A former Missile Officer in the East German National People's Army, Peter Meuser, has designed a hydraulic drive for wind power plants. The 64 year old former Lieutenant Colonel once designed an air defense system while serving in the East German military. It was so successful that it is still used today, only now it is employed to protect a unified Germany. Today, he is using that same technological know-how to create greener, more efficient and cheaper renewable energy.
As Chief Engineer at Nordwind, Meuser has designed a wind power plant that uses a hydraulic drive instead of an external power source. Since it does not require a costly transmission or any outside energy source, it is both cheaper to produce and to operate, with less maintenance costs and a longer life. The Nordwind turbine, which has already won a red dot design award, uses dual blade rotor technology reducing installation and maintenance costs.
An 850 killowatt unit is planned for completion this month, following a 150 kw prototype. The entire 60 million Euro project is expected to create 400 jobs, 200 of them for engineers. They currently have production facilities in Uecker-Randow, Germany and in China. It remains to be seen what the cost per kilowatt hour will be of this more efficient wind energy.
Reducing the costs of wind and solar generated energy is key to phasing out dirty (but currently cheap to consumers) energy sources like coal. In more good news on this front, Downstream Strategies has issued a report (pdf) for Coal River Mountain Watch and Sierra Club on the long-term benefits of wind versus mountain top coal removal in Coal River Mountain, West Virginia. "A wind-power production facility along the ridges of Coal River Mountain would provide more jobs and tax revenue than a mountaintop removal operation planned by Massey Energy," reports the Charleston Gazette.
At a time when the coal advocacy groups are pushing against reality and even using Christmas as an opportunity to push the oxymoron of clean coal (Frosty the Coalman, honestly?), it is essential to demonstrate the financial benefits of clean energy and continue to innovate on truly clean technology. And there is some poetic justice that a cold war soldier is using his skills today to help fight against a warming planet.
Related Reading:
Getting Real About "Clean Coal"
Power Companies Get Vocal About Low-Carbon Technology
Image Credit:
JohnnyAlive
