Wind turbines in Europe. In the world there are turbines that produce about 50 thousand megawatts of energy; Most of them were established in Europe, but now they are spreading in China and India
By Michael Strauss, Herald Tribune
Paris. Until recently, wind energy barely caused a ripple in the global energy industry, which in the meantime continued to use oil as if the reserves were never ending. But in recent years, the wind energy industry has been gaining momentum - and hundreds of wind turbines are popping up across Europe and the world.
The rise in the status of wind energy began in the 90s in Europe; It was driven by the opposition to nuclear energy following the Chernobyl disaster, the closing of power plants in East Germany that caused a lot of pollution, and concerns following the Gulf War that there would not be a regular supply of oil from the Middle East. And there was also another consideration: in wind-swept areas like northern Europe and large parts of Asia, why not take advantage of what nature has given instead of getting involved with polluting energy sources?
Analysts in the industry believe that the dizzying speed at which the field is developing reflects favorable political and technological conditions, as well as an increase in the prices of conventional energy - mainly oil. The industry is also expanding because of commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of air pollution, which are included in the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union directive to produce 22.1% of the electricity in the EU countries from renewable sources by 2010. From five countries that made extensive use of wind energy, the number has increased in recent years to about 20.
However, not everyone agrees with the rosy picture painted by wind turbine supporters. Opponents argue that wind is not a reliable source of constant energy, and that government subsidies will make wind energy cost consumers much more than electricity from other sources.
A problem that bothers many is the fact that the new machines are big, noisy and need a lot of space. "A solar panel on the roof of a house is almost invisible, but 30 wind machines on a ridge definitely stand out," says analyst Rick Sellers. The project is particularly objectionable in the UK: the country's nature conservationists are shocked by the dozens of turbines erected across green areas. It is easiest to set up commercial windmills in countries like Germany, Denmark and Spain, where the industry started. According to the European Commission, France is the most problematic country, where countless permits are needed for the construction of the turbines.
In response to public concern, legislation was recently proposed in the US Congress to limit the location of wind farms eligible for government subsidies and to give local governments more time to decide whether to build such farms. "The turbines are not the windmills of the days of the founding fathers, which spin gently. These are huge machines," said Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who introduced the bill.
Meanwhile, the market continues to expand. Traditional manufacturers of power generating equipment such as Mitsubishi in Japan, Siemens in Germany and General Electric in the USA have begun to produce large turbines for wind energy. General Electric announced last month that its revenues from wind energy equipment this year - its third year in the industry - will exceed $2 billion. The company's announcement stated that "wind energy continues to be the sector with the fastest growth in the energy industry".
Seaweed companies feverishly enter the industry; Worldwide sales of wind turbines reached a total of eight billion dollars last year. "I constantly receive phone calls from companies wanting information," says Corin Mila, CEO of the "European Wind Energy Organization".
Around the world there are currently wind turbines that produce about 50 thousand megawatts of wind energy - about 34 thousand of which are produced in Europe. However, if Europe has so far been weak in the production of wind energy, the situation is now gradually changing, Mila says. "There is growth in Asia, especially China and India. The American market will probably be the biggest market this year."
New energy
by Alan Quall
Following the crisis in the oil market, as well as following the directive of the European Union to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to comply with the Kyoto Convention, the wind energy industry is growing rapidly. The big companies are also profiting: wind turbines were sold last year for more than 8 billion dollars. However, opponents argue that the turbines do not produce enough energy, and destroy the landscape. Environmental activists object: it's not polluting, but what about our landscape? And on the other side: claims that the turbines were only meant to enrich the giant companies.
Sir Chris Bonnington, one of Britain's best-known mountaineers, climbed the Alps and Everest in his time. Today his attention is devoted to a hill that is only 463 meters high, which would not have gained its name and fame if it were not for a plan to put windmills on top of it. Lots of windmills. It is a whole chain of turbines, which he calls "monstrosity".
Here on the edge of the Lake District, which boasts, among other things, a glorious literary history, Bonnington is trying to prevent a private company from building a 27-turbine wind farm on a ridge called Winash. Each of them will be transformed to a height of more than 111 meters. In the eyes of many, the place is a combination of beauty, culture and village life, as expressed in the poetry of William Wordsworth, in the stories of Beatrix Potter and in the descriptions of spiritual people who came to rest there to escape the industrial north at the time of Britain.
