Wind Power

I ended up traveling through a bit of Eastern Europe these past few weeks. The local towns, customs, and people were fascinating. But the point for this blog entry is Austria. I rode though the small towns of Drasenhofen, Poysdorf, Hobersdorf, and many others that I can not spell or say. What did I see towering everywhere? Wind Turbines. Everywhere.

These are pictures I took in Austria while cruising through the country side. I know these pictures does little justice, but imagine how towering these turbines are over these old towns.



In 2004, Around 80% of the electricity used in Austria is from renewable energy. Much of this energy is from hydroelectric, but they are moving to place more wind turbines in the area. 1.5% of the electricity used in all of Austria is from wind power. That was from about 700 turbines. I know that number seems insignificant, but the locals in Austria are more concerned with the environmental damage of the hydroelectric plants. So today these towns, which are older then the US, now have 965 turbines in picturesque areas. We will see numbers grow on Eurostat's web site for 2008 as this push is being made to wind power.

Now you know the side I am taking. We need wind power. I hate to use the NIMBY word here, but it states the fact that one thousand year old towns can do wind power, but not Cape Cod. Why? Keep in mind that we have more wind then Austria, and the visual impact in Austria is way more significant then what we will see on Cape Cod.

Also, every turbine I saw was working. Not like out west in the US, where there is minimal service and support. That's the critical issue with placing these on Nantucket Sound. We need service and support.