How do wind turbines work?

Humans have been harnessing the winds energy for oooooh a very long time indeedy, the egyptians first used wind power by it capturing in the sails of their boats and traveling up the nile, then around 200 BC the Persian were building windmills to use the winds energy and later still modern windmills were used to saw timber, pump water and mill grain (like in Trumpton). So is it any wonder that we have returned to this idea to replace our depleating energy sources and those that are harmful to the earth?

Firstly we should look at what a wind turbine is and how it works. A pretty basic explanation of a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine or (HAWT) is a rotating device that converts kenetic energy from the wind into power, in a windmill this power would drive the grinding machinery of a mill and in the case of a wind turbine this power is converted into electricity. But how?

inside a wind turbine

Wind blows into the surface of the turbines blades making them turn as you know, these blades are attached to a shaft inside the box that sits at the top of the turbine housing called a nacelle, a gearbox inside the nacelle then increases the speed of the wind powered rotations to drive the wind turbines generator which converts the mechanical power into electricity, which is transfered around the country due to the wind turbine being connected to the national grid. TAAADAAAA!

see the flash version here and a colourful version here

1. Wind makes the blades rotate
2. A shaft is turned inside the narcelle
3. A gearbox delivers extra speed
4. The generator converts the wind power into electric energy
5. A transformer converts the electricity
6. Converted power is sent out to the national grid
For the geeks among you (like me) heres a close up

internal workings of a wind turbine

Types of wind turbines

Ok so we have seen what they are, but i was surprized to find out that their were different types of wind turbine, i had only seen the great iconic white futurist monumental structures astriding the countryside. Wind turbines have come up agaisnt alot of aesthetic slurs such as ‘unsightly’, ‘ugly’ and ’scarey’ but i have to admit that from an aesthetic perspective i rather like them, they are in my eyes quite beautful, but beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and unfortunately for wind turbines this isnt a beauty contest.

The three types of turbines:

1. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT) - Wind hits the blades first before the energy travels via the tower and into the generator
2. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT) - It needs a small boost of electric to get started - Wind hits the tower first and then the generator
3. Small wind turbines - Work in the same way as the (HAWT)

1) Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines:

Advantages: The tall tower allows access to strong wind sites, blades can be adjusted to suit, the larger the blades the bigger the energy output

Disadvantages: Difficulty operating in turbulant winds, can affect radar, it needs certain wind speed to run, the base needs to be huge to hold the heavy blades, generator and gears.

2) Vertical Axis Wind Turbines:

Advantages: They can be positoned near the ground, less imposing, blades can be avoided by birds, handle turbulant winds, start creating electricty at only 6mph

Disadvantages: Produce energy at only 50% of the efficiency of horizontal machines, they need wires to hold the massive structure in place thus a huge base as with the HWAT

VAWT the egg beater shape

Close up of a (VAWT) again for those like me (you know who you are)

VAWT diagram

3) Small Vertical Wind Turbines:

Advantages: They can be fitted to the roof of homes or caravans, they last upto 20 years, cost as little as £1,200,

Disadvantages: A typical roof top installation generate 600-1000kWhrs a year way below the average Brit household usage, you need the right wind power in your area, you need planning permission, they can be noisy

Roof mounted wind turbines

Windy summary

So lets consider it all for a second, we know how they work, we know that their are different types and we are aware of the disadvatages of each, but what about the big picture?

We need a new form of energy that does’nt harm the planet, wind energy is something that we can harness and does not produce harmful waste or green house gases, it does however have a lot of dependances that do need to be adressed, the issue that the wind isnt predictable and that HWAT depend on wind strength to function otherwise we will still need harmful energy to pick up the slack. It is also disconcerting that in Denmark who lead the way in wind turbine power have not closed down a single power station even with most of its electricity coming from wind farms. We have discussed the issue of their impact on wildlife with the deaths of many birds that fly into the blades, alot of these protected species, but we have also discussed that domestic cats and cars are the biggest threat to birds not wind farms. They can also affect radars on planes if positioned to close to flight paths which could be a real issue but is something that is not widely discussed and alot of people hate the sight of them, its a bit of a marmite issue you either love em or you dont, some think that they could well be tourist attractions?.

