Watch the webinar “HPAI and Its Impact on Food Production Industries”
(innovate.engineering.iastate.edu) |
October 2016
Wind energy, the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S., is transforming low-income rural areas in ways not seen since the federal government gave land to homesteaders 150 years ago.
March 2016
Iowa pulled in 31.3% of its electricity last year from wind generation. The state leads the nation in the percentage of electricity from wind–followed by South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota.
The blog below examines the goods, the bads, and the beauty of these high-tech crops on the fertile flatlands.
Commentary…Don Quixote Takes on Midwest Windmills
They say just about anything will grow in the fertile soil of central Iowa, and to prove that point, huge wind generators have taken root among the soybeans and hay fields. My parents’ farm is the fulcrum point for two banks of these wind turbines. Starting at our neighbor’s farm to the south, 100 windmills stretch for nearly 15 miles in a hodge-podge order. About a mile northwest of our land, another 100 cut through the air in a random-abstract line that reaches the horizon. For a kid who grew up on a quiet farm in the Flatlands, these machines have an other-worldly quality to them.
Other locals act more like Don Quixote when he first wants to attack the windmills in Spain. They question the energy efficiency claims and the amount of birds killed in the blades. Some mumble about nuisance factors, huge power lines, or even radio wave interference.
by dan gogerty (drawing from mainlesson.com–g.a.harper)
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