The Directive 2010/31/EU on buildings’ energy performance approved this year opened new doors for manufacturers of urban wind turbines. The Directive urges European governments to elaborate laws that enforce the use of renewables in buildings and technologies that improve (more…)

New research shows that the wind turbines’ color could be the key to avoiding wildlife deaths.

Conservationists’ biggest criticism of wind turbines placed in natural areas is that the swirling blades can be deadly for birds, (more…)

As the size of commercial wind turbines continues to grow, designers are being pushed to develop lighter turbine blades that allow the larger turbines to efficiently convert wind energy to usable electricity — and to do so without breaking.  Seeing an opportunity in the turbine material sector, (more…)

The image most people have in their minds when they think of wind turbines are the big, white horizontal-axis wind turbines with their massive blades spinning slowly on a wind-swept plain. But the clean energy revolution–if, in fact, it is a revolution–has room for more than just one design of wind turbine.

But vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are poised to (more…)

The “Windy City” lives up to its name as Chicago’s newest parking garage becomes the first to generate it’s own energy with spinning vertical wind turbines.

You might generally associate parking garages with the stark cement-c0lored monotony that most people despise about urban life. Thanks to a new design by the (more…)

rAccording to Agence France Presse (AFP), the French government will launch next month a tender for contracts of 10 billion euros ($12.6 billion) to build 3,000 MW of offshore wind capacity.

600 wind turbines will be implemented within five to ten sites in Normandy, Brittany and the regions of Pays de la Loire and (more…)

In the wake of the dissolution of the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) from the energy bill currently wheezing through the Congress, came a report that wind power installations in the U.S to date this year have dropped by 71% from last year’s level.

According to the latest quarterly report (more…)

The U.S. market for small-scale wind turbines on homes and small businesses grew 15 percent in 2009, with 20.3 megawatts of new capacity added nationwide, according to a new report. That new capacity represents about 10,000 new units, and bumps the total capacity created by small wind projects (100 kilowatts or less) to about 100 megawatts nationwide, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an industry organization. (more…)

Recently, CleanTechies had the pleasure to speak with Phillip Ridings, CEO of Dragonfly Industries, Inc. We talked about the the company, its products, and what its products may mean for the clean tech sector. If Dragonfly lives up to it’s reputation it could easily revolutionize the wind industry.

CleanTechies: Phillip, can you tell us a little about the designs for the Dragonfly Turbine and MantaRay Power stations and what kind of plans you have for their future?

Phillip: Dragonfly is our land based wind turbine and (more…)

The Oil Spill’s Unlikely Victim: As oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continued to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, it tarred the feathers of an endangered creature: the climate bill. Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced a retooled American Power Act on Wednesday to little fanfare. Perhaps that’s because the media’s klieg lights were already divided between the grilling of oil executives on Capitol Hill or the so-far hapless efforts to plug the leak. Or maybe it’s because the two senators took to the dais without their erstwhile Republican ally, Lindsey Graham. Nevertheless, it was ironic to see a solution to our fossil-fuel addiction pushed to the side because of a fossil-fuel disaster. Must we cap the gusher before we get a cap on CO2?

More Electric Cars Roll to the Starting Line: You’ve heard that the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt are on the way, but how about the Think and the Wheego? Wheego, a maker of electric putt-putt vehicles based in Atlanta, hopes that 200 highway-ready copies of its Whip Life will roll off the assembly line by August, months ahead of the well-publicized launch of the Leaf. Meanwhile, the Norwegian carmaker Think raised $40 million this week and plans to start assembly of the tiny Think City in Elkhart, Indiana in early 2011.

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