Windmills Of The Future Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 

Palm Springs, CA

Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is the Weather Notebook. In the past few days we've looked at the history of windmills in the United States and in Europe. Now these sources of power almost became extinct in the 1940's and 1950's as electric power made it to even the most remote rural areas. Where windmills were mostly used. But the energy crisis of the 1970's gave birth to a new idea, wind farms.

You might have seen wind farms like the gigantic ones in California at Altamont Pass or even Palm Springs. These are where 90% of the nation's energy from wind is collected. These farms use clusters of gigantic, high-tech windmills, or wind turbine engines, that sit on towers. These wind farms in California produce enough electricity for about one million households. But the real promise of wind energy, as far as the weather goes, lies in the Great Plains from Oklahoma northward, the home of old-fashioned windmill. Wind farms require breezes that are both strong and dependable, at least 12 miles an hour on the average. Now, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado is the largest wind powered testing facility in the U.S. According to their research North Dakota alone could supply those strong dependable breezes. And about 36% of all the electricity needed in the entire country.

But, wind farms need more than a stiff breeze to provide all the benefits they can. One thing, they're noisy. They need to be in a spot that's well away from population centers, and they can pose a threat to bird life. Like any new technology, start-up costs can be high. The good news is that wind farms can coexist with farms and ranches, since they don't require a lot of horizontal space. And, of course, they're a clean and renewable source of energy ..as long as the wind keeps sweeping down the plain.

Our show is underwritten by Subaru, with major funding provided by the National Science Foundation.