Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are getting really big — some with blades as long as a football field — and more powerful, often generating 50 times more electricity than the first generation of wind power machines built in the 1980s. But scientists are also studying how to harness the wind in different ways that could help allay concerns that today's turbines are unattractive, noisy and sometimes even dangerous. Already in the works: Turbines that float and turbines that fly. Turbines without blades and turbines with blades fat enough to fit a double-decker bus inside.

Two more golden eagles have been found dead at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power wind farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, for a total of eight carcasses of the federally protected raptors found at the site. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to determine the cause of death of the two golden eagles found Sunday at the Pine Tree wind farm, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles and 15 miles northeast of Mojave, said Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the agency. The agency has determined that the six golden eagles found dead earlier at the 2-year-old wind farm in Kern County were struck by blades from some of the 90 turbines spread across 8,000 acres at the site.

Determined not to sink along with other links in the auto-supply chain, family-run Dowding Industries Inc. borrowed $12 million to leap into the "green" future and leave the dirty assembly line behind. Almost two years later, Dowding has built the plant and bought the machines to make parts for wind turbines, providers of clean energy intended to help the U.S. become less reliant on foreign oil. But so far Dowding has found little demand. Instead, Dowding's big new machines are making a 35-foot-long, 20-ton steel part for a high-powered water jet system used to cut disposable diapers, brownies and even steel.

Wind energy now supplies about 5% of California's total electricity needs, or enough to power more than 400,000 households. That's the word from the California Wind Energy Assn., which said that California put up more new turbines than any state last year, with 921.3 megawatts installed. Most of that activity occurred in the Tehachapi area of Kern County, with some big projects in Solano, Contra Costa and Riverside counties as well. “The total amount of wind energy installations in 2011 created a banner year for wind generation in California and is helping to drive California closer to reaching its goal of 33% renewable energy ,” said Nancy Rader, executive director of the California Wind Energy Assn.  Wind capacity in the Golden State has doubled since 2002.

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District plans to install 15 new wind turbines to boost its energy output, officials said. The additions are part of an expansion of the utility's power plant in the Montezuma Hills area west of Rio Vista. Officials said the new turbines will produce three times more electricity than the eight older turbines.

Wind turbines are getting a close look as an energy source, but wildlife officials do not want the devices to be a source of problems for birds and waterfowl. Dead cormorants, gulls, owls, pelicans and songbirds are found daily beneath the electrical transmission towers across the Lake Audubon causeway near Underwood, said Dave Potter, Audubon Wildlife Refuge manager.

Although wind power has been promoted as kind to the environment, giant wind turbines that generate electricity are proving fatal to golden eagles and other birds. As many as 567 eagles, hawks and other birds of prey were killed by turbine blades and electrical wires during the last two years in the Altamont Pass area near Livermore, the California Energy Commission said. With 7,000 turbines, the 80-acre area has the world's highest concentration of electricity-generating windmills.

Alameda County has approved permits for 1,700 wind turbines east of San Francisco, despite opposition from environmentalists who say the energy-producing equipment kills thousands of protected birds. The East Alameda Board of Zoning Adjustments approved the permits Thursday after the energy companies that operate the turbines said efforts were being made to reduce bird deaths in the Altamont Pass, one of California's largest centers of wind energy production.

Ground has been broken for two new wind turbines, the first new-generation sources for renewable energy in the state since the electricity market was opened to competition, said Green Mountain Energy Resources, an electricity marketer specializing in "green" energy. Burlington, Vt.-based Green Mountain has promised to build a turbine for every 4,000 customers who chose its all-wind power product. The turbines are being built in the San Gorgonio Pass, near Palm Springs.

Donna and Bob Moran moved to the wind-whipped foothills here four years ago looking for solitude and serenity amid the pinyon pines and towering Joshua trees. But lately their view of the valley is being marred by a growing swarm of whirring wind turbines — many taller than the Statue of Liberty — sweeping ever closer to their home. "Once, you could see stars like you wouldn't believe," Donna Moran said. "Now, with the lights from the turbines, you can't even see the night sky. " It's about to get worse.

