I never really thought of windmills as being something that I couldn’t bear to look at, so I’m not completely sure why everyone’s excited about these new windmills from MIT. The concept is simple enough, they want to tether large windmills to concrete blocks way out at sea. This way, nobody would have to stare at them dumbly windmilling.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which assisted Dr. Paul D. Sclavounos in this project, says that the windmills would be able to withstand hurricane-force winds and can generate twice as much electricity per installed megawatt as the currently proposed near-shore turbines because wind is stronger farther out at sea.
MIT designs ‘invisible,’ floating wind turbines [C-Net via engadget]
Ireland has been producing offshore wind farms for a couple years now. The decision to move the wind farms offshore came after protests by residents and politicians concerned with the effect on tourism and the pristine rolling green hills of the isle. One windmill probably doesn’t have much impact, but when you have hundreds of windmills in a windfarm, the structures really take away from the landscape. You can find a lot more information on Ireland’s windmills and offshore wind farms on the Irish Wind Energy Association’s site (http://www.iwea.com). I believe the UK has decided to follow the same protocol with their proposed windfarms.
I think it’s a big deal because there are more winds out at sea than onland which is going to create alot more power. Well duh that’s what it says but I’m too lazy to not post the comment.
And what good does this do Iowa?
It’s Iowa so who cares…I kid I kid…
Actually, this helps everybody. Even Iowa.
First of all, we need to stop thinking about local environments and focus on global environmental issues. What’s good for everybody is good for Iowa too.
Your Iowa comment shows the fault with this plan – how to transport the available wind energy inland. The proposed solution is use the wind power at sea to create hydrogen which is then distributed inland. Hydrogen requires little energy to create, burns clean (compared to fossil fuels) and offers a fairly even distribution cost – it’s light.