[courtesy Brand South Africa]
We've come a long way from using wind to grind grain or to pull water from a well. These massive wind turbines now in use to generate many kilowatts of power to the masses. This power is not only clean and ongoing (apparently the cleanest form of renewable energy), but the equipment used to generate the electricity is impressive and in my humble opinion, quite beautiful.
You cannot imagine the scale of these huge technological marvels. The picture above is of my daughter (16 years of age), standing in the blade of one of the propellers. It is simply massive! And the edge of the blades on the largest of the turbines can spin at a speed of 180mph (289kmh)!!
I am sure that some people will not find the huge turbines appealing, and unfortunately they are known to kill bird life. However the number of birds killed is not even as high as those killed by feral cats/dogs (Wikipedia).
I also saw that there were turbines with 1 or 2 propellers, but those I didn't like the look of....just looked strange and unfinished.
With all the political pushing to have nuclear power stations built in South Africa, and the climate here being perfect for alternative power solutions such as wind or solar power, I truly hope the powers that be make use of their influence, and look to this sort of solution going forward.
Coming to you from a dry and windy Western Cape, South Africa