GE to switch to gearbox-free offshore wind turbines
James Murray, BusinessGreen , Monday 1 March 2010 at 00:15:00 Technology acquired from ScanWind to form platform for all future offshore turbines Engineering giant General Electric has confirmed its future portfolio of offshore wind turbines are to do away with gear boxes in an attempt to improve reliability. The company acquired Norway-based offshore wind turbine manufacturer ScanWind – which …
How Wind Turbines Work
Mankind has been harnessing the energy of the wind to power our machines for centuries. The obvious example of the first use of wind power is in sailing. Mankind has been building boats that are propelled by the wind for over five thousand years. We have constructed sails on our boats that allow us to capture the force of the wind and move our boats across the water.
The first usage of wind power to drive mechanical machines dates from the 7th century in Iran. This is the first example of the windmill. A number of sails attached around a large vertical drive shaft capture the energy of the wind to spin the shaft. This motion was used for grinding up crops.
In Europe we see the proliferation of the horizontal axis windmill late in the 12th century. Primarily used to grind flour, some of this style of windmill still exist today in Holland. Note the different styles of windmill: the vertical axis windmill first appears in the Middle East but it is the horizontal axis windmill that first appears in Europe.
In the 19th century windmills are typically used for milling and irrigation pumps. They exist across Europe and the Midwest of America. The first windmill used for electricity creation was built in Scotland in 1887 by James Blyth. His ten meter construction powered the lighting in his holiday cottage, making this building a significant first in the evolution of renewable energy.
In America, Charles Brush designed and built a larger windmill at around the same time. This was used for a few years to power lamps and motors in his laboratory.
In the 20th century wind power turbines were cropping up the whole world over. In Denmark there was a push towards having many small electricity generating sites, and wind power was a large part of that drive. In Australia wind turbines were used to power remote post offices. In America, rural off grid farms are harnessing wind power until they were connected to the grid.
The first megawatt turbine was built in Vermont USA in 1941. In the 1970s and 1980s the US government, through NASA, pushed on the technology and researched and pioneered many of the designs that we still use today.
Nowadays, concerns over the availability of the remaining fossil fuels, and particularly rising oil prices have led to increasing energy tariffs. Modern thinking proposes that the future holds more of the same. This has led to many people to return to residential wind power to gain some independence from the utility companies.
About the Author:
Zac is an avid promoter of home wind power and is a particular fan of the air x wind generator.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – A Brief History Of Wind Power
Brief History Of Wind Turbines
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Black History in Music [54 Classic Tracks] Disc 1. The Negro speaks of rivers / Langston Hughes — Nobody knows you when you’re down and out / Bessie Smith — Struttin’ with some barbecue / Louis Armstrong — Cross road blues / Robert Johnson — The man I love / Billie Holiday — Cotton tail / Duke Ellington — Flying home / Ella Fitzgerald — Ko Ko / Charlie Parker’s Ri Bop Boys — Cho cho ch’boogie / Louis Jordan & his Tympani Five — Ma… |
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Flying Pyramids, Soaring Stones (Ancient Wind Power Technology) (History Channel) $14.97 For millennia, they have stood as sentinels of the past, marking the last resting places of the rulers of the Kingdom of the Nile. But Egypt’s great pyramids have also taunted generations of engineers, who have wondered how the Egyptians managed to raise such massive structures. Head into the Egyptian desert with a team of researchers as they test one of the most audacious theories about the cons… |
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Science & Technology 7-DVD Collection: History of Energy, Electricity & Electric Power Plants $39.00 7 DVD Collection Disc 1 Atomic Bombs & Nuclear Energy Power for Peace Films (1950s – 1960s) Disc 2 Electrical Appliances Films (1940’s – 1950’s) Disc 3 Power Plants: Coal & Nuclear Powered Films (1940s – 1950s) Disc 4 Electrical Science Films (1930’s – 1970’s) Disc 5 Energy Modernization Of America Films (1950’s) Disc 6 Natural Gas Industry Energy Film DVD (1959) Disc 7 Hoover/Boulder Dam Construc… |
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Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Energy, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future $0.50 When Jim Gordon set out to build a wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, he knew some people might object. But there was a lot of merit in creating a privately-funded, clean energy source for energy-starved New England, and he felt sure most people would recognize it eventually. Instead, all Hell broke loose. Gordon had unwittingly challenged the privilege, power, and assumptions of some of America… |
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Failures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq $8.99 What were they thinking? • In an effort to put an end to Britain and France’s policy of seizing American ships and sailors, Thomas Jefferson calls for an embargo. The Result: 30,000 sailors put out of work; mercantile families bankrupted overnight; a nationwide economic depression; and the New England states, which depended heavily on international commerce, threaten to secede from th… |
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Wind Energy in America: A History $29.95 This compelling saga recounts the human effort to capture the power of the wind for electricity–from the first European windmills, to nineteenth-century experiments in rural electrification, to the immense wind farms in California and the plains states that feed the power grid today. Environmental historian Robert W. Righter describes eccentric inventors and technical innovations, analyzes the po… |
Is there a way to convert all or part of my home’s power source to wind power?
Is there a do it yourself conversion kit available on the market, or are there companies who can be hired to do this? I live in the Oklahoma City area.
You best check first with your city building zoning codes before you invest in it. My cousin had to remove his windmill because it created a lot of noise for his neighbors.
Solar electric panels (photovoltaic) are getting popular but it’s a bit more pricey. Make sure your electric company will let you run their meter backwards when you are not using the electricity.
If you haven’t gotten a solar hot water system yet, consider a thermosiphon type system. It requires no pump, and no electricity to make all the hot water for your home.
Home Wind Turbine, Home Wind Turbines
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Windmax HY1000-5 1,000 Watt Max 24-Volt 5-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit $1,175.00 Advantages of 5-blade wind turbines over 3-blade wind turbines 1) 5-blade wind turbines will greatly improve annual energy production in low wind conditions. For areas with average wind speeds of 11 MPH (5m/s). If you compare annual energy output to conventional 3-blade wind turbine, there is an increase of annual energy output of more than 60%. 2) 5-blade wind turbines will dramatically improve t… |
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Windmax HY400 500 Watt Max 12-Volt 5-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit $649.00 Advantages of 5-blade wind turbines over 3-blade wind turbines 1) 5-blade wind turbines will greatly improve annual energy production in low wind conditions. For areas with average wind speeds of 11 MPH (5m/s). If you compare annual energy output to conventional 3-blade wind turbine, there is an increase of annual energy output of more than 60%. 2) 5-blade wind turbines will dramatically improve … |
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Windmax HY600-3 750 Watt Max 24-Volt 3-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit $769.00 A wind turbine is a long term investment. Before you purchase a wind turbine, the first factor to consider is if the energy produced by a wind turbine can pay for itself in 10 years or less. The second factor to consider is installation and ownership cost. Poor reliability, low quality and high maintenance will greatly increase ownership cost and make the wind turbine impossible to pay for itself… |
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Windmax HY400-3 450 Watt Max 12-Volt 3-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit $579.00 A wind turbine is a long term investment. Before you purchase a wind turbine, the first factor to consider is if the energy produced by a wind turbine can pay for itself in 10 years or less. The second factor to consider is installation and ownership cost. Poor reliability, low quality and high maintenance will greatly increase ownership cost and make the wind turbine impossible to pay for itself…. |
