WHAT IS STATUS OF RESEARCH IN WIND ENERGY TECHNOLOGY AT PRESENT?
WINDMILL FARMS ANSWERS:
Wind sources for transport needs seem very promising. See study:
"Top 7 alternative energies listed"
4 January 2009 by Catherine Brahic
The US could replace all its cars and trucks with electric cars powered by wind turbines taking up less than 3 square kilometres - in theory, at least. That's the conclusion of a detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health.
The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Biofuels from corn and plant waste came right at the bottom of the list, along with nuclear power and "clean" coal.
The energy sources that Jacobson found most promising were, in descending order:
o Wind
o Concentrated solar power (mirrors heating a tower of water)
o Geothermal energy
o Tidal energy
o Solar panels
o Wave energy
o Hydroelectric dams
To compare the fuels, Jacobson calculated the impacts each would have if it alone powered the entire US fleet of cars and trucks.
He considered not just the quantities of greenhouse gases that would be emitted, but also the impact the fuels would have on the ecosystem - taking up land and polluting water, for instance. Also considered were the fuel's impact on pollution and therefore human health, the availability of necessary resources, and the energy form's reliability.
"The energy alternatives that are good are not the ones that people have been talking about the most," says Jacobson.
"Some options that have been proposed are just downright awful," he says. "Ethanol-based biofuels will actually cause more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply, and land use than current fossil fuels."
Biofuel concerns
Jacobson says it would take 30 times more space to grow enough corn to power the US fleet than would be needed to erect enough wind turbines, while bioethanol would produce more greenhouse gases than wind power.
Biofuels have received a considerable amount of political backing in recent years with the US and Europe setting targets to phase in their use and gradually replace oil.
Energy and wildlife experts have expressed concerns about biofuels and the EU last year appeared to reconsider its position.
Nuclear is another energy source whose merits have been debated by European and US leaders alike in the past 12 months. "It results in 25 times more carbon and air pollution than wind," says Jacobson. Half of those emissions are caused by the time it takes to plan and build a nuclear power plant - time during which fossil fuels have to be burnt for energy.
"Clean" coal - the process of burning coal then capturing the emitted carbon dioxide and storing it underground - is another political favourite. Jacobson's calculations show that building and using enough clean coal power plants would emit up to 110 times more carbon than building and using wind turbines only.
Focused efforts
"The philosophy that we should try a little bit of everything is wrong," says Jacobson. "We need to focus on the technologies that provide the best benefit. We know which these are."
Jacobson acknowledges that politicians are calling for a massive jobs programme to pull the economy out of recession, but says investment in renewable energy is one way to do that.
"Putting people to work building wind turbines, solar plants, geothermal plants, electric vehicles, and transmission lines would not only create jobs but also reduce costs due to healthcare, crop damage, and climate damage - as well as provide the world with a truly unlimited supply of clean power," he says.
Jacobson presented his results to the chairman of the Senate energy and Natural Resources Committee in October last year. They are published in Energy and Environmental Science this month (DOI: 10.1039/b809990c).
Charles asks...
IS SOLAR ENERGY AND WIND ENERGY CREATING MILLIONS OF NEW JOBS ACROSS CANADA?
I know that Ontario's manufacturing base has been devastated by this recession and that people need JOBS, i was thinking of getting retrained for something new too, then I heard that everyone who got laid off from factories are now working installing solar power farms (WIND turbines and solar panels). Is this true, are the tens of thousands of unemployed people now working in renewable ENERGY projects like solar and WIND power ?
Are these new careers (WIND turbine installer / solar panel installer ) the answer to North America's unemployment problem? Will millions and millions of people soon be installing solar panels and WIND turbines EVERYWHERE?
When you wake up and walk out of your house and head off to work / school, how many hundreds / thousands of solar panels / WIND turbines do YOU see during the day ?
WINDMILL FARMS ANSWERS:
No. Canada only has a population of 34 million people, you won't get 5% of the population employed making wind turbines or solar panels. Ontario Hydro One only has 5,400 employees. Even large construction projects such as stadiums only have a few thousand workers on it at any one time.
Further, solar power is pretty useless in Canada. It's distance from the equator makes it highly inefficient, few places in Canada get much sunlight other than the summer months, and most places receive extreme weather which ruins solar panels quickly. Likewise, most parts of the country (other than the coasts) do not have steady winds.
Sunlight (at the equator) produces about 120W per square meter. At 50 degrees north it is around 60W. The best solar panels are barely 10% efficient. That is 6W per square meter. A typical house consumes 8,900 kilowatt-hours of power per year or about 25kWh per day. You'd need an area of 35m x 35m to power a single house. (Assuming 8 hours of sunlight per day, no clouds or rain, 100% efficient batteries for night time power, ignoring the energy to make and maintain the solar panels, power loss in transmission, etc.) That is a football field sized area just to get power to one house.
When I walk outside my house I see clouds and grey. In a few weeks, I'll see snow, frost, and sleet driving down on the ground.
John asks...
JOB ASPECT OF ENERGY (NUCLEAR, WIND, SOLAR, ETC.)?
i'm doing a project on the job aspect of of ENERGY, in the economy, (WIND, solar, nuclear, etc.) How will ENERGY and such plants create JOBS for our economy, and how does it affect the job aspect?
WINDMILL FARMS ANSWERS:
To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we are seeking to double our renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient. The energy provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Obama on February 17, will create more than 500,000 jobs, and accelerate deployment of smart grid technology, provide energy efficiency funds for the nation's schools, offer support for the nation's governors and mayors to tackle their energy challenges, and establish a new loan guarantee program to keep our transition to renewable energy on track during the economic crisis.
