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Sandia engineers Jose Zayas and Dale Berg (pictured) were honored in 2011 by Windpower Engineering magazine as two of the nation’s innovators and influencers in wind energy.
(Photo by Randy Montoya.)
The bright yellow blossoms of the rapeseed plant stretch towards the horizon. An array of wind turbines churn in the distance as seen from the window of a NEG passenger train on the line from Niebüll to the small harbor village of Dagebüll.
Rapeseed (Brassica napus) is grown for the production of animal feed, "canola" cooking oil and more extensively in recent years for biodiesel fuel. At the time, Germany supplied about 10% of the world's supply of rapeseed.
Sales of German biodiesel, made almost exclusively from rapeseed, stood at two billion litres (about 600 million US gallons) in 2006. This amount was sufficient to meet the average yearly consumption of well over 2,000,000 automobiles. In Germany biodiesel is sold at a lower price than fossil diesel fuel.
Wind power accounts for about 6% of Germany's electricity production.
Prince Edward Island is the smallest province in Canada with a total population of 147,000. The economy of the home of Anne of Green Gables is fueled by farming, the fishery and tourism. Most of the electricity generated on-island is wind power.
Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca Story on PEI: www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/pei-rocks-wind-power
Summerside PEI isn't just talking about what smart meters can do, they have connected 30% of the homes in the city to a smart grid that controls furnaces and hot water heaters that store excess wind energy as heat for use when the wind is not blowing. Greg Gaudet is the director of municipal services in Summerside. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca
A local business owner believes he has uncovered the solution to rising energy costs.
Jim Purcell, president of calendar manufacturer The Time Factory, for three years has researched potential ways to help lower his $12,000-a-year electricity bill.
Wind power may be the answer, he believes.
Last week, Canadian company Entegrity Wind Systems installed a 100-foot, $225,000 turbine outside the calendar maker's Pike Township facility.
Entegrity employee Richie Moutoux said the turbine was the first the company has installed in Indiana. In the past, Entegrity has built about 20 a year, but Moutoux said the orders, mostly from schools and small companies, are beginning to pick up.
After grants and tax incentives, Purcell believes the turbine will pay for itself in less than a decade.
"The tower is rated for 30 years," he said. "After eight years, almost all of our power will be free and clean."
Indianapolis Power & Light Co. will purchase extra energy the turbine creates, but Purcell probably won't completely eliminate his monthly electricity bill considering his huge investment, according to IPL account executive Dave Simpson. The utility plans to monitor Purcell's future energy use as a case study for other businesses that may be interested in harnessing the wind.
Purcell is banking his investment will pay off not only in lower energy costs, but also in increased business from environmentally conscious businesses and consumers.
"Ultimately it's up to the end user," Purcell said. "Customers are going to have to mandate they want to buy from green companies."
The turbine also is turning out to be an attraction on its own, Purcell said.
"Since we put it up, we've had about 50 people pull into our parking lot and just stare at it," he said.
Greg Gaudet, director of municipal services at the Summerside P.E.I. wind farm–the City went from diesel power to wind power in less than 10 years and today gets 46% of its electricity from wind power, one of the highest rates in North America. Photo David Dodge, GreenEnergyFutures.ca See blog, video and CKUA podcast: www.greenenergyfutures.ca/episode/148-summerside-communit...
RELATED INFORMATION
ABOUT THE TURBINE
The Time Factory calendar manufacturer, 6355 Morenci Trail, received some breaks for installing its wind turbine. Those include:
» The investment in the $225,000 turbine can be depreciated in the first year under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.
» The Indiana Office of Energy & Defense Development provided a $25,000 grant. For information on grants, contact the office, 101 W. Ohio St., at (317) 232-8939.
» Indianapolis Power & Light Co. provided a $5,000 grant.
» IPL will buy back excess energy produced by the turbine, providing it to other customers. (The Time Factory still is connected to the IPL power grid.)
STATE WIND POWER
» IPL estimates wind power could supply up to 2 percent of the metro area's power in the future, but most of that energy would come from wind farms in other counties.
» IPL has contracted to draw power from a 100-megawatt enXco wind farm in Benton County set to go online in 2009.
» Indiana's first wind farm, run by Cincinnati-based Orion Energy Group, began operations this year near Earl Park in Benton County.
The Wind Power Project in Bangui, Ilocos Norte, the 4th leg of our Northern Exposure trip. There are 15 wind turbines along Bangui Bay, wherein there is the highest volume of wind in the Philippines. The turbines are capable of supplying electricity to 108,000 households or 40% of the power requirements of the province of Ilocos Norte. The first wind power in Asia.
Whitelee is the UK's largest onshore windfarm, located on Eaglesham Moor just 20 minutes from central Glasgow. Its 215 turbines generate up to 539 megawatts of electricity, enough to power just under 300,000 homes.
Vindmøller (wind turbines) ved Aggersund vindkraftpark, Jylland (Jutland), Danmark (Denmark) fotograferade 20130930.
Photo: News Øresund - Johan Wessman
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News Øresund, Malmö, Sweden.
News Øresund är en oberoende regional nyhetsbyrå som ingår i projektet Øresund Media Platform som drivs av Øresundsinstituttet i partnerskap med Lunds universitet och Roskilde Universitet och med delfinansiering från EU (Interreg IV A Öresund) och 14 regionala; icke kommersiella aktörer.