The renewable energy industry has experienced numerous changes over the past 15 years. As the nation’s longest serving green power marketer and a pioneer in the field, Green Mountain Energy Company developed this infographic that reflects the growth of the renewable energy industry, its contribution to the U.S. economy, and what the future could hold. As depicted by the infographic above, the growth of the renewable energy industry has had a significant economic impact. The Brookings Institute found that the U.S. clean energy sector grew at a rate nearly twice that of the overall economy during the worst of the recession and added more than half a million jobs from 2003 to 2010. Overall, the clean energy economy employs more than 2.7 million workers, which is more than the fossil fuel industry. In fact, jobs in the clean energy sector have outpaced the fossil fuel industry by a 3-to-1 margin, according to a national study by the Center for American Progress. To put it simply, every dollar invested into clean energy creates three times as many jobs as the same dollar invested into oil and gas. Due to this, the renewable industry offers more opportunities and better pay for skilled workers than the national economy as a whole. Our need to generate enough supply to meet our growing energy needs, customers who want cleaner choices, and forward-looking public policy drive demand for renewable energy. To keep pace with demand, wind farms today produce 28 times more renewable energy than they did in 1997, and output continues to increase with technology improvements and a growing number of wind projects. According to the American Wind Energy Association, jobs supported by the wind energy industry could grow from 75,000 jobs today to as many as 500,000 jobs if the U.S. were to transition to generating 20 percent of its energy from wind. And that’s just one renewable energy resource! What about clean transportation? By 2027, 12 million Americans are projected to have traded in their conventional gas-powered cars for electric vehicles, which would avoid the consumption of more than 6,800 million gallons of gasoline and save drivers $20.9 billion in fuel costs each year.[1] That’s a lot of money left in the bank. The state of the renewable energy industry is brighter than ever before. We’ve come a long way since 1997, but we have much further to go in the following 15 years. With increasing awareness of our individual and collective impact on the environment and customer demand for cleaner renewable energy products, our nation is headed in the right direction. source : http://theenergycollective.com read more...
Computer Modelling Could Help Boost Urban Wind Power
Researchers
from Murdoch University in Western Australia are hoping to use
three-dimensional modelling of urban wind flows to improve the design
and efficiency of small wind turbines located in the city.
The project will be run by PhD student Amir Tabrizi — a student at the School of Engineering and Energy under the supervision of Dr Jonathan Whale, Dr Tania Urmee, and Dr Samuel Gyamf — who said the project would look at wind data from open spaces, rural areas, and urban settings to understand the differences of wind shear and turbulence.
Mr Tabrizi said this would help improve the current design standard for small wind turbines.
read more...
The project will be run by PhD student Amir Tabrizi — a student at the School of Engineering and Energy under the supervision of Dr Jonathan Whale, Dr Tania Urmee, and Dr Samuel Gyamf — who said the project would look at wind data from open spaces, rural areas, and urban settings to understand the differences of wind shear and turbulence.
Mr Tabrizi said this would help improve the current design standard for small wind turbines.
“The
current design standard lists design turbulence intensity as 18 per
cent across a range of sites, but this result is appropriate for
open-site testing only. While it is very early days, our on-site testing
has shown turbulence intensity of up to 24 per cent at an urban site in
Port Kennedy and 30 per cent at another urban site in Melville,” Mr
Tabrizi said.
“A
knowledge of turbulence intensity helps predict the load on the
machine, so it informs the required design strength of turbine
components, including the tower and blades. We need accurate data to
ensure turbines are strong enough for all conditions.”
Currently, Mr Tabrizi is working on adapting a two-dimensional model into a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model. The modelling will incorporate the dynamics of various wind environments, taking into account variations by height, prevailing wind directions and the effects of different building shapes.
Already, the simulations have suggested that both rooftop sites and forest sites face turbulence intensity values much greater than those believed to exist in the current design standard.
“Ultimately we want to establish better guidelines for design and installation of urban wind turbines to maximise efficiency and guarantee safety,” Mr Tabrizi said.
“
image source : Flickr user maistoraCurrently, Mr Tabrizi is working on adapting a two-dimensional model into a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics model. The modelling will incorporate the dynamics of various wind environments, taking into account variations by height, prevailing wind directions and the effects of different building shapes.
Already, the simulations have suggested that both rooftop sites and forest sites face turbulence intensity values much greater than those believed to exist in the current design standard.
“Ultimately we want to establish better guidelines for design and installation of urban wind turbines to maximise efficiency and guarantee safety,” Mr Tabrizi said.
“
source : Murdoch University
