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Even World-Renowned Educational Institutions Greenwash: Yale’s Becton Lab Wind Turbines

Published 17th October 2009 - 5 comments - 2210 views -

So it seems I've uncovered a a good deal of misleading information released by my university about these recently-installed micro-wind turbines on the roof of our science labs.  Watch the video below to see for yourself.

Analysis of Yale's Micro-Wind Turbines

It just goes to show you: greenwashing is everywhere; not just in the companies trying to tell you that bottled water is good for the environment. 

Now, of course these turbines have educational value and I'm not attacking the fact that they are up there.  I'm just remarking that it is severly misleading to promote this system as something putting a dent in Yale's carbon emissions since there are much more effective ways to use the money that was used to install them.

 

On a side note, I did a bit of an investigation into the educational value of the turbines and I interviewed Yale Engineering Professor, Alessandro Gomez.  It seems the educational potential of the system is not being fully realized without meterological equipment to monitor wind speed and I would urge my school to invest in this equipment.  Here are some clips from the interview.

Inverview With Engineering Professor

And, for those of you who would like to check my numbers I use in the first video, here's where I got them from:
Yale Office of Sustainability Article (Published power output of 26 MWhrs/yr)
Micro Wind Turbine Company Website (with price of the turbines)
Cost of Connecticut Electricity (I averaged it to be about $0.10 per kWhr)

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Comments

Anna Esbjørn Hess on 18th October 2009:

Hi Chris,
Great video - good argumentation as always.
/Anna

Nanne Zwagerman on 19th October 2009:

This is great stuff, Chris. I’d calculate the cost of this investment over a 20 year period (optimistic, given the amount of moving parts, these turbines will probably need to be serviced a lot). That would come to 28 to 29 cents per kilowatthour. Not so bad, the best solar PV you could get for Yale would probably still have a higher price

The thing is, I would be extremely sceptical that these turbines reach their rated output. The Dutch have tested a set of small turbines and the outcomes were pretty dismal, most only got a third or less of what the manufacturers said they’d deliver. I should still write something about that…

Paul Montariol on 04th November 2009:

As regards new energies we are during one plentiful time. It is necessary to wait still a little to see there clearly.
In 5 years the good products will be available.

http://hydrogeneration.canalblog.com

Federico Pistono on 05th November 2009:

Very Nice, Chris. Well prepared and edited.

john on 09th June 2010:

That would come to 28 to 29 cents per kilowatthour. As regards new energies we are during one plentiful time. It is necessary to wait still a little to see there clearly. ilan ver

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