Wind Turbine Rotors - What's Up?

What are those ROTOR BLADES made of?

1.  Wood laminates layered with epoxy, solid wood for small rotors

2. Steel and Aluminum Alloys
    Spar and Skin construction (skeleton and outer skin, aviation technology)

3. Glass Reinforced Polyester or Wood/ Epoxy


4. Synthetic composites:
   Polyester or epoxy matrix reinforced with glass fibers
  Resin soaked glass Strands wrapped around forms

5. Hybrid Composities
   Aluminum + thin Aramid (strong heat-resistant fiber such as Kevlar)  or Carbon fiber and Epoxy    Layers

6. Epoxy resin in Engineered Fabric

photo: ScienceDaily
ref: M Ragheb1-5
Owens Corning Ultrablade Fabric

(WindPowerEngineering)

Sizing up the Wind....

Wind Power Blows Away Solar in the square footage category..

SOURCE                                                     WATTS AT FULL CAPACITY

One - 2 MW Wind Turbine                                              2 MW

Solar Panels:  181,818 Square Feet of them                  2 MW


( 181,818 square feet is about 3.2 football fields )

(based on "nameplate capacity" - average capacity can be 75% lower than nameplate,  and varies considerably with conditions and may be different between wind and solar.  Solar calculated @ 11W/sq foot, field 360'x160'  )

The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowin' Harder In the Wind

WIND SPEED mph     ENERGY GENERATED BY WIND TURBINE

           20                                              X                                    

           25                                             2X

          31.7                                           3X

          40                                              4X

          50                                              5X

Energy generated is proportional to the cube of wind speed.  Make the tower a little taller, make the blades a little longer, get it in a little windier environment and the returns will be massive.

Three Cubed Equals Twenty Seven

What is your Mercury Footprint?

    Bulb type                        Source of electricity               Mercury released

Incandescent 75-watt                            Coal                               13.16 mg
    not recycled                                                                              

Incandescent 75-watt                            Coal                               13.16 mg
     recycled                                                                                    

Compact Fluorescent (equivalent)        Coal                                8.51mg
     not recycled                                                                                

Compact Fluorescent (equivalent)        Coal                                3.51 mg
   recycled                                                                                       

 Incandescent 75-watt Bulb                  Wind                                   0
     not recycled

Incandescent 75-watt Bulb                   Wind                                   0
    recycled

Compact Fluorescent (equivalent)        Wind                                   5 mg
   not recycled

Compact Fluorescent (equivalent)        Wind                                   0
   recycled

New GE Hybrid Halogen-CFL contains only 1 mg Mercury

  

( calculated for a typical cfl 7500 hour bulb life equivalent light output to 75w incand., assumes 5mg Hg inside CFL; some newer CFL bulbs have reduced Hg levels  ) (popularmechanics.com)

Thinking about Grass

LAWNMOWER TYPE               LBS. OF CO2 RELEASED TO ATMOSPHERE
 
Gasoline   ( 1 hour )                                          30.53 lbs

Electric, from Coal    ( 1 hour )                           .66 lbs. 

Electric, from Natural Gas ( 1 hour )                  .26 lbs.

Electric, from Wind Power  ( 1 hour )                   0 lbs.

Electric, from Solar Power   ( 1 hour )                  0  lbs.     

Hand        ( 1 hour )                                              0 lbs.


notes:
Gasoline and coal release a host of other greenhouse gasses as well as just CO2 - this post only looks at CO2.   / Gasoline is 87% carbon - when it burns it combines with Oxygen and resultant CO2 weighs 3.7 times the original weight of the Carbon and greatly exceeds the weight of the gasoline itself.  /  Sample electric lawnmower specs :  13 amp, 120 v. , generated from coal at .95kg CO2/5 KwH, from nat. gas @.6kg CO2/5 KwH /  sample Gasoline mower consumes 1.5 gal/hr ) (epa.gov , WolframAlpha )    Not reflected above, lawnmowers are particularly dirty and considerably more polluting than autos for a given amount of gasoline burned. //  Also, some claim that coal-fired power plants may sit around in stand-by mode to back up wind and solar sources when they fail to generate sufficient power,  and thereby increase their carbon footprint per KwH. Others claim that with good grid planning and design, this doesn't happen.

Lawnmower Injury ( flickr.com )

Offshore Wind Farms - Who's Hot and Who's Not

COUNTRY             NUMBER OF OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES

U.S.                                      0

SWEDEN                           80
NETHERLANDS              128
U.K.                                   436
DENMARK                      403
GERMANY                      101
JAPAN                                7+
CHINA                                34
SCOTLAND                        2

                

Tons and Tons of Concrete to Hold Up A Wind Turbine

                                                                                          TONS OF CONCRETE


Single On-Shore Wind Turbine Foundation                                    1200
             (vestas.com)
Single Majestic Farm Wind Turbine Foundation                             607
         (windsystemsmag.com)



        2000 Sq-Ft Home foundation, footing and slab                        106
            (4'x9" walls, 4" slab)

        Olympic-sized Pool, filled with concrete                                  6599

        One Average Cement Truck - filled                                            17

        One cubic yard of concrete                                                          2

Why so much concrete??  Oh...

Alternatives Leave Nuclear in the Dust: Latest Figures

                                                                                     installed capacity 
         
Alternatives                                                                     381 Gigawatts
Nuclear                                                                            375 Gigawatts

                            (World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2010-11: draft version)

"Capacity" and "actual production" are very different from each other, however.  It will be some time before nuclear production falls behind alternative production, though nuclear is on a slow decline and alternatives are on a rapid increase.    ( see www.cleantechnica.com for more depth ) 


"alternatives"
   wind                                 
   biomass
   waste-to-energy   
   solar                                    

Fukushima Explosion Creates some Dust

China Winning on Multiple Fronts

CARBON EMISSIONS ( Millions of Tons of Carbon Released into the Atmosphere )
       China has just started beating the U.S. in Emissions from Fossil Fuels:

ELECTRICITY FROM WIND  ( nameplate capacity )

                       CHINA        41,800 Megawatts
                         USA           40,181  Megawatts

ELECTRICITY FROM HYDROELECTRIC  ( nameplate capacity )

                     CHINA     200,000,000 Megawatts
                      USA                 97,000 Megawatts


POPULATION

                CHINA     1,331,460,000
                 USA          307,006,550

AUTOMOBILES

               CHINA       168,000,000
               USA              62,000,000

China not winning on all fronts, though .......
        U.S has more solar,  more square miles, and more nuclear power.