The United States recently announced the first ever licenses for offshore wind farms. Five different leases were given to four different companies last week. The wind energy development would occur offshore of New Jersey and Delaware. The farms would be placed along the Outer Continental Shelf.

Unfortunately, until this point there have been no wind farms built in the United States. There have been numerous proposals of such farms, but none have been built as of yet. These leases are allowing for companies to attain information to determine the future of wind farms in particular areas. Meteorological towers will be placed in the proposed areas, anywhere from 6-18 miles offshore.

The companies given leases were: Bluewater Wind New Jersey; Bluewater Wind Delaware; Fishermen’s Energy of New Jersey; and Deepwater Wind (granted two leases). The entirety of the information attained from the meteorological towers will be used by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service in order to determine the placement of the wind farms.

In the near future you could stare up at the New York sky and see a multitude of kites sailing in the wind. No, it won’t be a kite festival but a flight of high altitude energy generators. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution and California State University cite the winds over the Big Apple as a potential wind energy mine. The high altitude winds (or more known as Jet streams) globally have enough energy to supply the world’s energy 100 times over.

Jet streams are never-ceasing all year round, only changing direction with seasons. They are belts of fast winds at altitudes between 20,000 and 50,000 feet. They are also less faltering and ten times faster than winds found closer to the ground. Thus, they counter the vagaries of the wind to a certain extent and make for a more dependable supply of energy if tapped.

In theory, many schemes have existed for long to tap into this reservoir of energy. Using wind turbines in the form of kites tethered to the ground by cables is just one of them.  

Decreasing wind may prove to be a potential disturbance for alternative energy across the United States. Early information compiled is pointing to dying wind speeds across the United States, which would be an immense hit to the growing wind energy sector.

Two scientists, Eugene Takle from Iowa State University and Sara Pryor from Indiana University, are publishing their findings in the August edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research. Based on their study, winds across the United States have been reducing since 1973. The main area of concern is east of the Mississippi.

Some places in the Midwest have seen average and peak wind speeds drop as much as ten percent. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Louisiana, Virginia, Kansas, Illinois, Georgia, Maine and Montana have all seen the highest drops in wind speed. In addition, the areas surrounding the Great Lakes have seen the greatest declines.

Statoil recently installed the world’s first floating wind turbine off the coast of Norway. The experimental turbine will be in place for two years while the company determines future steps for the turbine. The turbine, if successful, is expected to resolve numerous issues currently involved in wind farms on land and sea.

The turbine will be anchored to the seabed with cables and can be in waters upwards of 700 meters. The aspect of the turbine allowing it to float lies below the surface and is about 100 meters long. Cables will connect the turbine to land. The company states that the farther from shore the turbine is, the more costly due to the amount of cable required.

The floating wind turbines are expected to solve numerous issues, such as lack of room for land turbines. Wind farther out to sea is also more consistent and stronger, increasing energy. In addition, the floating turbines will reduce issues for the shipping industry, tourism, military radar operations and birds.

The hero of this story is a one of a kind microbe called Methanobacterium palustre. This microbe discovered recently has the unique ability to synthesize methane from electric current. You might wonder that the reverse would have better for an energy starved world. After all, isn’t methane a greenhouse gas.

But look at it this way - alternative energy sources like solar and wind have long struggled with feasible ways to store the energy they generate during the day for use at night. And they are notoriously fickle with continuous supply. Nature dependent it is difficult to regulate peaks and troughs of actual demand. It is called load balancing. The discovery of this microbe opens up the possibility. Current generated can be stored as fuel in the form of methane. That is, store it when supply is high and demand is low…release it when the demand goes up.

The microbe uses electrons in combination with hydrogen to generate methane. The efficiency rate of its production is at a high of 80%. Methane is the main constituent of natural gas and already distribution systems exist in the form of pipelines and storage tanks. So use and distribution of methane should not be a logistical problem.

