Turbine of the Times

Wind power in China is 'huge, huge, huge'

Posted at 4:44 PM on 25 Jul 2008

China, known for its environmental struggles, is looking to have a success story in wind power. "China's wind energy market is unrecognizable from two years ago," says Steve Sawyer of the Global Wind Energy Council. "It is huge, huge, huge. But it is not realized yet in the outside world." China's wind generation has increased by more than 100 percent per year since 2005, and the country may have already beat out the U.S. as the world's biggest turbine manufacturer. Policymakers originally had ambitions of generating 5 gigawatts of wind by 2010, but met that goal in 2007; they've revised the 2010 goal to 10 gigawatts, but very well may hit 20 gigawatts. Granted, coal still supplies 70 percent of China's energy needs, and is currently half as cheap as wind generation. But that doesn't faze Junfeng Li of the China Renewable Energy Industries Association, who wrote in a recent paper, "It is widely believed that wind power will be able to compete with coal generation by as early as 2015."

source: The Guardian

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Comments: (5 comments)

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WIND POWER AND ENERGY...

Millions of birds have been killed by wind turbines...birds are an important part of our ecosystem and help maintain balance with our crucial biodiversity. Do these large windfarms cropping up everywhere in China, Texas, Massachusets, UK, etc. take this into account and what about the likelihood of weather pattern changes as we change the windcurrents with the large wind farms? Are we thinking this through to the ultimate outcome or will we have another biofuel debacle where we rushed in not accounting for the excessive use of water, energy and eventually pushing up grain prices worldwide?

by piglet at 7:19 PM on 31 Jul 2008

blah blah blah

Piglet,

3 California wind farms featuring OLD turbine designs, with a large variety of heights, and have small quick blades, are the cause of almost all bird deaths from US wind turbines. Altamont Pass alone makes up more than half the deaths.
http://greyfalcon.net/birddeaths.png
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11935&pag ...

And on top of that, house cats, and buildings make up gigantic orders of magnitude more bird deaths per year.
Should we get rid of those too?
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=483 ...

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 8:38 PM on 31 Jul 2008

WIND TURBINES AND BIRD DEATHS

Thanks David for this info. Birds are a crucial player in our ecosystem, as are all species. If we keep killing them off without regard for their role in the greater eco scheme of things (in this case their flight paths) and disregard the natural symbiotic relationships in nature we are going to be living in a very different world, and may even put human survival at risk. Note the little insect, bee, whom we depend upon to pollinate for our fruits and veges...(see www.thedailygreen.com 8.1.08 re pesticides and honey bees)
All I am saying is that before we go charging off into new technology we take into account the impact on the whole natural organic bio-diversity and eco-systems that we humans depend on for our very survival. The more we mess with Mother Nature the worse things seem to get..and the house of cards begins to collapse. We can co-exist..we just need to be more mindful of the entire picture and change our short-term thinking. Every species is relevant in its own right and deserves the same respect and understanding that we demand for ourselves. It is up to we humans to be good stewards, we are at the top of the food chain, remember. Thanks again David.

by piglet at 11:39 AM on 01 Aug 2008

Trust Audobon

http://www.audubon.org/campaign/windPowerQA.html

This is helpful on wind related bird endangerment.

I would still ilke to see an impact cushioning surface on wind machine blades. It's worth the extra cost and effort.

And webcam studies of what is actually happening regarding bird collisions with wind equipment. Bird scientists need financial support to get these studies done. The more that is known, the quicker this can be minimized.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

by amazingdrx at 12:22 PM on 01 Aug 2008

Birds & Bats

The issue is that in the rural areas bird and bat kills by the wind turbines and their associated high voltage transmission lines, as well as disruptions to their natural behavior, will have impact on the local ecosystems. This will include significant effects on insect population, since birds and bats consume large quantities of insects, which are harmful to vegetation, livestock and crops. This is orders of magnitude greater than the effects of cats or buildings in these local regions.

It is erroneous and misleading to compare numbers of birds & bats killed in cities, with birds & bats killed in the rural areas where the turbines are located. In some regions, large numbers of rare raptors like golden eagles are being killed, it is hardly sensible to compare one golden eagle killed by a Wind Turbine in Altamont Pass, to a sparrow killed by a house cat in Los Angeles. House cats kill the weakest and smallest of birds, aiding in the natural selection process, and are balanced by the fact that many city residents, feed large numbers of birds.

Florida Power & Light Co. abruptly cut off funding for a study of wind turbine bat kills and blocked access to researchers at all of it's industrial wind turbine facilities, when it became apparent the large number of bat kills by the turbines. Sounds like industrial Wind Turbine Companies have something to hide:

"...Bats are incredibly important to humans and the ecosystem as a whole; each bat consumes approximately 2,000 insects nightly, and a lactating female bat will consume up to 3,000 insects each night..."
"... If the 900 or so turbines proposed are built within a 70-mile radius [of Mountaineer] prior to finding solutions, it's very easy to extrapolate from this data that close to 60,000 bats could be killed every year," Tuttle said. "That's very likely not an ecologically sustainable kill rate; it's urgent to find a solution..."

FPL blocks research on Bat Kills by it's Industrial Wind Turbine Facilities

Well I guess, we can just increase our use of environmentally destructive insecticides to make up for all of the dead birds and bats in rural areas.

Raptor kills by Wind Turbines in Altamont Pass

by Warren Heath at 11:44 AM on 02 Aug 2008

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