scholarly journals Giving voice to the ‘silent majority’: exploring the opinions and motivations of people who do not make submissions

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Stephenson ◽  
Rob Lawson

As captured in the quotation above, there appears to be a widespread assumption that there is a ‘silent majority’ of people who support proposals but do not make submissions, and that those who do make submissions tend to be opposed and therefore do not reflect the true state of public opinion. The New Zealand Wind Energy Association (a membership-based wind industry association) suggested that it would be useful to examine whether this was actually the case, in respect to wind farms in particular. As researchers we were also interested in the broader question of why non-submitters might not be participating in formal planning processes, so we developed our research to address two questions: (a) how do non-submitters’ perspectives of proposed wind farms differ from those of submitters; and (b) why do nonsubmitters not make submissions?

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 745-754
Author(s):  
Otávio Augusto de Oliveira Lima Barra ◽  
Fábio Perdigão Vasconcelos ◽  
Danilo Vieira dos Santos ◽  
Adely Pereira Silveira

O Brasil é um país com uma extensa linha de costa, são cerca de 7.367 km de extensão do seu litoral, com um potencial natural para a geração de energia eólica. O estado do Ceará é um dos maiores produtores de energia eólica para o país, obtendo notoriedade e a necessidade de manutenção dos seus parques eólicos, especialmente se instalados em zonas de costa, onde há uma grande dinâmica natural. O presente trabalho, busca o acompanhamento das dinâmicas morfológicas na praia de Volta do Rio, localizada em Acaraú/CE, que fica a cerca de 238 km de Fortaleza/CE. Os dados coletados em idas à campo, constataram que há um forte processo erosivo atuante na praia de Volta do Rio, o que alerta para a contenção do avanço marinho sob o parque eólico presente no local. A erosão é um fenômeno natural que trabalha na modelação de demasiadas formas terrestres. No litoral, isso não é diferente, por ser um ambiente altamente dinâmico onde há a interação entre continente, atmosfera e oceano, sendo possível encontrar diversos atuantes que podem intensificar os processos erosivos, sejam eles o vento, maré, ou por intervenções humanas, como construções e ocupações indevidas ao longo da linha de costa.Palavras Chave: Volta do Rio; Energia Eólica; Erosão. ABSTRACTBrazil is a country with an extensive coastline, about 7,367 km of coastline, with a natural potential for wind power generation. The state of Ceará is one of the largest producers of wind energy for the country, obtaining notoriety and required maintenance of its wind farms, especially if located in coastal areas, where there is a great natural dynamic. The present work seeks the movement of morphological dynamics in the beach of Volta do Rio, located in Acaraú/CE, which is about 238 km from Fortaleza/CE. The data collected in the field found that there is a strong erosive process on the Beach of Volta do Rio, which warns about the expansion of advanced marine on the wind farm present on site. Erosion is a natural phenomenon that works in the modeling of many hearth forms. On the coast, this is not different, considering a highly dynamic environment in which there is an interaction between continent, atmosphere and ocean, being possible to find many factors that can intensify the erosive processes, such as wind, tide, or human intervention, as constructions and improper occupations along the coast line.Key words: Volta do Rio; Wind Energy; Erosion. RESUMENBrasil es un país con una extensa costa, cerca de 7.367 km de costa, con un potencial natural para la generación de energía eólica. El estado del Ceará es uno de los mayores productores de energía eólica del país, ganando notoriedad y la necesidad de mantener sus parques eólicos, especialmente si está instalado en zonas costeras, donde existe una gran dinámica natural. La presente investigación tiene como objetivo monitorear la dinámica morfológica en la playa de Vuelta del Rio, ubicada en Acaraú / CE, que está a unos 238 km de Fortaleza / CE. Los datos recopilados en los viajes de campo, encontraron que hay un fuerte proceso erosivo en la playa de Vuelta del Rio, que advierte sobre la contención del avance marino bajo el parque eólico presente en el sitio. La erosión es un fenómeno natural que funciona en el modelado de muchas formas terrestres. En la costa, esto no es diferente, ya que es un entorno altamente dinámico donde existe la interacción entre el continente, la atmósfera y el océano, permitiendo encontrar varios actores que pueden intensificar los procesos erosivos, ya sea viento, marea o intervenciones humanas, como edificios y ocupaciones inadecuadas a lo largo de la costa.Palabras clave: Vuelta del Río; Energía Eólica; Erosión.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2862
Author(s):  
Amer Al-Hinai ◽  
Yassine Charabi ◽  
Seyed H. Aghay Kaboli

Despite the long shoreline of Oman, the wind energy industry is still confined to onshore due to the lack of knowledge about offshore wind potential. A spatial-temporal wind data analysis is performed in this research to find the locations in Oman’s territorial seas with the highest potential for offshore wind energy. Thus, wind data are statistically analyzed for assessing wind characteristics. Statistical analysis of wind data include the wind power density, and Weibull scale and shape factors. In addition, there is an estimation of the possible energy production and capacity factor by three commercial offshore wind turbines suitable for 80 up to a 110 m hub height. The findings show that offshore wind turbines can produce at least 1.34 times more energy than land-based and nearshore wind turbines. Additionally, offshore wind turbines generate more power in the Omani peak electricity demand during the summer. Thus, offshore wind turbines have great advantages over land-based wind turbines in Oman. Overall, this work provides guidance on the deployment and production of offshore wind energy in Oman. A thorough study using bankable wind data along with various logistical considerations would still be required to turn offshore wind potential into real wind farms in Oman.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 693
Author(s):  
Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir ◽  
Margrét Wendt ◽  
Edita Tverijonaite

