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Prior to the CBS portion of the TCA Press Tour, Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment, took some time to talk about where she sees things going for the #1 broadcast network in viewers and Emmy nominations, the addition of Ted Danson to CSI, and what's next for Two and a Half Men and its new lead actor, Ashton Kutcher. Here are the most interesting points:
- CBS is adding the recognizable faces of Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men), Ted Danson (CSI) and Terry O'Quinn (Hawaii Five-0) to some of the network's most-established and most-popular series
- Two and a Half Men went into production on their new season this past Monday
- Ashton Kutcher will be playing broken-hearted Internet billionaire, Walden Schmidt, and his character will be introduced over a two-part story
- They're hoping A Gifted Man, starring Patrick Wilson, will appeal to the fans of previous CBS shows, The Ghost Whisperer and Medium
- The highly acclaimed drama The Good Wife will return with the higher-profile time period of Sunday at 9 pm (on September 25th) and a very interesting character transformation ahead for Alicia (Julianna Margulies)
- In a rather risky move, Rules of Engagement will be airing on Saturday nights
- Police drama The 2-2, a pilot for Rob Schneider and reality series Undercover Boss are all being planned for mid-season
- As of now, David Letterman and Craig Ferguson are still set in their late-night timeslots through 2012
Hit the jump for more of what she had to say:
Question: Do you think the viewers are aware of the fact that CBS is the #1 network in viewers? Do you think they actually care what network they're watching?
NINA TASSLER: I think they do, and I think the fact that we are the #1 network in viewers says that they watch our network, they like our shows, and I think they expect a certain level of quality in entertainment.
What did you learn from the Charlie Sheen situation?
TASSLER: Oh, where I do begin? What we learned is that we have an extraordinary cast. I was just at the table read on Monday. We have extraordinary writers and we have extraordinary actors, and there is great value in hiring an actor like Ashton Kutcher. He is an extraordinarily professional, talented, funny, gifted actor, who comes with a tremendous amount of commitment and enthusiasm, embraced by an extraordinarily talented cast. What you learn is that's the show is brilliantly written, extraordinarily produced, and that you have an opportunity, moving forward, to create this exciting, new character and deliver a great show.
Is there anything that you wish could have been handled differently, before it got to the point where Charlie Sheen melted down so publicly?
TASSLER: I look at where we were six months ago, and our whole focus right now is moving forward. We have an extraordinary actor in Ashton Kutcher. We have someone who is committed to doing their job, to being there, and to being an incredible professional. We're worlds apart from where we were six months ago. Everybody made the decisions relative to the situation at hand. I'm just happy to be where we are today.
Do you have a character name yet, for Ashton Kutcher, and can you say anything about the role he'll be playing?
TASSLER: Yes, his name is Walden Schmidt, and he is an Internet billionaire with a broken heart. It will be a two-parter, over two weeks.
So, he has no relation to any of the incumbent characters? He's not a cousin, uncle or nephew?
TASSLER: You know what, a little bit of the mystery is a part of the marketing. But, he is a unique character.
Is there a reason why Two and a Half Men isn't being presented at the Press Tour?
TASSLER: They're in production this week. They started on Monday. There's a tremendous amount of energy, focus and attention. I would be lying if I didn't say, when everybody walked on that set on Monday, you could cut the air with knife. It requires a lot of attention. You've got your blocking. You've got your run-through. You've got your rewrites. You've got a tremendous amount of weight and effort being put into this episode.
Can you confirm that Two and a Half Men will start this season Charlie Sheen's character being dead and there being a funeral for him?
TASSLER: I know that was out there, but I'm not going to confirm or deny that. As I said, the mystery is a part of the marketing. It's going to be a big event, and I think the chatter, conversation and discussion about it is a part of what the fun of it can be.
How did Ted Danson wind up on CSI?
TASSLER: Well, we looked at a number of different choices. We looked at the arc of the stories this season on the show, and at what (executive producers) Carol Mendelsohn and Don McGill wanted to do, and he just seemed like the right choice. He is a huge TV star. He's got a tremendous amount of charisma, and it was really what we wanted in the show right now. So, when his name came up, we jumped at it. We were thrilled to have him.
With Ashton Kutcher and Ted Danson, what are the risks and rewards of a new lead actor coming into a high-profile series? How do you manage the risks to make sure viewers tune in?
TASSLER: I think both actors that you're talking about have a huge fan base. They are incredibly respected in the creative community. They bring a tremendous amount of goodwill. You're also talking about going into two shows that are incredibly well produced, still have very loyal followings, and the writing on both of those shows is extraordinary. When you're making those kinds of changes, all other aspects of the production of the show itself have to really work. Do you pay extra special attention to that first season? Absolutely. The whole addition of a new cast member can bring about a wonderful opportunity to reveal to a whole new audience and elements about the existing cast. For example, the conversations I've had with people about Two and a Half Men have produced a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for Ashton. There were some people out there, believe it or not, who didn't watch the show, who said, "I am so excited. I am so enthusiastic. I am going to watch the show now." People who, for whatever reason, drifted from CSI in the past, hearing Ted Danson is coming to the show is exciting news for them. So, it's a positive, not a negative.
