Batteries at a Wind Farm Help Control Output

This is a picture of Vince Ponikvar, an AES employee, with battery containers in the background at the company's Laurel Mountain wind farm in West Virginia.

In West Virginia, another wind farm was opened that contains 61 turbines, and stretches across 12 miles. It generates 98 megawatts of electricity, and is the largest battery installation attached to the power grid in the continental United States. On this site there are 1.3 million batteries, that help tame the wind, using it for energy. This technology is new, and it is expensive, but it is very good for the environment. Other sources of energy such as natural gas, and coal are our main sources of energy, but now fields of wind turbines or solar panels are the new renewable energy sources. The only problem with wind fields is that it isn't always windy, so these fields can only be placed in certain areas that are always windy. This battery instillation is supposed to stabilize the power grid.

I feel that this company is trying to help the environment, unlike the government. This new use of batteries are an energy source I feel s pretty smart, but if i was president I would put solar panels everywhere and use hydroelectricity too. However, with this company being green, maybe this will make other companies turn green to. I wish the United States could become greener, because other countries right now are passing us in the race, such as China.

Question 1: If you were president what type of renewable energy would you decide to put up?

Question 2: Do you think this company is doing a smart thing?

Question 3: What is your favorite renewable energy and why?

Chilean Wind Farm Faces Turbulence Over Whales

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/11/111129-chile-wind-farm-impact-on-the-blue-whale/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ng%2FNews%2FNews_Main+%28National+Geographic+News+-+Main%29

This is a wind farm; a possible source of alternative energy.

In our day and age wind turbines are big source of alternative energy. They are a big part of our future and a healthy step forward into exploring new ideas and possibilities. Wind farms are popping up everywhere, and it is no surprise that it is being built in Chile where wind energy is big. The problem is that where this wind farm is being built. Around the wind farm is a hotpot for krill and plankton and other mammal creatures. This attracts a the Blue Whale; the largest mammal known to man and is endangered. Many people say that the wind farm is potential threat to all of these animals. Many say it is not but the production has been halted to conduct further studies on this theory.

I am all for a more healthier form of energy and wind power is one of them, but if it costs the lives of marine life who are already endangered then it is useless. It is not fair for us to come up with a idea that will help us but kill the lives of others. I do not think that it is right for a company to put their wind farm in that spot. They always can move it, because even if they want to put it there, environmentalists will probably not let them.

Question 1- Do you think it is right for someone to put a wind farm in that particular spot?

Question 2- What would you do if you were the CEO of that company?

Question 3- What would you do if you were an environmentalist.

This is How Much Noise a Wind Turbine Makes

Wind Turbines in the past years have become a more and more popular alternative source of energy, and now instead of strictly being used for running companies and factories they are now available to the common person (with money to spare). Homeowners have increasing purchased these wind turbines and over time has seen a drop in there energy bill and have taken one more step to being green, but over lately neighbors have being placing law suits on the amount of noise the turbine generates. With the trifle amount of experience on the topic most rulings have gone in the favor of the neighbor, but new tests have come out showing that with windmills placed at the proper distance of 500m or more that the turbine makes even less noise than a running refrigerator. With this new learned knowledge neighbors no longer have the " Makes too much noise " complaint when suing and now the prosecutors of these cases are saying that the noise just adds to the ugliness of the turbine.

I thought this article was interesting because it's not a case you hear everyday that someone is complaining over the noise of their neighbors wind turbine, and that with studies the noise of the turbine can be drained out by the sound of a running refrigerator. I also chose this article because of our recent class discussions on alternative energy sources and how the fair again the most common ones (coal, oil, natural gas).

Question 1: If you had the money would you consider buying a wind turbine.

Question 2: Does any part of your families house run off of an alternative energy source.

Question 3: Do you think that when purchasing a wind turbine you should first consult with your surrounding neighbors for noise and property value reasons.

China: Are they just a better country?

http://www.naturalnews.com/029661_China_clean_energy.html
This picture shows a happy chinese man. He is happy because his country leads the world in clean energy investments.

Summary:

Not only do the chinese have higher overall test scores, but now there is a new development. China seems to be leading in overall money paid into for clean energy sources. This article talks about how China has surpassed our amount by over 15 million dollars.Although the United States still leads the world in research and development of renewable energy technology, it has fallen behind in manufacturing. Without budgeting enough money towards future energy sources, we might run out of them for our country

Reflection:

This is crazy. We need to step our game up as a nation and stop to losing to the chinese in every thing. Theyre not that good. If we stop spending our money on stupid things like space research and helping every other country out, maybe we can become a successful country and have enough money for our future. Just a thought

Questions:

1. How can we step our game up as a country
2. Why do the chinese beat us in everything
3. If you had to pick a country between US and China, where would you pick and why?