The Technology Context – B101
“Write an article about a specific sustainable development project including a plan of inquiry and list of resources that the student intends to use for further research”
What is sustainable development?
Sustainable development is a social process whereby the human will fulfill there own needs, whilst ensuring that these needs are met by future generations. An example of this is the human races trying to continue the use of fossil fuels whilst sustaining the resources for many future generations. This however is not a realistic achievement. There are 3 main categories to Sustainable Development; Social, Economic and Environmental. In this article I am going to be looking specifically at the Environmental aspect.
In this report, I am going to be looking at sustainable development, but more importantly I am going to look at sustainable technology. More specifically I am going to be looking at wind farms; the wind farm that I have decided to report on is the Ness point wind farm, in Lowestoft Suffolk. The reason I have chosen to write my report on this particular wind farm is the location. This wind farm is only a few miles away from my home town of Bury St Edmunds, around the time that this farm was being built there was a lot of local press covering the story, and more importantly covering people’s reaction to the new technology waiting to be installed. I am going to be basing my report around reports and information already available, the research I am going to do will be mainly internet based, and will be qualitative data
I will be looking at what this wind farm provides, the benefits, where the technology could be used, drawbacks of the technology, and what is being done to over come any problems that may exist.
(Image taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development)
Sustainable Technology – Ness point wind farm
Sustainable technology affects everybody in today’s society, whether they know it or not. The aspect of renewable sources of energy and more specifically the Ness point wind farm also affect a lot of people. With resources for energy as scarce as they are today, people are constantly looking for new ways of sustaining energy; sustainable technology plays a huge part in this. Many people are also passionate in their search for these alternate energy sources – Ness point is a key factor in reducing carbon emissions and ensures we have the resources for the future – it helps ensure certain aspects of sustainable development are achieved.
• Construction began: December 2004
• Began generating electricity: January 2005
• Hub height (turbine base to rotor hub): 80m / 262ft
• Tip height (turbine base to blade tip): 126m/ 413ft
• 3 Blades: 10 tonnes each, 44.8m / 147ft long
• Rotor diameter: 92m / 301ft
• Nacelle (houses the gearbox and control systems): 83 tonnes, 11.2m / 37ft long, 3.3m /11ft wide, 3.8m / 12.5ft high
When wind turbines and wind farms were relatively new many people were against them or really skeptical about what they could offer society – considering they were seen as an eye sore, and many people didn’t want them near the homes because their imposing presence and noise. People now however are more accepting of them; this is mainly because people can now see the positive effect they are having on the environment. Many reports show that this is also the case for Ness point wind farm, many locals initially skeptical about the installation of the turbines, fearing that it could amongst other things reduce the values of there houses, but reports suggest that these initial fears could be unfounded. Below is a few examples of the local newspaper cutting around the time that the ness farm wind farm was announced (
http://www.slp-energy.com/Press-Clippings.asp)
An article like this one show how people are considering the positive and negatives but now also take into consideration the technology being used, and how beneficial it can be to the environment.
Many wind farms have their problems, and Ness Point is no different. One problem that Ness point encounters is very common for most wind farms, and that is when there is a lack of wind the turbine will cease to rotate. This however can be overcome by using some of the energy created to ensure that the turbine will always rotate.
Wind Power VS Nuclear Power
There are many alternate energy sources about, but I have chosen to compare the Ness point wind farm and its productivity against that of a nuclear power station. One of the main advantages of the Ness point wind farm over Nuclear power is that wind creates “cleaner” energy. What this effectively means is that there is no wastage created by the turbine, whereas with nuclear energy there are a number of problems caused by the disposal of the waste created. Because of this money has to be spent on the safe disposal of this waste to ensure no contamination of soil, water and other resources.
“The turbine has been named “Gulliver” by local residents and is capable of producing 2.75MW of electricity. This is enough to supply over 1500 homes and will save in excess of 6000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year”. There are a few other drawbacks to the Wind turbine, other than society’s attitude. There has always been an inconsistency in the power generated; the main cause for this is a lack of wind. There have also been cases of the Electrical grid being overloaded around Ness point because of high winds; however this is quite rare, and only happens very rarely
Through analyzing all of the data and information I have found that this is one of the best renewable energy sources available at the moment. With its use becoming more and more common, and wind farms such as ness point being built all around the country everyday, it looks as if there will soon be many more wind farms in production. There is also a lot of government funding in an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint and improve the environment, this government funding will only further the technology we use and the efficiency of wind farms such as Ness point
Referencing
http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED27%20Mar%202007%2018%3A27%3A59%3A407 (EDP24 27 March 2007)
http://www.waveney.gov.uk/Environment/Environmental+Protection/turbine.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_development
http://www.slp-energy.com/Press-Clippings.asp (SLP ENERGY, 2007)
http://www.solarnavigator.net/wind_turbines.htm (Electric publications 2007)