Is A Gifted Man an attempt to tap into the people who shows like The Ghost Whisperer and Medium?
TASSLER: We certainly know we have an audience for shows that have that element to it. We certainly know that we have a very, very engaged fan base out there for those kinds of shows, and we think A Gifted Man will speak to that as well.
Having had so much success with spin-offs in the past, what do you think it was about Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior that didn't connect with people?
TASSLER: I think it was specific to the show itself. I just don't think it found its rhythm. Criminal Minds, our original show, is a phenomenal show, and all elements of that show work so well. I think that Suspect Behavior just didn't click. I don't think it has anything to do with spin-offs. I think a spin-off still has to be successful on its own. It can rely on the mothership to launch it, but it really has to work on its own, and I just didn't.
Putting Rules of Engagement on Saturdays is a risk. What exactly are your expectations for the show, on that night?
TASSLER: Well, we had a really interesting situation coming out of our scheduling meetings this year, where we had one extra comedy, we were out of the traditional comedy time periods, and we saw Saturday night as an opportunity. Advertisers like comedies and it's a terrific show, so we saw this as an opportunity for us.
What will your mid-season line-up look like?
TASSLER: Well, we picked up The 2-2 for midseason. We're shooting a new pilot with Rob Schneider for midseason. We have Undercover Boss for midseason. Those are our midseason choices right now.
Have there been any early preliminary talks about David Letterman possibly stepping away from late night, down the road? And, would it be fair to say that Craig Ferguson would be one of your top choices to take that spot?
TASSLER: Well, first of all, I still think that Dave and Craig are the two best guys in late night. Dave continues to be just a legend in his own time. And, I can't wait for people to see the French episodes, when Craig goes to Paris. He is perhaps one of the most imaginative and innovative voices in late night. But, right now, there are no updates beyond 2012.


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I recently tried PocoMail for U3. After installing it I realized that it does not support http based hotmail accounts. Therefore I uninstalled it. Now everytime I open Outlook I get an error. The error says the following:
The add-in "K:\System\Apps\12345678-AE78-4ccf-910F-C92C322ED3EE\Data\POI..." could not be installed or loaded. This problem may be resolved by using Detect and Repair on the Help menu.
Below is a screenshot of the actual error message:
However, I've tried to run the Detect and Repair utility in Outlook to no avail. I've also tried doing a complete repair of Microsoft Office 2003 and that does not fix the problem. I know that it is your software that is causing the error because when I reinstall you software the error goes away.
This is a heavy price to pay for simply wanting to trial your software. I would appreciate a solution that will restore my Outlook to its original state.

subset: commoncrawl


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It's hard sometimes to imagine air as a fluid. It just seems so ... invisible. But air is a fluid like any other except that its particles are in gas form instead of liquid. And when air moves quickly, in the form of wind, those particles are moving quickly. Motion means kinetic energy, which can be captured, just like the energy in moving water can be captured by the turbine in a hydroelectric dam. In the case of a wind-electric turbine, the turbine blades are designed to capture the kinetic energy in wind. The rest is nearly identical to a hydroelectric setup: When the turbine blades capture wind energy and start moving, they spin a shaft that leads from the hub of the rotor to a generator. The generator turns that rotational energy into electricity. At its essence, generating electricity from the wind is all about transferring energy from one medium to another.
Wind power all starts with the sun. When the sun heats up a certain area of land, the air around that land mass absorbs some of that heat. At a certain temperature, that hotter air begins to rise very quickly because a given volume of hot air is lighter than an equal volume of cooler air. Faster-moving (hotter) air particles exert more pressure than slower-moving particles, so it takes fewer of them to maintain the normal air pressure at a given elevation (see How Hot Air Balloons Work to learn more about air temperature and pressure). When that lighter hot air suddenly rises, cooler air flows quickly in to fill the gap the hot air leaves behind. That air rushing in to fill the gap is wind.
Thank You
Thanks to Willy Cheng for his assistance with this article.
If you place an object like a rotor blade in the path of that wind, the wind will push on it, transferring some of its own energy of motion to the blade. This is how a wind turbine captures energy from the wind. The same thing happens with a sail boat. When moving air pushes on the barrier of the sail, it causes the boat to move. The wind has transferred its own energy of motion to the sailboat.
In the next section we'll look at the different parts of a wind turbine.
Parts of a Wind Turbine
History of Wind Energy
As early as 3000 B.C., people used wind energy for the first time in the form of sail boats in Egypt. Sails captured the energy in wind to pull a boat across the water. The earliest windmills, used to grind grain, came about either in 2000 B.C. in ancient Babylon or 200 B.C. in ancient Persia, depending on who you ask. These early devices consisted of one or more vertically-mounted wooden beams, on the bottom of which was a grindstone, attached to a rotating shaft that turned with the wind. The concept of using wind energy for grinding grain spread rapidly through the Middle East and was in wide use long before the first windmill appeared in Europe. Starting in the 11th century A.D., European Crusaders brought the concept home with them, and the Dutch-type windmill most of us are familiar with was born.
