Wind Turbine

The sight of a wind farm is stunning. Dozens, or even hundreds, of towering wind turbines dot the landscape. Gigantic white blades spin slowly in the wind.

I'm researching wind turbines for a future novel in a new series. I learned something truly interesting. Sweden built the first wooden wind turbine in 2020. It's the first modern design using wood. One concern about the steel tower currently in use is the environmental and financial cost of manufacturing and transporting the materials. Wood is a renewable resource.

Humans are wonderfully inventive. I expect solar and wind energy technology to improve over the next decades. Both industries are still in their infancy. What we see now as the be all and end all design may seem primitive some day. On the other hand, I still see plenty of the old windmills on Western ranches, pumping water from wells. And in the Netherlands, windmills are still used to drain water from the lowlands.

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