Works Starts On Largest Onshore Wind Farm In Europe
I love how the Europeans are light years ahead of us in this department. They “get it” without a focused and government driven renewable energy program they are never going to achieve any sort of oil independence, or meet Kyoto, or solve global warming. Time to wake up America. We need to catch up, not only for the sake of the planet, but also for the sake of our economy.
Construction began this week on the 322-megawatt (MW) Whitelee windfarm project in Scotland. The onshore windfarm — with its planned 140 wind turbines — is part of the country’s aggressive goal to have 18 percent of electricity generated in Scotland come from renewable sources by 2010 and 40 percent by 2020.
Situated south of Glasgow on 55 sq. km of open moorland, the GPB 300 million [US$560 million] windfarm will be operated by Scottish Power. The project is expected to become operational in 2008 and, when completed in summer 2009, produce more than two percent of the country’s annual electricity needs.
“Within three years, 140 turbines will rise above Eaglesham Moor, harnessing enough wind energy to power 200,000 homes, that’s most of Glasgow. It will be the largest onshore windfarm in Europe and make a major contribution to our twin aims of securing energy supplies and tackling climate change,” said Alistair Darling, UK Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), at the official groundbreaking ceremony on October 9.
“Scotland has long been the UK’s powerhouse and is now establishing itself in the vanguard on renewables. 16% of Scotland’s electricity already comes from these sources, compared to 4% for the UK as a whole, and Whitelee will save a further 250,000 tons of harmful CO2 every year,” added Darling.
Before getting the official green light earlier this year, the proposed development had to overcome a number of issues including concern about its impact on air traffic control radars at Glasgow Airport. Working with the British Airports Authority, National Air Traffic Services, and the Civil Aviation Authority, ScottishPower agreed to build a new radar tower in a nearby city to ensure there would be no adverse effect on equipment.
“As Europe’s largest onshore wind farm, Whitelee represents a great step forward for the UK in tackling climate change, and is crucial to meeting the Government’s targets for green energy,” said Philip Bowman, ScottishPower Chief Executive.
“Of course, Whitelee is not the end of the story. If we are to deliver more clean energy to people’s homes, we have really got to keep up the momentum on the other big onshore wind farms in Scotland, which are currently in planning,” added Bowman.
In conjunction with the groundbreaking, government officials announced they would send out proposals and consult with industry, investors and other stakeholders on how to reach the aim set out in the DTI Energy Review of getting 20 percent of the UK’s electricity from renewable energy by 2020.
“The Energy Review found that if we want to tackle climate change and ensure the security of our future supplies there has to be a significant increase in the amount of clean, green electricity we produce from renewable sources,” said Darling.
“There is no doubt that reaching 20 percent will be tough. It means we must get more power from offshore wind farms and other emerging technologies like biomass and wave and tidal, while maximizing the contribution from those technologies that are already being deployed,” Darling continued.
As well as expanding the large-scale renewables sector, the government is also seeking to increase the amount of smaller-scale, localized electricity production.
Beauty Standards
Today I was talking with some of my friends about how young people want to attain a beauty norm that doesn’t really exist. Here is a perfect example.
As you can see with a little bit of makeup the right hair dresser and some photo shop anybody can look like a model. The funny thing is that the lady in the video is good looking to start with and when they are done she looks like some sort of crazy made plastic droid thing.
Monday Confessional
I have been pouring over my absentee ballot and have been doing a lot of research and have come to the conclusion that no matter who I vote for as governor, that person will not share my views. None of them even come close. I guess this is the plight of the liberals who live in “red” states. We are forced to vote for the idiot right wing crazy person, or the idiot center-right wing crazy person, or some third party candidate that only cares about one issue.
With this being said, I am still going to cast a vote, if I have to make a chart and see which candidate most closely matches my views I will. I will most likely end up voting for a third party candidate for governor. But as far as senator, and rep I think I am good to go. I am lucky enough to be in a fairly democratic area of my red state (hint its the most important “swing” state in the union) so there are some people that I like and would vote for.
