During the 2008 Presidential elections, one of the biggest issues on the ticket had to do with creating a greener society. President-elect Barak Obama, and his running mate, Joe Biden, came up with a solution they say that will not only save the American people, it will help save the planet. According to the Obama-Green New Deal, this will be the answer to all of America’s financial and environmental problems.

Taking on the Economy:
President-elect Obama is ready to take on the economy. He has come up with some excellent ideas that should help the American people, no matter what their income level or status in society. One of the biggest hurdles he’s made is that he plans to create 5 million new jobs over the next 10 years. This will include such things as training our Veterans who have served our country in time of war. This will also entail creating jobs here in America, that cannot be outsourced to other countries.

Cut Energy Costs:
Mr. Obama would also like to cut our existing energy costs by tapping into reusable energy sources, such as geothermal heating and wind power energy. He has stated that he would like to see 10 percent of all energies used be reusable by 2012. It will not only help create jobs, especially for rural Americans, but will decrease energy costs by millions of dollars. He would also like to see our demand for electricity reduced by as much as 15 percent by the year 2020. He believes that by implementing a Smart Grid for our nation’s electricity usage, we will be able to drastically reduce our energy bills, and the amount of carbon dioxides released into the atmosphere.

Low Income Families Benefit:
He also has a plan to help those who are less fortunate. His Green New Deal also includes weatherizing one million homes each year. Low income families usually end up paying higher bills each winter, as their homes are not properly insulated, causing heat to escape. By fixing leaks around windows, doors, and electrical sockets, their costs will dramatically decrease. He would also like to help these low income families by adding more efficient heating units into their homes. In the long run, this will help these families save as much as 40 percent on their heating bills.

courtesy flickr

Save the Environment:
President-elect Obama also has a plan set to save the environment. He would like to see the American people commercialize the use of hybrid plug-in cars and the use of flexible fuels. These hybrid cars have the capability to get up to 150 miles per gallon, which will significantly decrease our need for foreign oils. He has also stated that under him, the government will begin to invest in companies that create plans to manufacture products with greener technologies. This will reduce the amount of emissions sent into the air, while producing jobs for the people.

Create Better Fuels:
He would also like to see more advancements in creating better bio-fuels and synthetic fuels, which will create a much greener atmosphere. He has stated that he would like to implement a Low Carbon Fuel Standard. This standard will help companies reduce the amount of carbon in their fuels by as much as 10 percent over the next 10 years. Plus, he wants to reduce the amount of electricity used by the Federal Government itself, which consumes as much as or more than 14 billion dollars per year in energy costs. Mr. Obama would like to see that amount cut by 15 percent by the year 2015.

Green New Deal:
Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought our country out of a deep depression with his “New Deal” program, under the Obama-Green New Deal act, our country could see a major change in the way we live, commute, and work. If we all work together as a country, we could become the greenest on the planet. We could even set the bar for the way other countries work to improve their way of life. Though this isn’t going to happen over night, the plan is in place to make the United States of America the greenest nation the world has ever seen.

Way To Go green dot org needs your help.
We know that you are reading and enjoying these articles. Now we want you to participate.
Please leave comments. Let us know your feelings. Tell us what you want to read about. Help us out with some direction.

We also want you to Subscribe to this blog. There are two methods that we use to handle subscriptions, all free of course. One way to subscribe is to use the RSS News Reader buttons. If you don’t know what they are, don’t worry. Just submit your email address in the subscribe box and once a day you will get a notice of any new posts on this blog. We will never spam or scam you and we will never share your email address.

Remember; COMMENTS and SUBSCRIBE !

courtesy flickr

Oh, and if you give us a back-link from your website, please let me know personally.

Thank you very much for reading.

WayToGoGreen dot org

A few years ago I had the great pleasure of working at the Maple Ridge Wind Turbine Project for some Wind Power Companies that have a Joint Venture operation.

I was employed by an area Crane company to work as a Safety Inspector monitoring the setup and operation of the crane as well as OSHA safety monitoring of the contractor’s employees while working on a site-wide blade modification and repair project.

