Source: treehugger.com

According to GlobalData, a leading business intelligence provider, the global offshore wind power market is expected to explode over the next decade, with the UK as a leading investor. The UK has been a major actor in the market with its ideal location for offshore wind power and its financial commitment. GlobalData states that the country’s installed capacity is expected to hit 21 GW by the end of 2020, which is a nearly 800% increase from 2012. GlobalData’s new report on the global wind power market also predicts that the market will increase from a cumulative capacity of 5.1 GW in 2012 to 54.9 GW by the end of the decade. There are of course, other countries expected to jump on board with this growing market including Germany, which plans to expand its offshore wind sector greatly in the near future.

Source: GlobalData press release, Offshore Wind Power to Grow Tenfold by 2020, with UK Leading the Way

Do you own an iPhone, iPad, or Macbook? Well, millions of people around the world are owners of these Apple products. Because of that, when you think of Apple the company, instantly it is associated with cool new gadgets. Apple has decided to change their game up a bit and invest money, time, and intelligence into developing a way to store electricity generated from wind energy. In 2011, Apple filed with the United States for a patent design entitled “On-Demand Generation of Electricity from Stored Wind Energy.” The patent design that Apple has described to the United States is as follows:

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that generates electricity. During operation, the system uses a set of rotating blades to convert rotational energy from a wind turbine into heat in a low-heat-capacity fluid. Next, the system selectively transfers the heat from the low-heat-capacity fluid to a working fluid. Finally, the system uses the transferred heat in the working fluid to generate electricity.”

One of the biggest issues wind energy faces is that wind blows strongest at different times of the day, which might not be when energy is most needed. Because of that, Apple has decided to invest in this area of renewable energy with hopes to create a workable storage solution so wind energy can become the energy source the world needs.

Source: Treehugger Apple’s New Wind Tech Design Generates and Stores Heat

On August 2, 2012, the Senate Finance Committee passed a one-year extension to the wind energy tax credit. The Senate Republicans took a stand against their Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney who claimed a few days ago that he was not in support of this tax credit. The Wind Energy Tax Credit is becoming a big topic that has split the presidential candidates with President Obama supporting it and Romney opposing it. The Committee added the $3.3 billion tax break for wind into the suite of tax breaks that were passed on the 2nd. Two Republican candidates stood up on this debate because of the fact that the wind industry is blossoming in their states of South Dakota and Iowa. The overall tax package, with the wind energy tax credit included, passed in the committee 19-5.

To read more on this topic:

• New York Times: Senate Panal Passes Extension of Wind Energy Tax Credit
• Des Moines Register: Wind Energy Tax Credit Splits Obama, Romney
• Business Week: Baucus Adds One-Year Extension of Wind Tax Credit to Plan

In 2008, Dr. John Patten decided to explore whether a Southwest Windpower Skystream 3.7 wind turbine would generate enough electricity to supply a plug-in hybrid vehicle’s needs.

Dr. Patten is a professor at Western Michigan University, who had installed a Skystream 3.7 at Western Michigan University’s Engineering College in the summer of 2007.  At that location, on its 45 foot tall tower, the turbine generates between 1200 kWh and 1500 kWh annually.

Dr. Patten had his Toyota Prius modified to implement a Hymotion A123 Ion Battery Pack, which has a capacity of 5 kWh, has a driving range of 20-25 miles on electricity, and maximum charge time of 5.5 hours.

Dr. Patten with his plug-in hybrid

During the year-long study from December 2008 through December 2009, monthly turbine output was monitored and overlaid with the electricity needs of the plug-in hybrid vehicle to determine if the output from the turbine was enough to provide for the car’s appetite.  Battery temperature and the length of trips were also monitored.  The aggregate output of the Skystream 3.7 during the study was 1442 kWh. The electricity needs of the plug-in hybrid Prius during that timeframe was 1352 kWh.

Interestingly, at times when the ambient temperature was higher, there was less wind generated electricity. However, the warmer temperatures enabled the car to travel much greater distances in electric mode, while the colder temperatures reduced the battery efficiency, but tended to result in greater wind generation.  Research has continued through the winter of 2012, where testing on the performance impacts of pre-heating the battery has taken place.  Table1 below shows the results of cold weather performance coupled with different pre-heating temperatures of the battery.

Professor Patten is an ASES member and participant in the Small Wind Division. To join an ASES Division, you first need to be an ASES Professional-level member. Click here to join and then add up to nine (9) divisions of your choice.

Learn more about this study.  To receive the full Wind newsletter, an annual subscription to Solar Today and many other benefits, Join ASES today.

Photo Credit: sc4devotion.com

SimCity has been building awareness around city building and environmental impact since 1989. Having the ability to build and design your own virtual city is fun and educational. Disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes and fires bring reality into the game and help develop critical thinking. A new edition of SimCity is due to be released next year and this version has added more elements that bring more environmental awareness to players. This new version promises to highlight the impact that humans can have on their environment by exploiting or using natural resources well. The game will also offer alternative energy options like solar and wind power along with more traditional energy sources like coal and oil.

“Together, players will address real global challenges such as climate change, the search for renewable resources and natural disasters. It’s up to the players to decide whether to compete or collaborate to shape the world of tomorrow – for better or for worse.” Electronic Arts

These new developments should help make the reality around climate change even more apparent. If you want real world information on climate change, register to attend WREF 2012 now. The Early Bird discount ends on April 13th.

The official announcement trailer is below.

Wind Powered by Timothy Toile

• Wind-Powered Ammonia Fuel Production for Remote Islands
• Current Status and Prior Development Subareas of Renewable Energy Sectors in China
• A Plan For Powering the World For All Purposes With Wind, Water, and Sunlight
• Policy for Sustainable Energy and Transport Systems – the Case of Biogas in Stockholm, Sweden
• High Penetration of Renewable Energy Analysis Approach for Island Grids

If this isn’t your thing, we’ve got hundreds of other sessions to choose from 

WREF’s complete program is now online.

 About WREF

The World Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) have joined forces to present the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF). This international event on renewable energy technologies will address the world’s economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants. The 2012 conference also is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES). Conference details are at www.wref2012.org.