The interest in harnessing wind energy keeps increasing globally. Iceland is considering building its first wind farms, but its landscape and nature are not only a resource for renewable energy production; they are also the main attraction for tourists. As wind turbines affect how the landscape is perceived and experienced, it is foreseeable that the construction of wind farms in Iceland will create land use conflicts between the energy sector and the tourism industry. This study sheds light on the impacts of wind farms on nature-based tourism as perceived by the tourism industry. Based on 47 semi-structured interviews with tourism service providers, it revealed that the impacts were perceived as mostly negative, since wind farms decrease the quality of the natural landscape. Furthermore, the study identified that the tourism industry considered the following as key factors for selecting suitable wind farm sites: the visibility of wind turbines, the number of tourists and tourist attractions in the area, the area’s degree of naturalness and the local need for energy. The research highlights the importance of analysing the various stakeholders’ opinions with the aim of mitigating land use conflicts and socioeconomic issues related to wind energy development.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3572
Author(s):  
José Ramón del Álamo Salgado ◽  
Mario J. Durán Martínez ◽  
Francisco J. Muñoz Gutiérrez ◽  
Jorge Alarcon

Recent works have addressed the analysis of some situations that alter the gearbox oil results in wind energy conversion systems (WECS). This work contributes by completing the analysis of additional situations, based on key operational data collected from 10 different multi-megawatt wind turbines at two different locations with two top-tier technologies, and has demonstrated that the oil analysis results can be altered in practice. As important as detecting these situations is to verify how the data collected by the different operators and transferred to the laboratories, this relevant information is not included in most cases. The issues that can stem from this lack of valuable data can be mitigated with a new and more complete template. This paper proposes a detailed template that is ready for an industrial use and contributes to standardizing the information handled by all actors. The suggested template, which is designed based on extensive experimental results and an in-depth analysis, provides detailed information for laboratories to improve conclusions, recommendations and action plans. The investigation provides a high archival value for researchers whose investigation deals with gearbox oil maintenance. Furthermore, the global impact of the proposal on the wind industry can be very relevant in terms of benefits and it will ultimately be an advance in the evolution of the operation and maintenance of wind farms.


Author(s):  
I. Janajreh ◽  
C. Ghenai

Large scale wind turbines and wind farms continue to evolve mounting 94.1GW of the electrical grid capacity in 2007 and expected to reach 160.0GW in 2010 according to World Wind Energy Association. They commence to play a vital role in the quest for renewable and sustainable energy. They are impressive structures of human responsiveness to, and awareness of, the depleting fossil fuel resources. Early generation wind turbines (windmills) were used as kinetic energy transformers and today generate 1/5 of the Denmark’s electricity and planned to double the current German grid capacity by reaching 12.5% by year 2010. Wind energy is plentiful (72 TW is estimated to be commercially viable) and clean while their intensive capital costs and maintenance fees still bar their widespread deployment in the developing world. Additionally, there are technological challenges in the rotor operating characteristics, fatigue load, and noise in meeting reliability and safety standards. Newer inventions, e.g., downstream wind turbines and flapping rotor blades, are sought to absorb a larger portion of the cost attributable to unrestrained lower cost yaw mechanisms, reduction in the moving parts, and noise reduction thereby reducing maintenance. In this work, numerical analysis of the downstream wind turbine blade is conducted. In particular, the interaction between the tower and the rotor passage is investigated. Circular cross sectional tower and aerofoil shapes are considered in a staggered configuration and under cross-stream motion. The resulting blade static pressure and aerodynamic forces are investigated at different incident wind angles and wind speeds. Comparison of the flow field results against the conventional upstream wind turbine is also conducted. The wind flow is considered to be transient, incompressible, viscous Navier-Stokes and turbulent. The k-ε model is utilized as the turbulence closure. The passage of the rotor blade is governed by ALE and is represented numerically as a sliding mesh against the upstream fixed tower domain. Both the blade and tower cross sections are padded with a boundary layer mesh to accurately capture the viscous forces while several levels of refinement were implemented throughout the domain to assess and avoid the mesh dependence.


