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Cool Facts 

	Did you know? The largest wind turbine in the world, located in Hawaii, stands 20 stories tall and has rotors the length of a football field. (Pictured on left)
	Did you know? Enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year. Did you know? Silicon from one ton of sand, used in photovoltaic cells, could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal.

 

Birds & Turbines:   Wind turbines work well with agricultural land use and cause little disturbance to farm stock, wildlife and bird life. Restrictions on location, however, include migratory bird paths and airstrip locations. In general, wind turbines are not a hazard to wildlife. Cattle are willing to graze next to them, and sufficient clearance between the blades and ground prevents injury to any land animal (including humans). In terms of avian wildlife, you may have heard reports that wind turbines can present a threat to birds and bats. It is true that birds can be injured or killed if they collide with the blades or the tower; and that their breeding, nesting and feeding habits could be disturbed. However, these impacts can be avoided with good siting, and there is little evidence that single installations or small clusters of small wind turbines kill birds in significant numbers.  In fact, it has been shown that household pets, pesticides and glass-faced buildings kill far more birds than wind turbines do (see chart above; Source: Erickson, et.al, 2002. "Summary of Anthropogenic Causes of Bird Mortality").  By nature, local birds avoid wind turbines by flying around them, and migrating birds tend to fly well above small wind turbine height. As a ‘rule of thumb’, avoid siting a wind energy system in areas where birds concentrate, such as in wildlife refuges or shoreline feeding and nesting areas.  The turbine and tower should also be designed to reduce perching and nesting opportunities. This is typically not a problem with smaller systems.

 

Fun facts about electricity: In 1978, only eight percent of households had microwave ovens. Today, 83 percent have them. The size of a typical home has increased from 1100 to 1800 square feet over the past ten years. As late as 1993, high-tech paraphernalia like computers, printers and video games had a negligible effect on power usage. Today, it's estimated to account for more than 13 percent of a typical household energy budget. By 2020, it could be as much as 25 percent. In 2002, the following amount of electricity, in gigawatt-hours, was generated from the following sources of fuel: Coal: 1,925,792 GWh Nuclear: 779,461 GWh Gas: 695,226 GWh Hydro: 255,077 GWh Fuel oil: 91,629 GWh Biomass: 71,534 GWh Other (geothermal, non-wood waste, wind and solar): 22,737 GWh It's estimated that electricity consumption will increase by 51 percent from 2002 to 2025.  The first central power plant – Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan, built by Thomas Edison – began generating electricity on September 4, 1882. Pearl Street had one generator and it produced power for 800 electric light bulbs. Within 14 months, Pearl Street Station had 508 subscribers and 12,732 bulbs. Since the first power plant lit up 800 light bulbs in 1882, the electric utility industry has grown to generate over 2.5 million gigawatt-hours annually, the equivalent of lighting 4.8 billion 60-watt light bulbs for a year.   Fun facts about natural gas: Natural gas use has increased by 35 percent over the past ten years, and is projected to grow 45 percent by 2015. Ninety-nine percent of the natural gas used in the United States comes from North America. The U.S. gas distribution network is comprised of more than 1.2 miles of pipeline, supplying 175 million consumers. Natural gas provides 24 percent of all the energy used in the United States. Alliant Energy owns and maintains more than 8,000 miles of natural gas main. About 55 percent of American homes use natural gas for heating. The first use of gas energy in the United States occurred in 1816, when gaslights illuminated the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. Currently, oil provides the largest share of U.S. energy consumption -- about 41 percent of the entire market. Natural gas provides about 24 percent, coal 23 percent, hydropower 4 percent and nuclear power 8 percent. In the United States, natural gas is used for: Industrial processes = 46% Residential use = 22% Generating electricity = 15% Commercial buildings = 15%   Fun facts about renewable energy: In 1998, only 7.5 percent of our nation's energy came from renewable resources, even though the amount of renewable energy available was more than 250 times U.S. energy consumption. If your family could use only renewable energy for all your energy needs, you could help reduce the amount of emissions in the air each year by 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, 70 pounds of sulfur dioxide and 50 pounds of nitrogen oxide. At the end of 2003, Alliant Energy’s utility customers used seven percent of the nation’s available wind power. Water is currently the most commonly used renewable energy resource, providing enough power to meet the needs of 28.3 million consumers. Biomass currently supplies about four percent of the energy produced in the U.S., and could potentially provide almost 20 percent. Wind farms currently produce enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 600,000 families. The U.S. Department of Energy expects wind power to supply at least five percent of the nation's electricity by 2020. In 1990 in California alone, wind power offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide and 15 million pounds of other pollutants - the same amount of air quality provided by more than 150 million trees. Technological innovations have brought the cost of wind power down from more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour during the 1980s to less than six cents per kilowatt-hour today. More than 10,000 homes in the United States are powered entirely by solar energy. According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year. Replacing an electric water heater with a solar model can reduce water heat costs by 50 to 80 percent every year - and over the 20-year life of the equipment, more than 50 tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be displaced. Silicon from one ton of sand, used in photovoltaic cells, could produce as much electricity as burning 500,000 tons of coal. Geothermal energy currently provides more than 2,700 megawatts of electricity nationwide - the equivalent of three nuclear power plants, or enough to power more than 3.5 million homes. A geothermal power plant emits no nitrogen oxides, very few sulfur dioxides and 1,000 to 2,000 times less carbon dioxide than a fossil fuel plant.                   © Copyright 2008-2010 Evolve Green. All rights reserved.