Gilfach Goch Wind farm

Sustainable Development

Gilfach Goch Wind Farm

Definition:
“Development that ensures that the use of resources and the environment today does not restrict their use by future generations.”
http://www.grid.unep.ch/

Firstly, What is sustainable development? As described by the definition, it means the development of the resources we have today to help the environment for the uses of the next generations. For my topic, I will be writing about the wind farms that are in Gilfach Goch. Gilfach Goch is a small village that is part of the Rhondda Cynon Taff in South Wales. It is surrounded by hills and is at a high altitude, this means that it has a very good position for wind farms as it is very gusty. Its developers are Gamesa Energy UK, there are 46 wind turbines and its natural power, facilitates 6’600 homes over Rhondda Cynon Taff.

These are the benefits of having win turbines and they dont just save money, it also used for clean and renewable energy, these energies are;
wind(12%), used for electricity generation for homes and building.
solar(1.08%) used for electrics, and the power is from the sun.
small(0.03%) and large hydro(29.23%), used for electrical generations, makes use of the energy from moving water from dams or river flows.
landfill gas(30%), releases of gases such as methane from the anaerobic decomposition of organic waste at landfill sites.
sewage digestion(3.22%),
municipal solid waste combustion(9.06%),
Biomass co-firing(5.65%) fuel derived from organic matter such as wood oil crops, and agricultural and animal residues.
Other gases(8.89%).
The most renewable energies are large scale hydro, landfill gases and wind and wave. Below, is a graph of the topic, http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/

But on the other hand, there are draw backs and these drawbacks are that people who live near by think that they are unattractive, because the blades are usually colored light gray to blend in with the clouds and range in length from 20 to 40 metres (60 to 120 ft) or more and they stand out because they are on tops of hills. They also, make quite a loud noise and the locals can hear them.

Finding a new source of renewable energy does not only affect me, but every one who lives on this planet at the moment. I rely on electricity for most of my day to day activities including leisure activities such as watching television and using my personal computer. I feel that if a new energy source is not found then the planet and its atmosphere will change for the worse. It may not affect this generation or even the next, but it will some day and we will be the generation that ruined our planet.
I am interested to know how the Gamesa Energy UK wind turbines are controlled and what type of telecommunications the wind turbine uses to monitor the turbines activities. I am also interested in how the turbine’s electricity is harvested and relayed onto the homes in Gilfach Goch and businesses that use the turbine for power.

When I go back home to Wales, I plan to go to Gilfach Goch because its only 10 miles away from my home and I will see for my self if the noise and the actual look of the wind turbines are actually “ugly”. I will also do a survey on this topic, I will, if they are willing, to do an interview with the people who live really close to the turbines. I will also create a questionnaire for people of the village to answer about the wind turbines. I’m going to write an email to the main people at Gamesa Energy UK and ask them questions on the wind turbines.

In the future, I can predict that there will be more and more wind turbines being built. I predict this because at the moment, places in the world are getting hotter and hotter because of global warming. For example, Antarctica, is losing as much as 36 cubic miles of ice a year, and animals will be extinct and people are going to realise that global warming is actually happening and the governments are going to have to make the world greener and do anything to slow or even stop the process from happening.
This graph shows the average temperature of the northern hemisphere from 1960 to 2005 and as you can tell by the graph, the temperature has risen 0.8C and is rising quicker than ever at this moment in time.

Resources:
http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications/downloads/Wind_Energy-NovRev2005.pdf
http://www.gamesa.es/index.php/en/gamesa-around-the-world?id=143
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine
http://www.yes2wind.com/nonflash_details.php?Region=South+Wales&SiteId=866
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030201712.html