Three articles in Recharge (http://www.rechargenews.com/ ) on July 28, 2011 tell the story of America's dawdling entry into a growing 21st century industry: offshore wind turbines.
One article states that "offshore wind farms are 'presently the largest construction projects going on in Europe.'" Two companies, Dong of Denmark and Siemens of Germany, connected 101 offshore turbines "to Europe's grids in the first half of the year." As Germany turns away from nuclear power, its government will invest at a greater rate in offshore wind turbines.
A second article describes the efforts of two American senators to pass a bill that "would help provide the stability and visibility needed for investors to kick-start the US offshore sector." Because Congress has never passed any long-term legislation to nurture offshore wind turbines, investors will not risk their money in "this fledgling industry."
Thus, "there are currently no US offshore wind facilities." Zero.
Senator Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware, and Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, "were among a group of senators that last year called for long-term production tax credits for deepwater offshore wind, though the proposal came to nothing."
One proposed wind turbine project, off the Delaware coast, "would create 1,200 jobs during construction and 300 permanent operational posts over the next 20 years."
Minimal legislative support from Washington means limited investment, which means limited job growth. Meanwhile, the American economy remains stagnant, unable to pull itself out of the recession.
In a third article, the Spanish wind turbine company Gamesa states that the US market is "among those where demand is 'subdued or growing more slowly than expected, partly because of a lack of regulatory visibility.'" Gamesa will expand instead in India and Brazil.
The picture is crystal clear. The boys who control Washington do not want clean energy.
John Slade
Woodgate International
http://www.woodgateintl.com/
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
John Slade (very brave) emerging from the roof of a nacelle
Dr. Slade with his old workhorse Nikon (film!)
in the midst of 195 Vestas wind turbines.
Dr. Slade is wearing a harness with a two-meter chain (wrapped in yellow fabric) which is attached to the steel roof of the nacelle. That way, anyone who stumbles over the edge merely dangles, rather than plummets, and so eventually can be somehow rescued.
To get back to our theme: Engineers and Architects
Great challenges await you, and unprecedented opportunities,
As climate change, like an angry bear, slashes away with enormous claws all that we thought was normal.
We shall need Engineers, to tap the wind, to tap the sun, to tap the roving sea,
And Architects, to design better homes, better schools, and better cities, where Mother Nature is a part of the family.
Sam and Meg, Meg and Sam,
as the sun shines upon all of the Earth,
and as the wind blows over all of the Earth,
reach out, please, to the peoples of the Earth . . .
as you design and build an entirely new chapter in the book of human progress.
The sun, that blesses me with richest earthly finery,
Shines no warmer than my hopes upon thee.
John Slade
Woodgate International
Sam and Meg getting ready to snorkle in the lilypads
Snorkling is the best way
to meet the creatures that live in the lake.
Sam and Meg might see schools of golden shiners that catch the underwater sun.
They might see bluegills and perch, redbellied dace, and a painted turtle scuttling away.
They might see the rare freshwater sponge: long thin fingers reaching from a sunken branch, green in the sunshine, or white in the dark beneath a bog. Do you dare to shake hands with those white fingers?
They might see bullfrog tadpoles, six inches long, feasting on a carpet of algae.
They might see a crayfish, waving its warning claws at them from its lair of dead leaves on the bottom.
They might see a salamander, pale green with bright red spots, floating absolutely weightless two feet beneath the surface, until with a wag of its tail it zips off and vanishes.
Sam and Meg might see so many things, as they swim with a mask and snorkle through the lilypads.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)