. That was really sick, because without all of these “hide & seek” games we would have achieved the 2025 goals by now.
Because of that my advise is:
- Give home owners and commercial real estate investors the possibility to install as much individual clean/green features as she/he like to install.
- Grant a fee for green energy which is feed into the grid from individual households and commercial real estate investors.
- Give a tax benefit for clean/green features to promote it and bring it faster to main street.
- Leave the decision making process for big power plants to the government. They can work on compatibility studies and choose the right place at any state. This process might take 3 to 5 years per location, but at least not 15 or more like at some of our locations.
- After all of those location fights a lot of our farmers found out that they can make more money by producing energy than by farming. Offer them good deals and the rest will go into the right direction on its own.