Via my monthly Berkeley engineering alum email this week, an interesting article about recent developments with offshore wind farms:
Offshore wind farms needed sea legs. But no one knew how to float the platforms way out at sea and keep 300-foot wind turbines steady and upright in the roll of deep ocean water and storms. That is, until Roddier and Cermelli came along. Their WindFloat design employs 80-foot-wide horizontal plates which, when submerged at the base of the structure, counteract the ocean’s forces, minimizing the vertical and angular platform motion. WindFloat also features an active ballast system and triangular design to help the structure maintain stability. The platform can easily be assembled onshore and towed out to sea, the pair say, where it will be connected to its mooring system.
This winter was the warmest on record worldwide. From MSNBC:
As for this winter, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined land and ocean temperatures for December through February were 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the period since record keeping began in 1880.
The report said that during the past century, global temperatures have increased at about 0.11 degrees per decade. But that increase has been three times larger since 1976, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center reported.
It’s hard not to be skeptical, but this actually seems somewhat promising.
NEW YORK – Oil major Exxon Mobil Corp. is engaging in industry talks on possible U.S. greenhouse gas emissions regulations and has stopped funding groups skeptical of global warming claims — moves that some say could indicate a change in stance from the long-time foe of limits on heat-trapping gases.
Exxon, along with representatives from about 20 other companies, is participating in talks sponsored by Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit. The think tank said it expected the talks would generate a report in the fall with recommendations to legislators on how to regulate greenhouse emissions.
Of course, we’ll see what they come up with in the fall, but this news seems to suggest a step in the right direction.