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1592
Author(s):  
Willemijn de Bruin ◽  
Cherie Stayner ◽  
Michel Lange ◽  
Rachael Taylor

There is an urgent need for strategic approaches to address the high prevalence of obesity and diabetes in New Zealand. Such approaches rely strongly on input from multiple actors in the diabetes and obesity policy space. We conducted a social network analysis to identify influential actors involved with shaping public opinion and/or policy regarding obesity and diabetes in New Zealand. Our analysis revealed a diverse network of 272 individuals deemed influential by their peers. These individuals represented nine professional categories, particularly academics (34%), health service providers (22%), and government representatives (17%). The network included a total of 17 identified decision-makers. Relative capacity of professional categories to access these decision-makers was highest for representatives of the food and beverage industry (25%), compared with nongovernment organisations (9%) or academics (7%). We identified six distinct brokers, in academic (n = 4), government (n = 1), and nongovernmental (n = 1) positions, who could play a key role in improving communication and networking activities among all interest groups. Such actions should ultimately establish effective networks to foster evidence-based policy development to prevent and reduce the burden of diabetes and obesity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghulam Sarwar Kaloi ◽  
Jie Wang ◽  
Mazhar H Baloch ◽  
Sohaib Tahir

Unfortunately, Pakistan is facing an acute energy crisis since the past decade due to the increasing population growth and is heavily dependent on imports of fossil fuels. The shortage of the electricity is 14-18 hours in rural areas and 8-10 hours in urban areas. This situation has been significantly affecting the residential, industrial and commercial sectors in the country. At this time, it is immense challenges for the government to keep the power supply provision continue in the future for the country. In this situation, it has been the increased research to explore renewable energy resources in the country to fulfill the deficit scenario in the state. The renewable energy sector has not penetrated in the energy mix, currently in the upcoming markets. This paper highlights the steps taken by the country in the past and is taking steps at the present time to get rid of from the existing energy crisis when most urban areas are suffering from power outages for 12 hours on regular basis. Until 2009, no single grid interconnected wind established, but now the circumstances are changing significantly and wind farms are contributing to the national grid is the reality now. The initiation of the three wind farms interconnection network and many others in the pipeline are going to be operational soon. The federal policy on wind energy system has recently changed. Surprisingly, the continuing schemes of the wind farm are getting slow. This paper reviews developments in the wind energy sector in the country and lists some suggestions that can contribute to improving the penetration of wind energy in the national energy sector.Keywords: Wind energy, evolution of wind resource, Wind sites of PakistanArticle History: Received Dec 16th 2016; Received in revised form May 15th 2017; Accepted June 18th 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Kaloi,G.S., Wang, J., Baloch, M.H and Tahir, S. (2017) Wind Energy Potential at Badin and Pasni Costal Line Pakistan. Int. Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(2), 103-110.https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.2.103-110


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara C. Pryor ◽  
Tristan J. Shepherd ◽  
Rebecca J. Barthelmie

Abstract. Inter-annual variability (IAV) of expected annual energy production (AEP) from proposed wind farms plays a key role in dictating project financing. IAV in pre-construction projected AEP and the difference in 50th and 90th percentile (P50 and P90) AEP derives in part from variability in wind climates. However, the magnitude of IAV in wind speeds at/close to wind turbine hub-heights is poorly constrained and maybe overestimated by the 6 % standard deviation of annual mean wind speeds that is widely applied within the wind energy industry. Thus there is a need for improved understanding of the long-term wind resource and the inter-annual variability therein in order to generate more robust predictions of the financial value of a wind energy project. Long-term simulations of wind speeds near typical wind turbine hub-heights over the eastern USA indicate median gross capacity factors (computed using 10-minute wind speeds close to wind turbine hub-heights and the power curve of the most common wind turbine deployed in the region) that are in good agreement with values derived from operational wind farms. The IAV of annual mean wind speeds at/near to typical wind turbine hub-heights in these simulations is lower than is implied by assuming a standard deviation of 6 %. Indeed, rather than in 9 in 10 years exhibiting AEP within 0.9 and 1.1 times the long-term mean AEP, results presented herein indicate that over 90 % of the area in the eastern USA that currently has operating wind turbines simulated AEP lies within 0.94 and 1.06 of the long-term average. Further, IAV of estimated AEP is not substantially larger than IAV in mean wind speeds. These results indicate it may be appropriate to reduce the IAV applied to pre-construction AEP estimates to account for variability in wind climates, which would decrease the cost of capital for wind farm developments.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Arthur Leandro Guerra Pires ◽  
Paulo Rotella Junior ◽  
Sandra Naomi Morioka ◽  
Luiz Célio Souza Rocha ◽  
Ivan Bolis

Offshore wind energy has been identified as one of the most promising and increasingly attractive sources of energy. This technology offers a long-term power-generation source, less environmental impact, and fewer physical restrictions. However, given the complexity of this technology, economic feasibility studies are essential. Thus, this study aims to identify the main trends and criteria or the methods used in the economic feasibility studies of offshore wind energy, providing a review of the state of the art in this literature. For this, a Systematic Literature Review was carried out. The article shows the growing interest in offshore wind power generation and highlights how recently the interest in the studies that assess the technical–economic feasibility of this source has grown; it presents the main milestones of the topic. Based on a structured literature review, this article identifies the main trends in this topic: (i) wind farms, (ii) risk, (iii) floating offshore wind farms, (iv) decommissioning and repowering, (v) net present value, (vi) life cycle cost, and (vii) multi-criteria decision-making; it provides a broad view of the methodological possibilities and specificities for investors and researchers interested in conducting studies on the economic feasibility of offshore wind generation. In addition, finally, a research agenda is proposed.


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