http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Earth_Clean-Energy_Wind_18_151_704.html Press Review of the Earth from the most relevant websites. Keep in touch with the Earth and your future ! fr-FR http://www.earth-stream.com/logo-stream-Earth.png http://www.earth-stream.com Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:31:00 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Appeals-Court-Dismisses-Lawsuit-Over-Bird-Deaths-at-Altamont-Pass_18_151_704_134870.html By Chris Metinko A state appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling that rejected a lawsuit brought by an environmental group against wind-turbine operators in the Altamont Pass for the killing of raptors and other birds. In a Sept. Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:19:25 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Suit-Over-Bird-Deaths-at-Altamont-Pass-Dismissed_18_151_704_134798.html By Chris Metinko A state appeals court has upheld an earlier ruling that rejected a lawsuit brought by an environmental group against wind-turbine operators in the Altamont Pass for the killing of raptors and other birds. In a Sept. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:59:22 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/United-States-Italy-s-Enel-opens-biggest-wind-farm-in-U-S-_18_151_704_134708.html Reuters: Italian power company Enel SpA has inaugurated its biggest wind power project, a 250- megawatt U.S. wind farm, Enel said on Thursday. The Smoky Hills plant in the state of Kansas will be operational by the end of the year, Enel said in a statement. It is the biggest wind power project built in Great Plains state. The site can supply the power needs of 85,000 U.S. households, the company said. GE Financial Services, a unit of General Electric Co., is also an investor in ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:59:19 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Senate-OKs-energy-tax-breaks-in-bailout-bill_18_151_704_134707.html Reuters: The Senate late on Wednesday approved legislation extending billions of dollars in tax credits for the solar, wind and biodiesel industries as part of a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street. The legislation would extend for one year the production tax credit for wind energy, with an eight-year extension for investment tax credits for solar energy projects. Buyers of plug-in electric cars would receive tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500. The bill also provides ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:09:23 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Italian-Wind-Power-Company-Enel-Opens-Biggest-Wind-Farm-in-Kansas_18_151_704_134670.html Italian wind energy company Enel SpA has announced that it has inaugurated its biggest ever wind power project, a 250 megawatt U.S. farm. Enel said in a statement released earlier today that the Smoky Hills plant in Kansas will be fully operational by the end of this year, and will become the largest wind energy installation in the Great Plains state, and one of the largest in the entire country, capable of supplying the power needs of 85,000 U.S. households. Read more of this story » Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:44:23 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Fiber-Composites-Materials-Of-Green-Energy-Production_18_151_704_134666.html The trade publication Plastics Technology Online has an excellent technical article on the manufacturing of wind turbine blades. Awesome reading if you are a wind-industry insider. Or, if you have a degree in chemistry or chemical engineering. The scale of making turbine blades from fiberglass and carbon fiber is amazing, physically and financially. An industry expert interviewed for article stated that he "expects the global wind energy market for composites to be worth about $6 billion by 2012." The manufacturing process has similarities to the manufacture of kayaks, truck fairings,... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:58:36 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/GE-warns-of-turbulence-ahead-for-turbine-production_18_151_704_134471.html Business Green: US engineering giant General Electric (GE) yesterday warned that rising steel prices and turmoil on the financial markets will have a negative impact on its fast expanding wind turbine business. Speaking at an event in Germany to publicise its latest turbine, GE Energy's global sales leader for wind energy, Mete Maltepe, said that the rising cost of steel would drive up the price of turbines. "There is a lot of steel in our turbines, so the cost of steel going up makes turbines ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:30:04 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/United-Kingdom-Myth-busting-study-claims-wind-farms-have-little-impact-on-bird-life_18_151_704_134450.html Business Green: The planned expansion of the UK's onshore wind energy capacity was given a boost yesterday with the publication of new research suggesting that wind farms located on farm land have less of an impact on local birdlife than previously feared. The study from a team of researchers at Newcastle University assessed two wind farms on the East Anglian fens and found that they posed little threat to farmland birds in the area. The researchers recorded almost 3,000 birds from 23 ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:07:05 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Traditional-Medicinals-Opens-Up-World-s-Biggest-Solar-Powered-Tea-Factory_18_151_704_134403.html Traditional Medicinal's tea facility; photo via Traditional Medicinal In a very cool continuation of using the sun to create the world's most consumed beverage, Traditional Medicinals took a giant leap forward and has completed an installation that makes it the world's largest solar powered tea factory. Traditional Medicinals has always tried to be green – and we don’t just mean in their tea selection. For quite awhile now, they’ve used wind credits to ... Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:48:24 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/French-wind-power-sector-eyes-eightfold-growth-by-2020_18_151_704_134396.html French wind power is on track to grow eightfold in the next 12 years, but increasing hostility towards green energy, red tape and soaring costs are obstacles, the head of the renewable energy industry body said on Thursday. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:50:59 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Italian-Wind-Farmers-to-Plant-Solar-Panels-Around-Turbines_18_151_704_134280.html If all goes to plan, solar panels placed at the bases of the wind turbines will feed power through the farm’s existing grid. Wind-energy purveyors Moncada Energy Group hope to install thin-film solar panels at its existing wind farms by the end of next year. The solar panels could increase power production at Moncada’s farms from 105 megawatts to over 500 megawatts, with the panels overtaking the production from the turbines themselves. While the wind turbines work best under the high-speed gusts of nighttime, the solar panels will thrive during the day under the Mediterranean sun. Photo Credit: Chiarra Marra on Flickr under Creative Commons license. