Source: Planet Ark

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will be investing in the world’s largest wind turbine, with a capacity of 7.5 megawatts, announced by her property company, Crown Estate.

News Blaze is reporting that the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China wants to invite wind energy companies to take advantage of that area’s abundant wind resources. The region intends to be China’s largest supplier of wind-based energy by 2010. The short time line illustrates how committed the Chinese government is to creating alternative energy sources to reduce that country’s CO2 production.

The Guardian

The EU is studying plans for a transnational power grid in the North Sea that could provide electricity from renewable sources for 70m homes. It could cost up to €20bn (£16bn) to install.

The proposed 3,850 mile offshore grid would connect more than 100 wind farms, containing 10,000 turbines, to seven North Sea countries – Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway.

The Independent

A German geography professor has developed a controversial system of mountain “wind-catching” screens which he claims could slow or even halt the dramatic rate at which Europe’s glaciers are melting.

Glaciers across the globe are shrinking fast as a consequence of global warming. In Europe alone, some researchers have predicted that all its glaciers will have vanished by 2100.

Guardian

A British company is poised to construct the world’s first floating wind turbine, in a move that could herald a new generation of cheaper, less problematic wind energy.

Wall Street Journal Europe

Energy, its cost and the environmental implications of its sourcing and use have risen to the top of the world political agenda. With this in mind, EU leaders agreed last year on the outline of a new energy-climate policy. The member states and European Parliament are now considering specific legislation designed to increase Europe’s energy efficiency by 20%, cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 20% and boost its use of renewable energies to 20% of total energy consumption – all by the year 2020.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn announces a $16.5 million fund to the Kettles Hill Wind Energy Project, near Pincher Creek in southern Alberta. This is the first company to receive funding under the ecoENERGY for Renewable Power Initiative.

Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy is offering a “wind-power card” available at Whole Foods. A $15 card represents 750 kWh – the “average amount of electricity sucked off the grid by an American family each month.”

The children of Rudd Mayer, an influential wind-power activist in Boulder, Colorado are dedicating a windmill at the Thorne Ecological Institute to provide power and environmental education for local school kids.

Last year the Alberta Electric System Operator placed a cap on the amount of wind power supplied to the grid. This cap will be lifted as a move to encourage planned wind projects worth $6.6 billion.