There is no doubt that alternative energy has the potential to replace some of the more inefficient energy producers such as coal plants, nuclear energy and oil, but which alternatives will have the most influence? Utilizing the following forms of alternative energy may be more sustainable for the planet and cheaper for the U.S. A study by Mark Jacobson of the Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University determined that these seven alternative energy sources were on top.

• Wind: In January 2009, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) published a release stating that wind energy grew by 8,358 MW, which is enough power to serve more than 2 million homes. In addition, this growth provided $17 billion into the economy.
• Concentrated Solar Power/Solar Panels: In a March 2001 report, the Department of Energy published a report stating, “Enough energy from the sun falls on the Earth everyday to power our homes and businesses for almost 30 years.” Concentrated solar power uses mirrors with the aid of the sun to heat towers of water. One of the largest solar power tower systems is called Solar Two, which is located in California.

In a new study released by the American Wind Energy Association, it was revealed that the small wind turbine market grew substantially in 2008. In the United States, the small wind turbine market grew 78 percent in 2008.

17.3 megawatts of new capacity was installed in 2008 using small wind turbines. Across the globe, 38.7 megawatts of new capacity was installed. In good news for 2009, 2,800 WM of wind energy was installed across the United States in only the first quarter of the year. This equates to enough energy to power 816,000 homes.

United States manufacturers sold approximately half of all small wind turbines that were installed worldwide in 2008. This accounted for $77 million of a $156 million total.

Private investment is one of the main reasons for the small wind turbine growth, including in the commercial market. The largest small wind turbine segment is residential, due in large part to increased electricity prices and greater public awareness.

Wind energy is in vogue if the crowds at the Windpower 2009 convention at Chicago can be believed. The appeal lies in savings as well as in being charge of one’s own energy needs.

Darrin Russell of Southwest Windpower says,

“It's nice watching the (electricity) meter go backward. Sometimes it gets going pretty fast when the wind blows hard."

His company’s product, a 2.4 kilowatt Skystream turbine was one of the prime exhibits at the convention. Going by the flood of queries and crowd interest, wind power can be effectively sold to homeowners if the dynamics of cost and scale work out. The cost gets further lessened with pro-alternative energy tax policies and other discounts. Darin’s own setup with a ticket price of $14,000 came to him for virtually nothing as a 30 percent federal tax credit for wind projects large and small, state tax credits and rebates of up to $9,000 helped to slash the final price. The electricity bill for his first month of use was naught.

On a usual lazy bus ride through the winding roads of west Ireland last week I encountered before me the increasingly common sight of the monoliths of alternative power, in this case, windmills. I’ve always loved windmills, their size and stature, the grandeur of their scale and attempt to harness a bit of the world’s natural rhythm. Even more so because they also for me symbolize the continuing conversion to green energy and a way to support growing infrastructure without using limited materials. 

So you can imagine why I wanted to find out more about these particular windmills, which are in fact part of an Airtricity farm. Airtricity is a Scottish-owned company, which has farms all across Europe including Scotland, England, Wales, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, and of course, Ireland. As part of their operating schematic, the company both generates and supplies electricity to over 38,000 customers in Ireland alone.

Google is teaming with the National Audubon Society and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to create a mapping tool. The mapping tool, which can be used by anyone, depicts the places that renewable power developers can and cannot build. The project is being called The Path To Green Energy.

The two groups and Google collaborated to include maps of endangered species habitats and protected lands including national parks, all included on one interactive map. Currently the map only covers 13 Western states, but hopes to add more states in the near future. The groups also plan on adding more species and including information such as areas with the most sunshine and strongest winds.

The groups are hoping that the elaborate mapping tool will reduce the number of renewable energy battles in the future. Wind and solar companies do not want to be slowed down by issues with their projects, such as building on endangered species’ habitat. Google, NRDC and the Audubon Society hope to reduce the number of issues with the easy to use tool. However, the groups do agree that it would be impossible to eliminate all battles.