Photo via This week, two prominent cases where noisiness threatened to thwart the environment rose to the fore: First, SunChips announced that it was because consumers complained that it was too noisy. Secondly, in an only slightly less ridiculous story, the New York Times profiled residents across the country who live near wind turbines and ...

Americans once thought they would fly personal helicopters to work. We also thought we’d have nuclear power plant islands floating off the coasts.

These and other quirky facts are part of Alexis Madrigal’s “green tech timeline” that shows where we’ve been, what we failed at, and what our future could look like in terms of energy production.Madrigal, senior editor at the Atlantic, is clear that the debate over energy sources did not begin in the last decade, or even the last 50 years. In fact, seeking alternative forms of energy has been part of the American dialogue since as early as the 19th century. In his talk at CalTech on Thursday night, titled “The History of the Future: Clean Tech History,” he explained how early Americans thought they could manipulate the natural landscape, and how early inventors sought to create solutions to rapidly growing energy demands. As America grew and became the nation we recognize today, more homes meant a greater need for power, electr...

Air strakes (small wings) on the inside of each blade act like canals that capture and channel the air flow. The devices accelerate and direct the airflow through air jets onto the next blade. This action further assists in blade rotation. These design features, says the company, let the unit turn in low-speed wind and provide high-torque conversions with predictable results

The wind power market has been dominated by large horizontal wind turbines that compromise the ability of many companies to take advantage of wind power at their buildings or plants. This is due to the economics of horizontal wind turbines that favor large units and current technology dynamics.

A new design for a drag-propulsion device is said to let its rim speed exceed that of a similarly sized horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT). The unconventional drag-propulsion design, uses concave and convex surfaces to continually divert wind mass to turbine blades. Force is applied to the turbine blades both entering and l...

Shipping a nacelle is no easy task. Depending on weight most nacelles will require multiple axled trailer configurations to support the inland transport requirements. In the case of this picture, a 19-axle trailer is required to move this 76 ton nacelle. Along with the right truck and trailer configuration, approved routing permits and escorts for each state are also required.

Over the last few years, a 1.5-MW wind turbine has been a prevalent size on U.S. roads and wind farms. It is about the largest and heaviest that transports easily on most U.S. roads. But turbine design is trending to larger units, hence, 2.5 and 3 MW units will soon be more frequently encountered. These will be challenges for transport and construction companies because each state has different rules, and approved routes change as frequently as does the wind. This is potentially bad news for wind farm developers that expect to stay on construction schedules.

Larger equipment presents a transportation challenges b...