http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-power-without-the-blades.html

I found this article online and I thought it was a pretty creative way for obtaining energy from the wind. Everyone has seen the wind turbine here on campus but this method they are proposing in the article is a much more mechanically efficient system. For those of you who haven't yet clicked on the link, I advise you to do so, mainly because of the pretty pictures :eagerness:. Anyway, the system is comprised of around 1000 stalks, resembling cattails, that would sway in the wind and generate power from this motion. Obviously, this type of system would not be something we would see in a residential area, but rather in a wind farm type setting. I think this design is very creative and could become a sort-of visitor attraction for nerdy folks such as me.

Reading this article got me thinking about Upstate New York's own wind situation. Being located on Lake Ontario, we have a lot of wind, and therefore potential to make energy, most of which is just being wasted at the moment without implementing windturbines and other devices. I knkow that many people have been against such measures for reasons of noise, harm to birds, and what ever else they can think of. To them I have to say, I hope they do a little research and learn a little before judging the situation. Anyway, I found this image on humdingerwind.com that made me think alittle..

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You can't really see it, as the image doesn't enlarge enough, but right around Lake Ontario, the wind rating is good to excellent. Just something I thought should be pointed out. Overall, New York may not have a very high rating as compared to other states, but it is important to look at the area around the lake in particular. Also, I thought it was interesting that Germany, as of 2006, had 27.9% of the world's technology to obtain power installed, while the United States had 15.7%. This data was gathered from a powerpoint on wind energy from humdingerwind.com. At the bottom of this image it says that Germany's Potential is 100 GW while just North Dakota's Potential is 250 GW. Its little things like this that make you wonder why the US isn't doing a little bit more to step it up.