Voting is very very important for me. I feel that if I am not voting I am not doing my duty to my country and am not being a good American. I really have a problem with people who rant and rave and put magnets on their SUV’s and listen to country music with partriotic themes, and don’t vote. What the hell, its not that hard, every couple of months (sometimes every couple of years) all you have to do is put some little marks on a paper, or pull a little lever, or push a little button. How hard is that? I guess you also have to pay attention to what is going on, be informed enough about the issues to make a good choice, and care about the country you live in. So maybe it is hard. Either way I love doing it, and will be sending in my ballot soon.
Today went really great. My house is amazing and really did a great job on the service project. We were removing weeds and invasive species from a community garden and we did a fine job. There were sing along’s, fun jokes, and a lot of great team work.
I went to pumpkin fest this weekend and it was amazing. We saw THOUSANDS of pumpkins. Tens of thousands of pumpkins really. It was so nice to see Tess after a couple weeks apart. And she is coming up again next weekend! I went running with her this weekend and she kicked my ass, she is way to fast for me. In the process I think I may have pulled some tendons or muscles or something in my leg. Suck, as I have to run in a race on Sunday. A little TLC will have me ready by race day, but turning dirt with a shovel all day today did nothing towards making the knee’s feel better. Ohh well, I eat a lot of good food so I will be fine.
I leave you with some snap shots from pumpkin fest.
One of many “pumkin towers”
Close up of pumpkin tower.
Boo!
Final Energy Fair Numbers
The final numbers from the energy fair turn in event are in!
The Vital Stats:
447 dehumidifiers and air conditioners were turned in, and 538 Energy Star qualified lighting products were purchased.
We saved 184,086 kWh per year! Meaning residents will save approximately $33,135 annually.
We have effectively avoided 101 tons of C02 every year and saved the same amount of energy used to power 31 homes for one year!
A Message From Kat
Kat has produced this lovely piece of writing and has agreed to share it with us all.
What are your plans when you get home every Thursday evening? Microwave some Ramen ? Change into elastic waist pants ? Glue yourself to the couch for Grey’s Anatomy* ? If you answered yes to any of the following maybe you should consider looking at your local library’s events calander. Recently, I attended a series of events at the Bourne Public Library that concentrated on different cultures and cuisines of the world. It was impressive to see the amount of hard work the Library put into the event, and the surprising attendence from the locals.
The cuisine nights consist of a cultural video in regards to the country, FREE samples of the country’s cuisines from local restaurants, and an a informational session on traveling to the country by a local travel agent. You are also given a raffle ticket when you walk through the door, which is entered into a contest to win a gift certificate to the participating restaurant. I was able to attend three out of the four nights, which featured Japan, Australia, and Germany. Some of the videos that they showed were out dated, but contained a lot of information about countries’ and their different regions. Then came the food ! Restaurants, like the AquaGrille and Mashnee Grill and Cafe, set no limits to the foods they brought. They truly provided an authentic feel to each experience. All of the chef’s were natives of these foreign regions or spent a majority of their lives there. German night was my favorite because of the different dishes they showcased like, saurbrat and radish salad. The plates handed out were full to the brim making a dinner in itself. This event gave people a chance to see cuisine from other parts of the world, and did I mention all of this was FREE ? There are worse ways to spend an evening.
Library events are a great way to meet new people, and open your mind to different cultures. In most cases they are low in price or do not cost anything at all. Plus if you are stressed out about missing Grey’s Anatomy*, they usually only last up to an hour early in the evening. Generally there is an older age group in attendence, but there is still a lot of fun to be had. Think about becoming a donating ‘friend’ of your local library, and they update you constantly about up-coming events. Libraries in the area really could use the support, and you cannot go wrong with getting FREE food.
*To those that watch Grey’s Anatomy, this is not just a poke at you or the show. It is just an example
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