"... this approach is a win-win for a strong economy and a healthier environment. With green investments of close to 100 Billion, this bill will create good jobs for people here in America and reduce our dependence on dirtier energy sources. The Sierra Club praises Congress for promoting the shift to wind and solar power, high energy performance low carbon cars and buildings, mass transit, and a modernized water and transportation infrastructure." [Sierra Club, 2/11/09]
"..this economic recovery package...will deliver jobs and green infrastructure to America. The bill makes smart investments that will jumpstart the economy, help sustain future growth, and meet the challenges of the 21st century... The recovery package includes bold investments for renewable energy and efficiency... Renewable energy grants will help struggling businesses cope with the economic climate and advance technology that harnesses the power of the wind and sun...The economic recovery package reflects the commitment by Congress to fulfill President Obama's vision for a clean energy future."[Natural Resources Defense Council, 2/13/09]
Nancy asks...
WHAT DO WIND ENERGY TECHS DO AND HOW MUCH DO THEY MAKE ?
I'm interested in this field of work. I know very little about it. I am interested in knowing What is in a day of work and how much someone gets paid to do it. I have an opportunity to go to school for this but I would like to know the pros and cons before I make any decisions. Any help will be appreciated
WINDMILL FARMS ANSWERS:
I am a wind turbine tech. Techs start between 14.00 an hour and 20.00 an hour. The top out on the pay scale is somewhere over 30 an hour. It depends alot on whom you go to work for, i.e. An OEM (GE, Siemens, Vestas, Clipper, Mitsubishi, etc) a contactor (Granite, EMS, OTT, etc), or an owner (FPL, Iberdrola, Outlands, Noble, Invenergy, Babcock and Brown, Edison Power, etc). Wind is a very odd business, it is not uncommon for a site to have personnel from 2 to 8 different companies on it at the same time. This depends on the scope of the contract that the owner signed with the manufacturer (OEM) when they bought their turbines.
Here are some examples:
There are personnel from 2 companies on the site I work at most of the time. There is 1 person that works for the owner, and 5 of us that work for the OEM. We have a 5 year contract to operate and maintain (O&M) this site. The customer is responsible for balance of plant, (BOP). BOP includes the transformers that are just outside the towers, the underground feeder lines, the substation, and the transmission lines that feed the power we produce into the power grid at the Utilities substation about 10 miles away. On a particular day in February, there were the following personnel on site: 1 owner representative, 5 OEM techs, 4 people from a crane company (with 2 cranes), 10 contractor personnel from Granite Services (brought in to do some work with the crane), 8 electricians working on a feeder fault for the owners, and 6 people from the local utility working in the substation. See what I mean?
Another example. A freind of mine works at another site where they have a Warrenty only contract. So, they have 6 or so people that fix any warrenty problems with the turbines. The owners are providing their own people for O&M and BOP. Sounds easier right? Not exactly. If a turbine goes down, the O&M guys have to go out and work on it for 2 hours before calling the Warrenty guys to fix it. You still have the same amount of people running around at different times.
As for what a wind turbine tech does, that again depends on who you hire with, and what their contract is. An O&M tech does all routine maintenance on the turbine, change the filters, grease the machine, clean it, check the torque on the bolts, and the 1st 2 hours of troubleshooting on any problem that comes down. If you are an OEM O&M tech, you will do all the troubleshooting and repair of the turbines in addition to all the maintenance. If you are a contractor, you will do whatever it is that you are contracted to do, oil changes, crane work, retrofits, etc. Almost anything you do on wind turbines will be in metric since they are mostly designed in Europe.
1 thing you need to keep in mind. These towers are 65 to 100 meters (213 to 328 feet) tall, with the average being around 80 meters (262 feet). Most of them just have a ladder that goes up the inside, bottom to top. There is no elevator or manlift in them. It is a lot of work getting up that ladder. I have said since I started that the hardest part of the job is just getting up the tower. About 75% of the work to be done will be up tower. You will also be working in all different weather conditions (hot, cold, rain, snow, etc.) and you will be on call at least part of the time, so it is possible that you will be working at any time including the middle of the night. Wind sites are usually located in remote areas, so road conditions, traffic, and wildlife are all hazards of the job. Wild life includes: yellow jackets, snakes, badgers, coyotes, deer, elk, moose, cattle, you name it. Contrary to popular belief, birds thrive amongst the turbines. On my site we have: Blue birds, Red tailed hawks, owls, bald eagles, grouse, quail, pheasants, and many others.
All in all, it is a great job. You will stay in shape, make a good wage, work in a challanging job, and get to do something for the environment.
Hope this helps you.
Offio
Wind turbine technician for the last 3 years.
(Garnet's husband)
Susan asks...
GEOGRAPHY - WIND ENERGY?
a) What is the need for increased use of WINDENERGY?
b) What are the new policies to reduce the use of co2 emissions and increase the use of renewable ENERGY?
c) Possible consequences of climate change from fossil fuels?
WINDMILL FARMS ANSWERS:
A) more clean energy, positive environmental impact, improved energy security, more clean energy jobs
2) favorable tax incentives, rebates, renewable energy portfolio standards, etc
3) Fossil fuels when burn release harmful greenhouse gas emissions, more greenhouse gas emissions mean stronger climate change impact which can result in more frequent extreme events, new diseases, extinction of species, hunger, millions of environmental refugees, etc
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