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:54:06 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Senate-Bailout-Plan-Could-be-Boon-for-Alternative-Energies-Home-Solar_18_151_704_134275.html Lost in the economic and political circus of the recent weeks was the failure of congress to extend tax credits for alternative energy companies and homeowners who install solar-power systems. Both the Senate and the House wrote similar bills extending the tax credits and lifting the cap for residential solar-power installation. Until the end of this year, homeowners can receive a federal tax credit of 30% of the cost of a solar-power system, capped at $2,000. With that cap lifted, tax credits to homeowners installing solar-power systems increase dramatically, potentially saving homeowners over $10,000 on home solar systems. In addition, companies that produce electricity from wind will get a one year extension on tax credits, companies that produce electricity from solar will get an eight year extension on tax credits, and companies that produce electricity from other types of alternative energy will get a two year extension on tax credits. Unfortunately, the Senate and House could not agree on how the continuation of tax credits would be paid for. In the past, such cuts were paid for by eliminating tax breaks for hedge fund managers and from tax increases on oil profits. With no progress made by the end of the session, these tax credits would disappear at the beginning of 2009. A coalition of renewable energy industry representatives warned that billions in research and hundreds of thousands of alternative energy jobs would be lost if the tax credits were not renewed. As of last week, this seemed the likely outcome. The Wall Street meltdown and the failure of the House to pass a bailout bill have given the tax credits new life. Read more of this story » Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:27:46 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Ecologists-Allay-Fears-For-Farmland-Birds-From-Wind-Turbines_18_151_704_134141.html Wind farms pose less of a threat to farmland birds than previously feared, new research has found. The study helps resolve a potentially major environmental conflict: how to meet renewable energy targets at the same time as reversing dramatic declines in biodiversity on European farmland. Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:02:26 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Off-Shore-Wind-Power-Set-to-Expand_18_151_704_134138.html Ben Block: In South Korea, wind power would be a likely resource to help the world's tenth largest energy consumer meet government goals to lower fossil... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:16:42 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Study-Finds-Farm-Birds-Not-At-Risk-From-Wind-Turbines_18_151_704_134121.html A recent study has concluded that wind turbines pose less of a risk to farmland birds than previously thought.Research showed that building new wind farms on European farmland would not adversely affect bird populations, a team of researchers said.Studies in the past highlighted how Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:18:54 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Wind-Farms-Not-Bane-of-Birds-Existence_18_151_704_134065.html Environmentalists and anyone else attempting to derail wind farms have often turned to the fate of birds for scientific back up. In the case of the environmentalists, I’ll let it pass, but it’s when the senators and other politicians who have never shown an ounce of interest in the outdoors – let alone an animal in the outdoors – jump on the “PROTECT THE BIRDS” bandwagon that gets me riled up (among a host of other things). Thankfully, new research out of England has lain to rest at least some of the claims saying that wind farms, and to a lesser extent singular wind turbines, represent a real threat to bird populations. Read more of this story » Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:50:46 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/United-Kingdom-Turbines-no-risk-to-farm-birds-_18_151_704_134051.html BBC: Wind turbines pose less of a risk to farmland birds than previously thought, a study has concluded. A team of UK scientists said their research showed that building new wind farms on European farmland would not adversely affect bird populations. Previous studies highlighted how turbine blades were hazardous for waterbird and bird of prey species. The findings have been published in the British Ecological Society's (BES) Journal of Applied Ecology. "The message on ... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:50:25 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/Texas-Wind-Power-Continues-to-Grow-E-ON-On-Track-to-Develop-781-MW-Wind-Farm-by-2009_18_151_704_134044.html Not the Roscoe wind farm but a good representation of the scale of commercial-scale wind turbines... photo: Micky MB Another Texas wind farm will be able for a short while to stand at the top of the world’s largest heap. Though only at a capacity of 335 megawatts currently, the Roscoe, Texas wind farm will more than double in size by the middle of 2009, consisting of 627 wind turbines and a capacity of 781.5 megawatts. Developed by E.ON (of among other things, London Array... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:50:25 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/World-s-First-Underwater-Wind-Farm-Er-Tidal-Turbine-Farm_18_151_704_134043.html image source: Hammerfest Strøm How can it be a wind farm if it is underwater? Well, you are right. But although wind farms have become iconic images, the average person still has trouble envisioning the many techniques being tested for harvesting the power of tides. Scottish Power has announced intentions to develop the the world’s largest tidal stream project using the world’s most advanced tidal turbine - known as the Lànstrøm device. What again? No image pops to mind? So the analogy stands: a wind farm under the sea! Each t... Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:05:52 GMT http://www.earth-stream.com/Earth/Clean-Energy/Wind/United-Kingdom-Study-eases-fear-about-wind-farm-threat-to-birds_18_151_704_133959.html Reuters: Wind turbines do not drive birds from surrounding areas, British researchers said on Wednesday, in findings which could make it easier to build more wind farms. Conservation groups have raised fears that large birds could get caught in the turbines and that the structures could disturb other species. But scientists found only one of the 23 species studied, the pheasant, was affected during their survey of two wind farms in eastern England. The findings published in the ...