Time to take a field trip!
The High Winds Energy Center is now open, 90 new wind turbines situated in the hills between San Francisco and Sacramento. This next generation model wind turbine can operate in slower winds, can rotate to meet changing wind directions, and can generate 20 times more electricity than earlier-generation systems. Because the turbine blades turn more slowly than previous models, fewer birds get caught and killed.
And these things are big -- really big. Over 300 feet tall, with 125-foot blades, which allow the turbines to operate efficiently in wind as slow as 8 miles per hour and still generate up to 1.8 megawatts. In wind power, size matters.
California intends to have 20 percent of its energy generated from renewable sources by 2010, and this is a good step along the way. (Via Futurismic)