Dawn at Maple Ridge Wind Farm

The Maple Ridge Wind Power Companies Project consists of 195 wind turbines on the Tug Hill Plateau of Lewis County, just west of Lowville, New York. Each of these wind turbines generate 1.65 MW of electrical power and consist of a 262 foot tall tubular steel tower; with a 269 foot diameter rotor; and a nacelle (turbine housing) which contains the generator, the transformer, and power train. The towers have a base diameter of approximately 15 feet and a top diameter of 8 feet.

The tower is topped by the nacelle, which is approximately 9 feet high and 25 feet long, and connects with the rotor hub. The rotor consists of three 134-foot long composite blades. With a rotor blade oriented in the 12 o’clock position, each turbine has a maximum height of approximately 400 feet.

Crane Setup

This blade modification project was engineered to create tiny little differences in the way the air turbulence around the blades was changed just enough to smooth out some vibration, thereby increasing efficiency.

Crane Extended Horizontal at Ground Level

Two workers would go into the basket at ground level with all of their tools and an electrical power supply. The blade would be rotated into position from ground controls and then locked in place by a worker inside the nacelle.

Going Up !

Crane Extended to Blade Tip

Crane Extended Side View

A combination of radio communications and hand signals kept the workers in constant contact with the crane operator and ground safety personnel.

About the Tug Hill Plateau:
Tug Hill is in many respects the ideal location for New York’s largest wind energy project. This site consists of approximately 12,000 acres of hilltop pasture and feed-crop land at an average elevation of 1600-1800 feet. Tug Hill is an ancient geologic formation that lies just downwind of the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, separated from the Adirondacks to the east by the Black River Valley. At a maximum elevation of 2000 feet above sea level, the Tug Hill plateau experiences strong lake-effect weather patterns and has long been known for its exceptional wind resource

From the Top

Maple Ridge

Workers Up

Turbine Information:
Modern wind turbine generators are robust, sophisticated high-tech machines designed to convert the power of the wind into electricity.
Main Components: The tower, the nacelle (machine house atop the tower), and the rotor
Height of Flat Rock Wind Turbine Towers: 260 feet
Rotor Blade Length: 130 feet
Rotor Blade Speed: 14 RPM (revolutions per minute)

One of the tasks for this project was to raise two workers up in a man basket to reach to tip of the blade, and then an area was sanded and special anti-vibration strips of airfoil plastic were attached with special adhesives. Each of the 565 blades were modified as well as other field service repairs during this project.

Detail of Strip

Note the man in the distance up on top of the neighboring nacelle.

Looking Down

Note that one of those heavy duty service trucks would easily fit inside one of the nacelles on top of the tower. All of the photographs from the ground were taken by me as well as several of the ones from up on top were taken by me. It was not my job to go up, but who could resist such a fabulous opportunity in life? Better than any amusement park ride and I am glad I did it.

How Electricity Leaves the Turbine, Bringing Us Wind Power for Homes:
Electricity from each 1.65 MW wind turbine generator is fed through numerous 34.5-kilovolt power underground cables that come together at the wind farm substation near Rector Road. These cables channel the electricity via a step-up transformer and dedicated ten-mile power line into the New York electricity grid at the 230-kilovolt Niagara Mohawk Adirondack line, feeding power to towns and cities across New York’s North Country and beyond. Sophisticated computer control systems run constantly to ensure that the machines are operating efficiently and safely.

Pollution Offset:
The American Wind Energy Association estimates that 1 MW of wind generation capacity is the equivalent of 1 square mile of new forest, in terms of offsetting or displacing carbon dioxide from conventional generating sources. This makes the Maple Ridge Wind Farm Project equal to approximately 321 square miles of forest CO2 displacement. The many Wind Power Companies in the North East are truly helping to bring us Wind Power for Homes.

When you consider that an average household power use in 24 hours is about 2 kilowatts, this wind farm is equivalent to powering 160,000 homes. I like to think of it in this way, every time those blades are turning around, we are that much less dependent upon foreign oil price gouging.

Power Distribution to the People:
To the large amount of people that protest the power distribution of these type projects, I say, suck it up. It is for the greater good. Power lines running through or near your property are just a fact of life. Get over it. We need every type of alternate energy that we are able to harness. Do your part.