I am in Newport, Rhode Island this week attending an Energy Management course. We needed a field trip for the course, and a couple geocultural aspects of this small state worked in our favor. For starters, ever since Roger Williams went all crazy up in these parts, Rhode Island has been very religious. This religious fervor led to the creation of numerous monasteries and parochial schools. The existence of old blood in the area has created schools with $40k tuition vying for rich kids. Every school is looking to distinguish itself, and the Portsmouth Abbey School does it with Eco-friendliness. Three years ago they put up a giant wind turbine:
That's a monk standing next to a wind turbine. How crazy is that? Anyhow, the wind turbine generates approximately 40% of the school's annual electricity needs.
Besides the monk mill aspect of the endeavor, I think wind turbines are an embodiment of the future. This white beacon of techno-beauty sits quietly, gently swoosh-swooshing as it generates 670 kW of power. It silently turns to face the wind and spins at a relaxing 28.5 revolutions per minute. It's like a giant white noise maker. I want one in my backyard.
It definitely makes a statement. At 164 feet high, it is visible from the main road about a mile away from the abbey. And even from that distance, the 77-foot blades look like they are spinning quite fast, and in fact they're spinning at a pace of 157 mph measured at the tip. And this particular wind turbine is a small one. It is the only thing I know that moves that fast and that quietly.
We need more of these things
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