Ever since the electrical wind turbine was invented, people have been looking for ways to make it more efficient and cost-effective. There have always been concerns over the amount of energy that simply passes around the blades, and the high level of maintenance required during a turbine's lifetime.

In recent years manufacturers have focused much of their efforts on two principles they hope will make the most of this endless source of energy: ever-longer blades to capture maximum gusts, and simplified drivetrains (including new generators) that significantly reduce the need for costly repairs at sea.

US-based energy giant GE have decided to combine the two in its next generation wind turbine that the company claim is 24 percent more efficient than regular turbines. The new 4MW turbine is designed specifically for offshore deployment and will lie at the core of the company's European expansion plans. GE are set to invest 340 million euros in the development of this technology.

Europe's bright future

"Offshore wind will play a vital role in meeting the growing global demand for cleaner, renewable energy and has a bright future here in Europe," said Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco, president and CEO of GE International.

"These investments will position us to help develop Europe's vast, untapped offshore wind resources, while also creating new jobs for both GE and our suppliers."

Using carbon fibre GE have designed more aerodynamic, lightweight, 176-foot blades - 40 percent longer than the average - that are designed to twist and bend with the wind, allowing them to withstand way more of the wind's power whilst capturing far more of its energy. The blades also have a flat (rather than tapered) edge giving them a shape that increases lift.

Furthermore these huge blades will connect to a next gen drivetrain that doesn't need a gear box - normally used to ramp up the RPMs to generate more electricity - which simplifies the whole system massively and does away with the need for regular, high-cost maintenance thus prolonging the lifetime of the turbine.

Europe's huge wind potential

The new turbine doesn't need a gearbox because the 90-ton generator consists of a nearly 20-foot ring of magnets that spins to produce current. Its large diameter lets it create a lot of power when turning slowly, at the same 8 to 20 rpm as the blades, so it doesn't need a gearbox to speed it up to the thousands of rpm most megawatt generators require.

Various stages of the new technology are being tested in the Netherlands and Norway.

The offshore wind potential of Europe is appreciated across the globe, and it is of little surprise that some of the world's biggest energy companies are willing to invest heavily in the industry.

The European Wind Energy Association expects that Europe's offshore wind sector will grow more than 70 percent in 2010, with continued growth forecast over the next several years. If all of the offshore wind projects currently in development are completed, they could produce 10 percent of the European Union's total electricity while avoiding 200 million tons of CO2 emissions each year.

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Even though the world's developed nations are notorious for being among the most polluting, they can afford the economic cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental clean up efforts. On the other hand, developing economies that are also producing large amounts of carbon do not have the resources or experience to counter-balance their increasing emissions.

Therefore it is little wonder that the city of Linfen in China, in the middle of the nation's coal industry, and Sumgayt, Azerbaijan, have been named the most polluted places in the world. As one of Russia's satellite states that was left under-developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan has not been able to deal with its escalating carbon production as a result of its mass-manufacturing of industrial and agricultural chemicals and its heavy reliance on oil.

Linfen has the worst air quality in the whole of China due to choking clouds of coal dust that linger over the city. The high levels of pollution are also taking a serious toll on human health: clinics are recording growing cases of bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer.

Controlling emissions

An alarming number of the most polluted cities are in China, where concern for the environment comes second to fuelling the country's huge economic growth. They have the financial resources to deal with the pollution, but are instead choosing to put more money into meeting the insatiable energy of its ever-growing population.

According to a report by the Blacksmith Institute, communism's lack of environmental programs and the collapse of industrial controls lead to the former Soviet Union's waste products seeping into the environment.

The UN climate change summit in Copenhagen, that so famously flopped in December last year, was vital to putting as many nations as possible on the same path to curbing carbon emissions. As energy demands increase and populations continue to grow, it cannot be left up to the developed world alone to invest capital into controlling the emissions their industrial activity produces.

Europe has strong renewable energy policies in place and look likely to meet the target of producing 20 percent of energy from clean sources by 2020. The USA also has a promising renewable energy market and legislation could be on its way to further regulate emissions. Even China and other less-environmentally-savvy countries like South Africa and India are now starting to develop their own clean energy technology programmes.

Dangers to health

If not for the environment, then nations must invest to control pollution for the sake of people's health. In all of the cities mentioned on the list of the world's most polluted places, the health of millions of people is at risk.

Lower IQs, short attention spans, learning disabilities, hyperactivity, impaired physical growth, hearing and visual problems, stomach aches, irritation of the colon, kidney malfunction, anaemia and brain damage, can all stem from poor air quality and contaminated food and water supplies.

Governments all over the world must establish legislation that can encourage the development of high-level technologies to help control emissions, but also legislation that can control things such as illegal operations that also help to make places heavily polluted.

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Honda and Toyota have so far been the biggest car brands to get involved with creating green-machines and both have enjoyed relative success (despite, obviously, Toyota's recent problems involving their Prius model). But now BMW have announced they are to develop an electric car by 2013, adding a touch of glamour to the clean-auto industry.

Beginning in 2011, a number of drivers will lease BMW's next electric test vehicle, the four-passenger ActiveE, a concept EV recently debuted at the Detroit Auto Show - essentially an electric-drive version of the BMW 1-series. However, perhaps the coolest thing about this story is the factory in which the EV is to be developed. State-of-the-are is a criminal injustice to this place, where the car production lines travel through the office space right over the heads of the workers below!

Designed in 2005 by Zaha Hadid Architects and opened that same year it remains BMW's most flexible factory space, so it should have no trouble ramping up production of the electric vehicles quickly.

Elsewhere, in Amsterdam, architects have designed a beautiful and luxurious solution to serious floods - floating islands (below).

Dutch architect Anne Holtrop has collaborated with green technology firm Studio Noach and botanist Patrick Blanc to design the Spa Wellness Amsterdam project which capitalizes upon its watery environs with a hydroponic growing system that sustains a vibrant crop of oxygen producing plants. The designers suggest that this vegetation will also provide a breeding ground for birds, butterflies, and insects. The main structure of the island will be made from the composite GreenRexwall - developed in collaboration with the German constructor Aquahouse GmbH - a strong and buoyant material made from recycled polystyrenem meaning cement, steel or bricks do not need to be used.

Both of these stories are perfect examples of how clean technology engineering can be both practical and beautiful!

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It's been quite a while since my last post and since then my focus has started shifting from our present energy concerns to our future energy solutions. Instead of sticking in the mud with thoughts of global oil scams, energy firm monopolies or Obama's confusing policies on offshore drilling I have instead starting concentrating on the pragmatic people out there who are trying to give us all a cleaner, brighter future.

The current "energy crisis" (i.e. Peak oil etc) has given us many reasons to be fearful, but crisis also breeds opportunity. Just like a recession spurs many people on to innovate and diversify away from the norm in order to maintain profit in a hostile economy, an energy crisis inspires people to dream up new ways of producing and conserving energy. This can be anything from a small research group developing power generating footballs, right up to government level policies that aim to encourage and assist people to take the fight against climate change into their own hands.

So, from now on this blog will aim to expose the people that are making a difference instead of spewing stagnant criticism of those currently failing to move us forward.

Thus, I'm starting with the news that the city of San Francisco has taken a couple of baby steps to becoming America's first sustainable city by giving loans to people involved in water conservation, renewable energy and energy efficiency projects for both homes and businesses. Remember the Danish island of Samso (below) that last year became the world's first energy self-sustainable society? Could San Francisco win the race to become America's first energy self-sufficient city? Full story here.

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