California wants 12 gigawatts of electricity from local clean power sources, such as rooftop solar panels, small wind turbines and fuel cells, by 2020, Gov. Jerry Brown said at a gathering of more than 200 energy experts at UCLA that he convened Monday. Twelve gigawatts is enough to power roughly 3 million homes. But Brown was short on details about the mechanics of reaching that goal. "It's going to take all manner of investment, risk taking and collaboration," he said. At the moment, the state's renewable energy portfolio is laden with large wind and solar farms sprawling over remote deserts and mountains.

Wind turbines are getting really big — some with blades as long as a football field — and more powerful, often generating 50 times more electricity than the first generation of wind power machines built in the 1980s. But scientists are also studying how to harness the wind in different ways that could help allay concerns that today's turbines are unattractive, noisy and sometimes even dangerous. Already in the works: Turbines that float and turbines that fly. Turbines without blades and turbines with blades fat enough to fit a double-decker bus inside.

Donna and Bob Moran moved to the wind-whipped foothills here four years ago looking for solitude and serenity amid the pinyon pines and towering Joshua trees. But lately their view of the valley is being marred by a growing swarm of whirring wind turbines — many taller than the Statue of Liberty — sweeping ever closer to their home. "Once, you could see stars like you wouldn't believe," Donna Moran said. "Now, with the lights from the turbines, you can't even see the night sky. " It's about to get worse.

It's not a regulatory arm of the government, but try to find a gadget in your home that Underwriters Laboratories hasn't touched. Check under the computer mouse or the smoke alarm, beneath the light switch or on the TV cable, and the telltale "UL" stamp will be there. The marking means the device is unlikely to catch fire. And if you accidentally drive away from the gas station with the nozzle still in the tank, UL is the reason you don't haul away the entire pump and set the neighborhood ablaze.

Reporting from Oakland — Scores of protected golden eagles have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines along the ridgelines of the Bay Area's Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, raising troubling questions about the state's push for alternative power sources. The death count, averaging 67 a year for three decades, worries field biologists because the turbines, which have been providing thousands of homes with emissions-free electricity since the 1980s, lie within a region of rolling grasslands and riparian canyons containing one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the United States.

As Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with President Obama this week, America's new enthusiasm for trade restrictions against Chinese renewable technologies may mar the conversation. Last week, Obama signed a defense appropriation law including a "buy American" provision that prohibits the Pentagon from purchasing Chinese solar panels. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act restricted the use of stimulus money to purchase foreign-made materials. And now Congress is entertaining a host of other buy-American initiatives with broad application to Chinese-made renewable technologies.

Regardless of how the Philadelphia Eagles fare in the National Football League playoffs, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie already has received a congratulatory phone call from the president. President Obama's comments a few weeks ago commending the team for giving a "second chance" to quarterback Michael Vick drew more attention, but the president actually phoned Lurie to praise the Eagles for their pursuit of an environmentally friendly stadium. Lurie and his wife, Christina Weiss Lurie, are retrofitting Lincoln Financial Field with wind turbines, solar panels and a biodiesel-reliant power plant with the goal of making it the first major U.S. sports facility to be self-sufficient on renewable fuel.

It's not a regulatory arm of the government, but try to find a gadget in your home that Underwriters Laboratories hasn't touched. Check under the computer mouse or the smoke alarm, beneath the light switch or on the TV cable, and the telltale "UL" stamp will be there. The marking means the device is unlikely to catch fire. And if you accidentally drive away from the gas station with the nozzle still in the tank, UL is the reason you don't haul away the entire pump and set the neighborhood ablaze.

Regardless of how the Philadelphia Eagles fare in the National Football League playoffs, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie already has received a congratulatory phone call from the president. President Obama's comments a few weeks ago commending the team for giving a "second chance" to quarterback Michael Vick drew more attention, but the president actually phoned Lurie to praise the Eagles for their pursuit of an environmentally friendly stadium. Lurie and his wife, Christina Weiss Lurie, are retrofitting Lincoln Financial Field with wind turbines, solar panels and a biodiesel-reliant power plant with the goal of making it the first major U.S. sports facility to be self-sufficient on renewable fuel.

"Dear World," begins an open letter from environmentalist Bill McKibben that's posted on climate crisis website 350.org . In it, he proposes a response to what he calls "a tough year" marked by unprecedented rates of glacial retreat in the Arctic, devastating erosion in Latin America, record-breaking temperatures globally ? and an almost complete failure to do anything about it. His suggestion? Throw a party. "Circle 10/10/10 on your calendar," reads the invitation. "That's the date.