Besides aesthetic, and grid connectivity issues, siting wind farms is further complicated by concerns over interference with doppler radar. This must certainly frustrate some meteorologists, but I expect most readers would agree that clean energy is a reasonable exchange for less accurate forecasting; assuming that more radar installations couldn’t compensate. Unfortunately, the interference also causes problems for air traffic control and monitoring as well. Luckily research into a number of possible solutions is underway.

In case you missed it in our local paper and you don’t read the Climate Protection Action Committee (May), the Museum of Science is home to a roof-top laboratory for small wind turbines. If you did catch those pieces when they came out, where you aware that there are now five turbines being test?

As it becomes increasingly more clear that the future of energy usage lies in sustainable technologies, countries all over the world have been trying to get a leg in the front door. Lately, China has been on a roll with it’s green projects, so much so that foreign companies have been complaining about being excluded. China has been taking all sorts of measures to protect it’s own alternative energy industries, hoping to insure that it will soon dominate the market globally.

This spring, The Chinese government authorized it’s first solar power plant and took bids for 25 large contracts to supply the wind turbines. Six of the submissions were multinational. Europe, especially Germany, which has held a reputation for being the leader in efficient and high-quality wind turbine machines,… [view entry]

Remember T. Boone Pickens and his famous plan? There’s been much buzz today (for example) about an announcement of the downward revision of his original plans to one quarter the original scale. The change has been attributed to lower fossil fuel prices than when the plan was first put forth, as well as the credit crunch. However, Pickens is already on the hook for nearly 700 turbines, and he plans to make several smaller wind farms rather than the megafarm previously proposed. Most people seem to see this as an unfortunate turn of events, but a handful of smaller installations are a more sound strategy from most vantage points e.g; redundancy, minimizing impacts, etc. As for the diminished capacity, initial delivery is not due until 2011, so it… [view entry]

Title: Wind Turbine Zoning
Location: City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway, 2nd Floor Conference Room
Link out: Click here
Description: The Planning Board will be meeting to discuss amendments to local zoning outlined in the attached link.
Start Time: 19:30
Date: 2009-06-02

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Community Wind Resource map for Cambridge might also be of interest.

From this week’s Cape Cod Times comes news of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board voting unanimously to approve a bundle of permits for the long-proposed (and infinitely delayed) Nantucket Sound wind farm.

This vote marks the first time the state agency has issued a super permit, wrapping all required state and local permits for a project into a single decision. Which, of course, upset many of the project’s opponents, who vow to keep fighting. Of course, Federal permits are still needed from the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Aviation Agency…

Nonetheless, Energy 2.0 sees this as significant progress, but it also explains why any picture of a wind turbine operating in Nantucket Sound is likely to remain an ‘artists rendering’ for… [view entry]

It’s Earth Day, 2009.  What have you done this year to lessen your carbon footprint, save energy, and shop responsibly?  I remain imperfect although I claim to be “green.”  I educate myself, take public transit to work, turn off lights, shop with reusable bags and keep the heat off as much as possible.  Still, is this enough?  I’ve decided it’s important to not get overwhelmed and instead do what you can using the “every vote counts” motto.

For example, a simple way to support renewable energy is a mere few clicks away.  Just recently I learned Boston-area residents have the option to support clean wind power under NSTAR Green. This program makes it easy for consumers to support wind energy by demanding their electricity be provided by wind, not coal.  You… [view entry]

That’s the upside of the NYT story Dark Days for Green Energy, which details slowdowns and layoffs in the alternative energy world brought on by a combination of the credit crisis and the continued price moderation of fossil fuels. We’re trying hard to see the positive side of things here at Energy 2.0. 

The price of solar panels has fallen by 25 percent in six months, according to Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, who said he expected a further drop of 10 percent by midsummer. For homeowners, however, the savings will not be as substantial, partly because panels account for only about 60 percent of total installation costs.

So while congress debates how much of the stimulus package will be spent on tax cuts, and how much will be spent on,… [view entry]

One of our favourite energy blogs–Bright Green Blog–featured a story today comparing the number of jobs in  power creation to the number of jobs in the coal industry. Apparently Fortune claims the number of people in the wind power business was greater that entire coal industry (which generates almost 50% of our energy needs). After a torrent of emails, Fortune was forced to correct–the number of people involved in all aspects of wind power is roughly equivalent to the number of coal miners in the US. (85,000 v 81,000).

It's not a new 12 m yacht, but a wind turbine blade manufactured at the Vestas factory in Windsor, CO.

No matter what the final numbers, it brings to light an interesting debate-one that… [view entry]

Massachusetts Governor and Presidential pal Deval Patrick has very quietly become one of wind power’s biggest boosters over the last year or so. And he looks absolutely nothing like, or thinks nothing like wind power’s biggest booster,  T Boone Pickens. Which goes to show you the search for clean renewable energy, just like politics, can make for strange bedfellows.

Patrick-2,000 megawatts of wind power on the grid before 2020

Patrick, who called for an increase in Massachusett’s solar capacity from the current 4MW to 250 MW soon after he was elected in 2006, had this to say about the state’s (soon to be) booming wind power industry.

“With the growing interest in wind turbines we see in communities across the Commonwealth  and the abundant wind

… [view entry]