lowville
Thursday, November 13th, 2008(rhymes with how, not low, apparently)
I’m in Lowville, NY, tonight. I’m looking at wind turbines. In fact, if my room faced the other way, I probably would see them right now.
Posts Tagged ‘wind’
november crickets
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008I’m at our windfarm - and the crickets are singing!
David Bellamy - Power From The Wind
Sunday, October 26th, 2008Excerpt from the educational video made for the CEGB in 1989:
Local copy: David Bellamy: Power From The Wind (excerpt).
His views have changed a bit since then.
windy west
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
CanWEA 2008 starts here. Undecided whether I’ll twitter anything …
the wind that shakes the barley
Thursday, September 11th, 2008Mary Z. Cox alerted me to one of her videos which has both clawhammer banjo and wind turbines:
we’re generating
Friday, June 13th, 2008You’ve no idea how happy I am to see several of these little fellers on my SCADA system:
That means we’re up and running. Go Lake Erie!
operating (nearly)
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008We were testing wind turbines yesterday.
Not the best picture, but it is a running Vestas V82.
propeller guy
Monday, May 26th, 2008
farewell to the 13th floor
Thursday, May 8th, 2008Well, this was my last day at EPCOR. The last two and a bit years have been fun.
It’s strange to think that I can fit my entire desk contents into one file box:
I also made sure I didn’t break with tradition:
la belle province
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
Hydro-Québec announced their wind RFP winners yesterday. It’s a huge deal for the industry; more than 2000 MW of contracts awarded, with commissioning dates ranging from 2011-2015. Enercon and REpower won all the manufacturing; strict local content requirements mean that they will have to set up shop in Québec.
This is good for the Canadian industry. Now the real work begins.
i love this city
Friday, May 2nd, 2008I’m sad to leave Montréal. Not just was it one of the most productive work weeks I’ve ever had (thanks to the fine folks at Hélimax), but the city is great. I’ve had some spectacular meals here - the two little bistros within walking distance of the office are fantastic; way better than the 40+ mediocre fast-food outlets near my office. One evening we went to Pintxo - nummy Basque food.
I think I’d probably eat less here, because the food is worth savouring. There’s care and love in the food here, not boil-in-the-bag slop.
… vs the voluble minority
Monday, March 17th, 2008Chatham Daily News is conducting an online poll asking if the opponents to wind power are just NIMBY’s. You can review the poll, the results and vote at http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/.
is this the same report?
Thursday, March 13th, 2008A recent BBC news story from Scotland leads with:
Wind farms could hit tourist jobs
Wind farms could cost Scotland’s tourism industry millions of pounds and hundreds of jobs, a report has warned.
But the findings of the report are much milder:
This research has shown that even using a worst case scenario the impact of current applications would be very small …
… Our overall conclusion is that the effects are so small that, provided planning and marketing are carried out effectively, there is no reason why the two are incompatible.
So it looks, as usual, as if the BBC is trying to make wind turbines look far worse than they really are.
Ravenswood Opening
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
Yesterday — five years after the WindShare turbine started generating — Sky Generation’s Ravenswood wind farm was officially opened. Ravenswood is the first wind farm built under the Ontario Standard Offer program, and four of its six 1.65MW turbines operate under that system. The other two turbines supply power to Bullfrog.
Tom Heintzman, Glen Estill and Martin Ince.
The Mayor, the Landowner and the Energy Minister cut the ribbon.
Glen explains the SCADA to Gerry Phillips, Ontario Energy Minister.
Here’s what Glen said about the opening: Grand Opening of Ravenswood.
Micro-wind turbines often increase CO2
Monday, December 3rd, 2007Micro-wind turbines often increase CO2, says study | Environment | The Guardian
The Building Research Establishment Trust, which advises the government and private sector, has found that in built-up towns and cities weak winds and turbulence mean turbines are likely to add to, not subtract from, a home’s carbon footprint.
go ripley!
Thursday, November 29th, 2007I drove past Ripley Wind Farm today. Looks like most of the turbines are energised (they were yawed into the wind) and one was running.
something other than wind blows here
Saturday, November 17th, 2007Dave Bidini’s article in today’s Globe & Mail, An ill wind blows (now irritatingly hidden behind a paywall, but helpfully cached here) troubles me about what got through basic fact-checking:
- “The turbines expected on the island are open-bladed, a style being replaced in Europe by closed-blade turbines, which do less damage to wildlife.” What are closed-blade turbines? I’m in weekly contact with colleagues in the European wind energy industry. If people were installing a radically different type of machine, I’d know about it.
- The article cites the National Center for Policy Analysis as a source. Quoting the NCPA on wind energy and the environment is a little like quoting the NRA on gun control. Check out the NCPA’s E-Team: Providing Accurate Information on Energy & Environment Issues. Overall, I’d say that ExxonMobil are getting great VFM on their donations to NCPA [PDF] if they’re now being quoted as a credible, balanced source.
this is rather good
Sunday, October 21st, 2007BWEA - Google Map of all UK wind farms - wonder if we can do the same for CanWEA?
the colour of
Saturday, October 6th, 2007I picked up these crayons at the GE Wind stand at CanWEA:
Yes, those really are the colour names - Purification Purple, Evolution Orange, Mother Earth Brown, Cleaner Coal Black, Solar Yellow, Revitalized Red, Hybrid Green, Clear Water Blue.
Is there a connection between wind power and crayons? Wait until I don my polyester leisure jacket, James Burke-style, until I tell you: Edwin Binney, inventor of Crayola, had a daughter (Dorothy) who married George P. Putnam. Putnam went on (with only a short detour into promoting then marrying the person for whom the word “aviatrix” is most often used, Amelia Earhart) to help create the Smith-Putnam wind turbine (itself perhaps the most heroically unsuccessful story in the history of wind energy).Wind turbines; crayons: it’s all connected, see?
Maybe I should’ve picked up a bunch of these at the show, as even a ratty package of them is going for over $30 on eBay. I’m glad that mine are already on their way to a 4 year old in Ohio, where they will be appreciated more than by any collector.
Mr Dolby — eww!
Thursday, September 27th, 2007I’m a big fan of Thomas Dolby, and I don’t even mind admitting that it was one of his songs that initially got me thinking about what to do with my life (“… etch out a future of your own design”, and all that) . I got Thomas’s Live in Chicago DVD, and was a bit shocked by the visuals he used for wind power:
Those are some old wind turbines. This would be a bit like going for some modern computer imagery, and plunking for a picture of a VIC-20.
I mean, eww - those blades are filthy!
