Wednesday, November 12, 2008

response to side affects

I thought this was mildly amusing. Most of the people featured in the article were quite whiny, so not all of this information was factual. But even so, if people feel this way about having wind farms in their neighborhoods, it could prevent the spread of alternative energy. This is not a good thing, especially if the reasoning isn't legitimate. Although, there were studies done in 2007 that proved wind farms had some negative effect on heath. I'm sure this isn't a widespread problem, if it was wind turbines wouldn't still be in production.

side affects of wind turbines

This article proposes a down side of having wind turbines in your own neighborhood. It introduces a handful of people who are blessed with renewable energy in their own backyards, but all they can do is complain. The Meyer family reported headaches after the turbines were installed, others complained of nausea. A study done in 2007 said that turbines can cause vibroacoustic disease, which leads to strokes and epilepsy.
Other scientist say that there are no known or documented side effects of living near wind turbines other than 'sleep interruption.' Also, not everyone with turbines near them complained of poor health, they said the noise was the same as if you lived by the highway, opposed to a helicopter constantly landing.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

response to antartic wind power

Before I read this article I did not know that wind power is used on Antarctica. It makes perfect sense because there is an abundance of wind on the continent. This article makes me wonder if turbines can be installed and be resourceful in such a remote place, then why cant they be put to use in more residential areas? I my isearch was going to be on bees, but there simply wasn't information less than two weeks old. Most of the articles were from summer '07. I thought about it, and decided wind energy would be a more current topic to choose.

Antartic Wind Power

This article reported that because of Antarctica's strong winds, many of the research stations there are run by wind turbines. The Australian station, Mawson has had wind turbines going since 2003. Belgium's research station is the first to be 100 percent wind and solar powered, by 9 small turbines. The New Zealand and American bases also use wind energy & solar energy. The energy is used for communication on Hub Island. New Zealand helped to create what they call 'the worlds coolest wind farm' on Ross Island. There are 3 German turbines, 128 feet tall and each generating 300 kilowatts.
The article also says that, though effective, harnessing the winds power on this continent is a challenge. During half the year, there is no sunlight. It is the changing levels of sunlit heat over land and water which creates wind. So during the winter, there is hardly any energy for the turbines to gather.
“I never considered myself to be a particularly green person,” Mr. Stone said, though he said his office pushes the maximum possible efficiency in the Antarctic operations. “The payoffs are so much more significant because of the extreme cost we have in logistics,’’ he said.