I think the only real question is, do they actually do the job they are supposed to do? and if not why all the hype? are there better alternatives than wind farms and if so why arent we funding this research?

In the next post i’ll be looking into the governments love affair with our wind farm friends and discussing the sordid topic of coin and where it plays its part in the wind turbines futureon our green landscape.

Windy miller from Trumpton

For now i’m off to bed and for those of you just waking up heres one of fav kids programs with a conection to wind power for you to watch while nibbling on your toast. Nite nite

Related articles by Zemanta

• Timeline: The history of wind power
• Quinnipiac adds silent wind power
• Faroun’s Evolving Turbine Designs
• Windspire Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Wins PopSci Award, Maker Opens New Factory
• Ericsson?s Tower Tube Cell Tower Gets A Vertical Wind Turbine

Green Consumerism - Shop Til We Drop?

I used to think that Green Consumerism was just a silly trend pursued by people who didnâ??t have to economise, and so could afford to buy a little eco-piece of mind with their weekly shop.

â??Take that extra cash away from them,â?� I said to myself, â??and the shelves would groan with un-shifted eco/ethical/organic products.â?�

So I was not surprised by what I read in the article Green consumerism: Just a fad?, in which the author talks about just this issue.

He notes that the organic foods market has taken a serious knock since the credit crunch began, and suggests that the message from consumers is basically:

â??’We care about the environment but weâ??re not paying an extra 70p per item’â?�

The article goes on to propose that:

â??[r]ealistically, green consumerism, even when allied with concerns about health, was never going to last. Itâ??s a post-materialistic luxury which was always going to be given the shove once people were forced to start worrying about their jobs, mortgages and utility bills again.â?�

So yes, I had dismissed green consumerism as a fad, until the eco-anxiety caught up with me recently.

I started looking at what I could do to improve the state of the planet and because, like most people, I love to shop, I started with what I could buy.

In fact it was when I was reading about the beautiful, eco baby gifts made by Tink, that I came across the first company I had met that claimed we could really use our power as eco consumers as a way to support eco activism. They said:

â??the reasons for this [climate] change are endless and we donâ??t believe its down to only the politicians to make the change, we believe its down to the consumer â?? to us â?? as well. Individual actions make a difference, particularly when multiplied by millions. Even more important is the fact that what we do is a very strong indicator of what we believe - and both businesses and governments respond to public opinion â?? they have to, because otherwise we wouldnâ??t buy their products or vote for them. So, it follows that if consumers donâ??t change their behaviour, businesses and governments wonâ??t either.â?�

(To read the entire piece in context please click here *)

And I thought, ok if the price of shopping-mall eco-activism is paying a bit more for products Iâ??d probably buy anyway, many of which will save me money in the long term, then Iâ??m sold.

I bought some eco products, and enjoyed them, and the feeling of â??doing somethingâ?? without actually doing anything much.

And then a few cogs in my brain turned over a few times and I had a new thought.

Before I tell you what that thought was let me firstly say that thereâ??s nothing intrinsically wrong with products that are designed to help us all be more eco-friendly, ethical etc., per se. Many of the eco friendly alternatives out there can provide valuable alternatives to the energy-hungry contraptions that we have come to love and depend on. And as I mentioned, by saving energy we will often save money. Which is good.

The thought that struck me to the core was:

â??What if green consumerism - buying and using these eco products and services â?? doesnâ??t make enough of a difference? What if there arenâ??t enough people switching off their lights, turning down their heating, switching to eco-nappies etc.?â?�

â??What if the few people who care are so distracted by our pursuit of the most ethical hand cream or the hippest hemp hand bag that we fail to get involved with the real issues that have brought us to the brink of environmental break down, and from facing up to what is really necessary to save the planet and the future of the human race?â?�

These were disturbing thoughts, and I didnâ??t like them. I felt compelled to find out more, so I sniffed around the internet and was sorry to discover that green consumerism was potentially more dangerous than I had ever thought possible.