Bonnington joined a wider struggle, which may turn out to be decisive, in attempts to find a balance between the conservation of nature and the wild areas of Britain, and the goal of generating 10% of electricity from renewable sources by 2010 as part of the struggle to reduce greenhouse gases. Like similar conflicts in the US, the skirmish over the wind farm in Winash, which will be worth 100 million dollars, divided the ecological movement. She once again raised the question of whether energy produced from wind is nothing more than a huge and expensive experiment, which will enrich the builders of the farms without significantly reducing greenhouse gases. But in Winash, the fight is on for the site directly adjacent to the Lake District National Park, which is considered part of the nation's soul, and which served for almost 60 years as a protected refuge of rugged wild areas and common lands.
"I'm not against wind energy, we need to find alternative energy sources," Bonnington said. "But the aesthetic and environmental impact of each specific wind farm must be examined compared to the rewards that grow from the amount of clean energy it will generate. And according to this consideration, Vinash simply does not make sense."
The technical arguments of the opponents are familiar. Wind is not stable enough to generate constant power, the 100 wind farms in the UK produce a tiny proportion of the country's electricity, and government subsidies will mean that wind energy will cost consumers much more than electricity from other sources in the UK.
But in a two-month public investigation on the subject, the opponents of the project put forward a series of arguments that go far beyond the technical considerations. They conjure up horrific images of the rape of nature through industrialization using, for example, the words of the poet William Blake who spoke in 1801 about Satanic Mills ("Satanic Mills", a metaphor for the new factories that were established at the time).
"Threats to the Lake District are not new," said Susan Denier, an expert on cultural heritage sites. "But the size, scope and power inherent in the potential impact of a wind farm in Vinash are already of a completely different order of magnitude." The private company, which is seeking approval for the project, claims that it will provide "clean" energy to 47 homes and 100 residents. It will be visible, they add, only from certain parts of the lake region.
Environmentalists and conservationists in the UK are divided on the issue. Organizations such as Greenpeace and "Friends of the Earth" support the construction of turbines, on the grounds that if greenhouse gases are not reduced, the debate on the beauty of nature will become irrelevant and the landscapes will be damaged on an unimaginable scale. This argument found supporters among people like Kanin Weir, an 18-year-old who was walking near Winash with four friends and a dog named Wiz. "The turbines are a good idea because if we do nothing, the world will come to an end," she said. "If we don't stop global warming, we won't have beautiful landscapes anyway."
Wind farms will be established in the north, despite the opposition
By Rinat Zafarir
Electricity production from wind energy in Israel has so far been extremely limited in scope, and included one farm of turbines in the Golan Heights (production capacity of 5-6 megawatts), and several additional turbines erected for demonstration purposes in the Galilee and Gilboa. These wind turbines were erected about 25 years ago, and since then almost no new turbines have been added to produce energy from the wind.
This situation should change soon following the approval of plans to establish two larger farms, one in Gilboa and the other in the Ramat Sirin area, located southwest of the Sea of Galilee. But even after the construction of these farms, whose production capacity will be about 50 megawatts, wind energy will still supply a tiny part of Israel's electricity consumption. Meanwhile, Israel still bases most of its electricity on two main energy sources: burning fuel oil and coal.
The electricity company says that the construction of the wind turbines will reduce air pollution. However, the Society for the Protection of Nature opposed the establishment of the new farms, especially the one in Ramat Sirin. Like the environmental activists in the UK, there are also activists in Israel who believe that the high cost of the turbines and the relatively low energy produced from them, as well as the damage caused to the landscape by these large and slightly disturbing structures, do not justify their construction.
The members of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel fear that the turbines will harm the huge flocks of birds that come to Israel twice a year. Another concern is that a row of turbines several kilometers long on the Sirin plateau will seriously damage the landscape. These claims were not accepted by the planning institutions, and the plans were approved.
In Israel, environmental activists have also heard claims that wind farms are expensive and unreliable, due to the constant changes in wind strength: according to the activists, there is no justification to pay a heavy price for damage to the landscape and green areas, for expensive facilities whose benefit is apparently only marginal.
