One of the most impressive things about the Danish people is their commitment to the environment---and to being energy independent. Unlike the United States, Denmark is a net energy exporter. That means they produce enough energy to meet their own needs and have leftovers to sell to other nations.
Wouldn't that be nice?
Now, the Danes are lucky in that they've discovered oil off of their coast in the North Sea. This oil is one of the major reasons that they are able to be energy independent. But they've also embraced wind farms as a major energy source as well. In fact, wind energy provides almost 25% of Denmark's electricity today----and there are goals to raise that percentage to 50% in the next twenty years.
And the Danes take their wind farms seriously! Almost any where you go, you'll see turbines (which are really nothing like the old fashioned windmills that were used to grind grain) standing up on the horizon. They're pretty advanced pieces of equipment that turn themselves on when the wind is blowing fast enough and off when the wind blows too fast. They also turn automatically when the wind changes directions!
Want to learn more?
Then check out this collection of videos that I made when I visited a wind farm research center called the Risoe National Laboratory outside of Copenhagen:
This commitment to wind energy means that Denmark doesn't pollute when it is creating electricity. Wind energy is clean---unlike the coal that is used to generate most of the electricity in the United States.
But wind energy also means that there are wind turbines all over the countryside as well---and sometimes off the coast too! Do you think this is a good idea? Is being energy independent worth losing places to play? Would you want to deal with the noise of windfarms in your neighborhood?
Leave a comment to share your thinking and join us again soon here on Get Lost!
Signed,
Bam Bam Bigelow
That picture is one of mine...Whaddya' think?
QUESTION: Human Environment Interaction
While I was browsing through this Denmark wind turbine section I noticed that Denmark cares about the environment than any other country I know. But in a way I think Denmark not only cares about the environment but also how the people react to how the environment has changed. They try to make the changing environment (changed by the energy saving equipment) okay with the people. For example: They have noise makers that monitor the noise level of the wind farm facility. If the noise level gets to high the wind farm engineers must figure out a way to make the noise quieter so the residents of that particular area are not bothered by the paper ripping noise that the blade tip creates. This makes me feel that the people who care about the environment also care about how the people think about it.
-Liron
Posted by: Liron | June 25, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Mr. Ferriter asked the question but wind energy also means that there are wind turbines all over the countryside as well---and sometimes off the coast too! Do you think this is a good idea? Is being energy independent worth losing places to play? Would you want to deal with the noise of wind farms in your neighborhood?
I think that being energy independent has its disadvantages and advantages. One of the advantages is that the wind energy is very clean and it doesn’t burn any coal.
Another advantage is that Denmark can use energy generated by the wind! They can generate 25% of their energy, and if the wind energy market keeps expanding they will be able to generate 50% of their energy. I wonder why other countries don’t participate in this great way to use energy.
The wind turbines are also self adjustable, they will turn on when the wind is going enough, and they will turn off if the wind picks up.
A disadvantage that everyone usually looks at is that the turbines take up a lot of room, and they can be noisy, some people might also say that they don’t generate as much energy that coal would.
Consider my question, are countries overlooking turbines because they don’t generate a ton of electricity? Are they too loud and noisy? Or are they just too expensive?
Posted by: Emily S. | June 25, 2009 at 10:22 AM
I would live close to one, but not right next to it because it would be too hard to live and there would be a lot of construction near my house too. Clean energy is great and knowing that you’re energy is clean is good because one turbine can power hundreds of homes while coal powers fewer homes for tons of pollution that is put into the air.
I wouldn’t be willing to live near one no matter how much clean energy it gives me, it would be too hard to live.
Posted by: The G man | June 25, 2009 at 10:08 AM
In the Going Green with Danish Wind Farms Section, and for the first video. The reason that I’m not surprised that you did a wind farm turbine video is because there are so many of them in Denmark because they have such flat land. I think it would be really hard to connect the turbine and blade In the first place. Just to get a big enough field to put both of them there and then pick them up with something and connect them. It would be very cool to see how they do it step by step to get an understanding how hard it is. But, I don’t understand how to get that up. I can’t think of something that big and then something half that size connected and then lifted 90 degrees in the air and is suppose to stay there. I have 3 different questions for everyone. First, how hard do you think it is to make the blade and turbine? Second, how long do you think it takes to make it? Then lastly, how much do you think it costs altogether?
Posted by: soccer jake! | June 25, 2009 at 10:08 AM
I think that wind farms are a good idea. They allow us to have a clean source of energy, while using a sustainable resource. Also, those wind turbines are HUGE, so chances are, it takes skilled professionals to put them together. This could boost Denmark’s economy, because it supplies jobs for others.
But also, these wind farms are noisy, big, and expensive to build. Since we don't live near wind farms, we think that wind turbines would be a great thing to have because it'd be almost like a landmark. But sooner or later, we'd get sick of listening to the flapping of the wings, and it wouldn't be so much of a special landmark after a while of looking at it.
So you asked if I’d want to deal with the noise in my neighborhood. I really wouldn't. At first I’d say that it'd be so cool to have a wind farm in my neighborhood. But after a while, wouldn't you get tired of hearing a bunch of wind turbines slashing through the air in the middle of the night.
So my question is, why should we bother with wind farms if they're expensive and noisy? And also, what if we put wind farms in a more secluded place, and we found a way to make them quieter? Would you support the idea of wind farms then?
-Caroline W
Posted by: Caroline W | June 25, 2009 at 10:06 AM
In the Going Green with Danish Wind Farms section your question was “would you be willing to live near a wind farm?”
Personally I wouldn’t mind if I lived near a wind farm because I care about the environment, the thing that would be a huge disadvantage is the noise. Your video stated that the most important part of the wind turbine is the engineering of the blade; I think in the future we will be able to invent a blade that doesn’t make a lot of noise. Another disadvantage is some people will not like the turbines blocking there view, but I have a different opinion, I think it would be kind of cool to look at them. The reason Denmark can have wind turbine is because most of the country is flat. The turbines are very large and they take a lot of space, so it has to be in a very uncongested country.
Posted by: Karunesh Polireddy | June 25, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Mr. Ferriter asked the question but wind energy also means that there are wind turbines all over the countryside as well---and sometimes off the coast too! Do you think this is a good idea? Is being energy independent worth losing places to play? Would you want to deal with the noise of wind farms in your neighborhood?
I think that being energy independent has its disadvantages and advantages. One of the advantages is that the wind energy is very clean and it doesn’t burn any coal, which in turn does not punch holes in the ozone layers and wind farms don’t release any CO2 since there is no coal being burned.
Another advantage is that Denmark can use energy generated by the wind! They can generate 25% of their energy, and if the wind energy market keeps expanding they will be able to generate 50% of their energy. I wonder why other countries don’t participate in this great way to use energy.
The wind turbines are also self adjustable, they will turn on when the wind is going enough, and they will turn off if the wind picks up. You really don’t have to worry about going to turn the turbine off, it is really low maintenance.
A disadvantage that everyone usually looks at is that the turbines take up a lot of room, and they can be noisy, some people might also say that they don’t generate as much energy that coal would.
Consider my question, are countries overlooking turbines because they don’t generate a ton of electricity? Are they too loud and noisy? Or are they just too expensive?
Posted by: Emily S. | June 25, 2009 at 10:03 AM