Hereâ??s whyâ?¦

Green Consumerism â?? Can We Save the World by Shopping?

Green consumerism (you may already have realised,) tends to be associated with the idea that consumers can basically save the world by shopping. If green consumerism had a manifesto, it might begin like this:

â??If we the consumers demand that products be eco friendly and ethical, then we will cause the world to become eco-friendly and ethical just by the power of our PETA-approved wallets.â?�

It sounds good at first. And familiar. We all like a bit of retail therapy, and if you can save the world at the same time, and still be home for your Fair Trade Tea, then so much the better, right? It sounds like free will in action, doesnâ??t it?

Until you remember a little thing called marketing.

Whatâ??s wrong with marketing?

In case youâ??ve been living on the moon, marketing is a tricky beast which is used to sell us â??developed nations,â?? branded aspirational lifestyles.

Lifestyles in turn, come with associated consumer products and services, which can be used to experience and express our identity, and can be a method of social demarcation:

“We have similar tastes and values, letâ??s be friends/we donâ??t have similar taste or values, letâ??sâ?¦umâ?¦not be friends. See ya!”

A good rule of thumb is that the more aspirational, beautiful and lovely the lifestyle is, the more people want to live that lifestyle, the more expensive it is, the more companies want to sell it to us.

Sadly then, if weâ??re not careful, it is all too often through our purchases, that we attempt to live and to experience the full gamut of human existence â?? fulfilment, self-expression, satisfaction, happiness etc.

People often measure the quality of their lives by how much they have. And they spend a lot of time trying to get more. Itâ??s a bit of an addiction really, isnâ??t it? Because the problem with stuff (for most people, including me,) is that you can never have enough of it. This may explain our apparently insatiable consumer hunger.

Green Consumerism + Marketing (may) = False Sense of Eco Security

If you think Iâ??ve wandered off the point youâ??d be forgiven, but entirely wrongâ?¦

â?¦So when it comes to green consumer goods and services, it seems to me that most companies have slightly modified their products to salve our eco-consciences, in order to ensure that weâ??ll keep on buying from them. Just to make absolutely sure of our continued patronage, companies hire expert marketers, who sell as eco-lifestyles to go along with all our eco products.

And so we happily continue to consume, smugly sure that we are doing our bit for the environment, still flying and driving and shopping like mad, safe in the knowledge that our eco and ethical consumer choices are making a difference.

And of course all our consumer choices do have in impact, but in the case of green consumer choices, is shopping alone enough to actually make a meaningful difference?

Iâ??ve got one word for you, and itâ??s not the one youâ??re hoping for.

No.

Today We Should Be Mostly Consuming Less

George Monbiotâ??s excellent article Eco Junk has a lot of convincing commentary on the issues surrounding green consumerism.

He also criticises the aspirational journalism that sells us unrealistic, feel-good eco â??lifestylesâ?? when, he says,

â??the central demand of environmentalism [is] that we should consume lessâ??

Why? Why should we consume less? Erâ?¦because despite the fact that most people on the planet could do with being allocated more resources, due to the behaviour of the developed world, we are still running out of the planetary resources that we need to live:

â??if all six billion humans on the planet consumed at the rate of Canadians or Netherlanders we would need three planets, not one, to satisfy our requirements.â?�

The above statement was made in the late nineties and I found it quoted in The Myth Of Green Consumerism: Consumption, Community And Free Markets, by Michael Hannis, quite a long article but well worth a read.

I donâ??t think itâ??s too much of a stretch for me to assume that the consumption rate of the developed world has only gone up, and so we have more reasons than ever to stop buying new things and start repairing the old.

But I donâ??t wannaâ?¦.

Why are we as a society so resistant to the idea of consuming less?

