Wind farms generate €12b in value

Business Nature Netherlands

Wind farms generate €12b in value

According to Natuur & Milieu (Nature & Environment), wind farms on the sea provide billions to environmental gains, if the social benefits are included.

The study the environmental organization published today states that if the avoided climate damage, from current electricity production from gas and coal, is taken into account, the positive balanced can amount to more than 12 billion euro.

Negative climate impacts are limited by the large-scale deployment of wind energy. According to Natuur & Milieu, the social returns thereof are wrongly calculated. The public debate focus sole on the high investment costs and subsidies. The Second Chamber will debate Minister Kamp’s (Economic Affairs) plans for offshore wind farms tonight.

Natuur & Milieu asked the office SEO Economic Research of the University of Amsterdam to make a social cost-benefit analysis of the wind plans at sea. The environmental impact of CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil materials was included in the calculations. Offshore wind farms will ultimately reduce the CO2 emissions.

According to Natuur & Milieu, wind energy is a smart insurance policy. “Wind farms save high costs for future generations. They are an excellent insurance for our (grand) children. We must invest now to reduce future damage”, says director Tjerk Wagenaar.

The organization believes that the economic cost calculations for wind energy are currently too one-sided. “We are not building wind farms to develop optimal business models, but to keep climate change within limits. Therefore it is important to include climate effects, translated into CO2 costs.” says Wagenaar. “Otherwise you get the bizarre effect that we cheer for the best business model for a windmill while in that scenario the climate damage is perhaps the greatest. A social cost-benefit analysis takes these effects into account.”

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Wind farms generate €12b in value

New silent wind turbine could generate half of a homes electric needs, says company The ...

Megan Treacy of Treehugger reports Silent rooftop wind turbines could generate half of a household’s energy needs

A Dutch company cased The Archimedes has developed a small, highly efficient, and silent rooftop wind energy generator called the Liam1, which it claims could generate half the power a typical house would need, and which they say would be ideal for combining with solar rooftop PV panels.

The company states that the Liam F1 turbine could generate 1,500 kWh of energy at wind speeds of 5m/s, enough to cover half of an average household’s energy use. … When used in combination with rooftop solar panels, a house could run off grid. “When there is wind you use the energy produced by the wind turbine; when the sun is shining you use the solar cells to produce the energy,” The Archimedes CEO Richard Ruijtenbeek said.

The Liam’s blades are shaped like a Nautilus shell. The design allows it to point into the wind to capture the most amount of energy, while also producing very little sound. The inventor of the turbine Marinus Mieremet says that the power output is 80 percent of the theoretical maximum energy that could be harnessed from the wind.

“Generally speaking, there is a difference in pressure in front and behind of the rotor blades of a windmill. However, this is not the case with the Liam F1. The difference in pressure is created by the spatial figure in the spiral blade. This results in a much better performance. Even when the wind is blowing at an angle of 60 degrees into the rotor, it will start to spin. We do not require expensive software: because of its conical shape, the wind turbine yaws itself automatically into the optimal wind direction. Just like a wind vane. And because the wind turbine encounters minimal resistance, he is virtually silent,” said Mieremet.

The Archimedes is now working on an even smaller turbine that could fit on top of lamposts, boats, and smaller applications.

With the announcement today of the EPA’s proposed new standards for reducing carbon emissions, we have all the more reason to look to renewable energy options to supply our energy needs.

Here is a link to the embedded video below that the company offers to explain the history of the Liam1 turbine. The Archimedes windmill movie ENG high quality

New silent wind turbine could generate half of a homes electric needs, says company The ...

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