This TED Talk is about inventor Saul Griffith’s idea to use giant kite wind turbines to create energy. Watch it now:
wind
China Rules the Air
We just saw that Mexico has a huge wind farm, well it’s apparently nothing compared to what China is up to. China is now the world’s largest producer of wind energy, and this is only in a couple years of installing wind-powered generators.
China last year doubled its wind energy capacity – for the fourth straight year – adding 6,300 megawatts of new electricity generation for a total capacity of 12,210 megawatts. A third of the world’s new wind capacity last year was installed in Asia, with China accounting for 73% of that power. China reached its 2010 target of generating 5,000 megawatts of wind-powered electricity in 2007 and is expected to hit its 2030 goal of 30,000 megawatts years early.
“In 2009, new installed capacity is expected to nearly double again, which will be one third or more of the world’s total new installed capacity for the year,†Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association, said in a statement.
Mexico Gets Winded
Mexico is firing up the largest wind farm in Latin America. It’s great to see so many countries using renewable energy!
According to Spanish energy company Acciona Energia who has been assigned the project, the farm will produce enough energy to power a city of 500,000 people, while reducing carbon monoxide emissions by 600,000 metric tons each year.
The new, $550 million project is in a region so breezy that the main town is named La Ventosa, or “Windy.” It’s on the narrow isthmus between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, where winds blow at 15 mph to 22 mph, a near-ideal rate for turbines. Gusts have been known to topple tractor trailers.
Europe’s Biggest Wind Farm Turned On
Today Portugal turned on its offshore wind farm, the wind farm will provide energy for up to a million people.
A total of 120 windmills are dotted across the highlands of the Upper Minho region of Portugal as one of western Europe’s poorer nations continues to forge its reputation as a renewables champion.
“Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is now fully operational,” a spokeswoman for France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles, which co-owns the farm, announced this morning.
The two megawatt turbines on each windmill deliver electricity to a single connection point with the electricity grid and should supply around 1% of Portugal’s total energy needs.
One Town 100% Wind Powered
A small town in America has switched to using 100% wind power for all their energy needs.
“What’s interesting is my husband is in the oil business but that’s alright, we’re thrilled to have wind energy here. As Americans we need to get more independent,” Rock Port resident Kim Bunton said.
“It’s a big deal,” Project Director Eric Chamberlain said. “It’s a big deal for renewable energy and it’s a big deal to be energy independent.”Chamberlain was born and raised in Rock Port.
“What we’re celebrating is that the wind farm in Rock Port can produce more energy each year than what this community uses, and that has never been done before,” Chamberlain said.
And that’s why everyone showed up. From the celebration and speeches downtown to the city’s power plant, the guy who made it all happen explained what it is all about.
“What we’re showing here is the city is producing 2 megawatts more than they need, so in essence, this meter is running backwards,” Chamberlain said.