Monbiot sums it up perfectly:

â??Challenge the new green consumerism and you become a prig and a party pooper, the spectre at the feast, the ghost of Christmas yet to come. Against the shiny new world of organic aspirations you are forced to raise drab and boringly equitable restraints: carbon rationing, contraction and convergence, tougher building regulations, coach lanes on motorways. No colour supplement will carry an article about that. No rock star could live comfortably within his carbon ration.” (Eco Junk)

I so wish that becoming more politically aware and then taking action was not part of the solution. It sounds like a lot of hard work. But Iâ??m beginning to think that itâ??s the only effective way.

Bugger.

Johann Hari says in the blog post Fatal Distraction, that the only way to save the planet is for the worldâ??s governments to legislate change â?? to impose cleaner behaviour â?? to ration energy in the war against climate change, just as food and other resources were rationed during the Second World War. Because the only way energy saving devices and behaviours are going to help is if everyone does it.

Hari proposes that we not only consume less but that we act more. We give our time and the money we would have spent on the premiums on greener products to Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Plane Stupid, the Campaign Against Climate Change.

Why? To help to change the law, so that everyone will become greener, whether they like it or not.

According to Hari, it is through this kind of collective action that:

â??[g]reen campaigners from Australia to Canada to Japan have successfully banned the old lightbulbs, so only the energy-saving lightbulbs are on offer there now. Green campaigners have prompted the Mayor of London to force SUV drivers to pay a punitive £6,000-a-year premium to drive through our city, forcing many of them to shift to greener cars. These are the first tiny steps towards banning â?? or massively restricting â?? the other technologies that are unleashing Weather of Mass Destruction.â?�

And to those who would baulk at such measures, Hari has this to say:

â??Why should we force people to choose the green option? Isnâ??t it better to rely on persuasion and voluntary choice? [â?¦] [E]ven the most hardcore libertarians agree that your personal liberty ends where you actively harm the liberty of another person. Greenhouse gas emissions are undeniably harming tens of millions of people â?? and endangering the ground on which all human liberty rests: a stable and safe climate.

[â?¦] Once confronted with this argument, the only people who cling to a libertarian defence of fossil fuels are people who take money from the fossil fuel industry itself [â?¦]

So enough with the placebos. Enough with the fake-libertarian excuses. As the climate that sustains human life unravels around us, we are long past the moment when we need real medicine â?? and the only one we have is hard government legislation.â?�

So is it all doom and gloom?

I donâ??t think that it is. Itâ??s an unpleasant wake-up call, certainly, but there is also room for optimism.

In the blog post A Deeper Approach: Going Beyond Green Consumerism, Renee Lertzman talks about a gradual cultural shift in which (some) people are starting to re-evaluate

â??the underlying values and beliefs that drive our lifestylesâ??

that is to say, some people are gradually beginning to say to themselves:

Perhaps we donâ??t need all this â??stuffâ?? to tell us who we are â?? perhaps there are simpler ways to be happy and fulfilled!

Lertzman calls for â??a revolution of valuesâ??, in which we seek simpler ways to achieve happiness and satisfaction. Ways that donâ??t just depend on relentless shopping.

So where does that leave us with eco products and services?

There will always be certain products that I need to buy â?? light bulbs, laundry products, personal hygiene products and for the foreseeable future, nappies, to name a few.

At this point I have decided that I will continue to buy and review eco products and services, in order to find out which ones are simultaneously functional, energy conserving and money-saving etc.

I will do my very best to make sure that I never allow myself to think that I have â??done my bitâ?? just because I have bought energy saving devices, off-set our carbon emissions and recycled some of my domestic waste, because that stuff is an essential part of the solution, but itâ??s also a really small essential part of the solution.

The difference now is that I am officially involved. I will give my money and my time to eco groups like Green Peace, who are applying pressure and making things happen.

Because those who live by green consumerism alone are going to hell in a hand basket.

It may be a very ethical, organic, sustainable hand basket, but it still goes to straight to hell.

* By the way, Iâ??m not accusing Tink of any wrong doing and they do make a good case for informed green consumerism, i.e. they explain the pitfalls inherent in buying something because it appears to be eco-friendly or ethical when in fact it is not. I just wish that their good advice went beyond the green consumer arena.