What can you do?

Here is a website to see the many different activities in Alaska involving Wind Power. There is a list of things available to almost everybody. Please take a look and do what you can do it support the Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program.

Fact vs Myth

Fact or Myth: Wind Turbines are a nuisance.
Fact or Myth: Turbine lighting is exccessive.
Fact of Myth: Nearby residences will be affected by shadow flicker.

Chech out this site to get the facts and myths of wind turbines. Brought to you by the American Wind Energy Association.

Stimulus may get small wind turbines spinning

According to this March 2009 CNN article, President Obama's 787 billion dollar stimulus package can possibly jumpstart the industy of small wind turbines. With the United States being the leading manufacturer of small wind technologies, with this new package, the small turbine market can go up 40-50% yearly.

However, the actually placement of the turbines is a little difficult. "It is true that doing wind in urban environments is a lot trickier than in rural environments," said Johanna Partin, San Francisco's Renewable Energy Program manager, who also coordinates the task force. "But the reason you rarely see [turbines in cities] may be that we just haven't figured out how to do it yet." Therefore, soon we will possibly be seeing more turbines in urban areas along with rural areas. With the improvement of technology nowadays, anything is possible.

From the Danish Wind Energy Association website, this graph shows the power curve of a wind turbine which shows how large the electrical power output will be for the turbine at the varying wind speeds.

An anemometer is used to find the power curve. It is placed near but not too close to the turbine itself, because the wind created by the spinning wheel will cause an unaccurate wind speed.

The second image is of an anemometer. These are also used at weather station to measure wind speed.

Wind Turbines video in Kotzebue

Take a look at this video of the wind turbine operation, called the Northwind 100 Arctic Operation, taking place in Kotzebue, Alaska. These turbines are currently capturing and converting wind into energy, as of April 2008.

Purchasing a Wind Turbine

Purchasing a wind turbine is just as easy as buying a new pair of shoes. There are many different websites to order personal wind turbines, such as northerntool.com. According to this website, wind turbines run from between $199 to $10,000. If you are interested in purchasing a wind turbine and putting it into use, take a look at this website.

Sydney's Carbon Footprint

Your energy use is approximately:
42299 kWh per year

Your carbon footprint is approximately:
42.2 tonnes CO2 per year


I am not at all surprised to see my carbon footprint to be this high. Before my siblings and I left the house for college, there were 5 of us living in a two-story, 14 bedroom home. One can only imagine the amount of energy it took to heat a house that large in the winter. Fortunately the winters in southeast Alaska do not get as cold as the winters up here in Anchorage, which has a positive effect on the environment. We do own a wood stove that we use quite frequently in the fall and winter, but we still own a few electric heaters to distribute the heat upstairs, since the wood stove is downstairs.
We also owned 2 cars, plus my dads work van he drove to and from work everyday. Metlakatla, Alaska is a very small town and cars there are almost unnecessary, except for my family and a couple other individuals who live approximately 7 miles out of town. Our commutes to and from work and school were relatively short, compared to the average person living in a larger city.
On top of that, my family loves to travel. We have flown clear across the country a few times.
As you can see, my family does not particularly live a 'green' life. However, my Dad works for the local power company in Metlakatla, Alaska and recently came up to Anchorage to promote the use of wind turbines. So I guess you can say we're doing a little green livin' :)