Modern development of wind-energy technology and applications was well underway by the 1930s, when an estimated 600,000 windmills supplied rural areas with electricity and water-pumping services. Once broad-scale electricity distribution spread to farms and country towns, use of wind energy in the United States started to subside, but it picked up again after the U.S. oil shortage in the early 1970s. Over the past 30 years, research and development has fluctuated with federal government interest and tax incentives. In the mid-'80s, wind turbines had a typical maximum power rating of 150 kW. In 2006, commercial, utility-scale turbines are commonly rated at over 1 MW and are available in up to 4 MW capacity.
The simplest possible wind-energy turbine consists of three crucial parts:
- Rotor blades - The blades are basically the sails of the system; in their simplest form, they act as barriers to the wind (more modern blade designs go beyond the barrier method). When the wind forces the blades to move, it has transferred some of its energy to the rotor.
- Shaft - The wind-turbine shaft is connected to the center of the rotor. When the rotor spins, the shaft spins as well. In this way, the rotor transfers its mechanical, rotational energy to the shaft, which enters an electrical generator on the other end.
- Generator - At its most basic, a generator is a pretty simple device. It uses the properties of electromagnetic induction to produce electrical voltage - a difference in electrical charge. Voltage is essentially electrical pressure - it is the force that moves electricity, or electrical current, from one point to another. So generating voltage is in effect generating current. A simple generator consists of magnets and a conductor. The conductor is typically a coiled wire. Inside the generator, the shaft connects to an assembly of permanent magnets that surrounds the coil of wire. In electromagnetic induction, if you have a conductor surrounded by magnets, and one of those parts is rotating relative to the other, it induces voltage in the conductor. When the rotor spins the shaft, the shaft spins the assembly of magnets, generating voltage in the coil of wire. That voltage drives electrical current (typically alternating current, or AC power) out through power lines for distribution. (See How Electromagnets Work to learn more about electromagnetic induction, and see How Hydropower Plants Work to learn more about turbine-driven generators.)
Now that we've looked at a simplified system, we'll move on to the modern technology you see in wind farms and rural backyards today. It's a bit more complex, but the underlying principles are the same.
Modern Wind-power Technology
When you talk about modern wind turbines, you're looking at two primary designs: horizontal-axis and vertical-axis. Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) are pretty rare. The only one currently in commercial production is the Darrieus turbine, which looks kind of like an egg beater.
Photo courtesy NREL (left) and Solwind Ltd
Vertical-axis wind turbines (left: Darrieus turbine)
In a VAWT, the shaft is mounted on a vertical axis, perpendicular to the ground. VAWTs are always aligned with the wind, unlike their horizontal-axis counterparts, so there's no adjustment necessary when the wind direction changes; but a VAWT can't start moving all by itself -- it needs a boost from its electrical system to get started. Instead of a tower, it typically uses guy wires for support, so the rotor elevation is lower. Lower elevation means slower wind due to ground interference, so VAWTs are generally less efficient than HAWTs. On the upside, all equipment is at ground level for easy installation and servicing; but that means a larger footprint for the turbine, which is a big negative in farming areas.
Darrieus-design VAWT
VAWTs may be used for small-scale turbines and for pumping water in rural areas, but all commercially produced, utility-scale wind turbines are horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs).
Photo courtesy GNU; Photographer: Kit Conn
Wind farm in California
As implied by the name, the HAWT shaft is mounted horizontally, parallel to the ground. HAWTs need to constantly align themselves with the wind using a yaw-adjustment mechanism. The yaw system typically consists of electric motors and gearboxes that move the entire rotor left or right in small increments. The turbine's electronic controller reads the position of a wind vane device (either mechanical or electronic) and adjusts the position of the rotor to capture the most wind energy available. HAWTs use a tower to lift the turbine components to an optimum elevation for wind speed (and so the blades can clear the ground) and take up very little ground space since almost all of the components are up to 260 feet (80 meters) in the air.
Large HAWT components:
- rotor blades - capture wind's energy and convert it to rotational energy of shaft
- shaft - transfers rotational energy into generator
- nacelle - casing that holds the gearbox (increases speed of shaft between rotor hub and generator), generator {uses rotational energy of shaft to generate electricity using electromagnetism), electronic control unit (monitors system, shuts down turbine in case of malfunction and controls yaw mechanism), yaw controller (moves rotor to align with direction of wind) and brakes (stop rotation of shaft in case of power overload or system failure).
- tower - supports rotor and nacelle and lifts entire setup to higher elevation where blades can safely clear the ground
- electrical equipment - carries electricity from generator down through tower and controls many safety elements of turbine
From start to finish, the process of generating electricity from wind -- and delivering that electricity to people who need it -- looks something like this:
Turbine Aerodynamics
Unlike the old-fashioned Dutch windmill design, which relied mostly on the wind's force to push the blades into motion, modern turbines use more sophisticated aerodynamic principles to capture the wind's energy most effectively. The two primary aerodynamic forces at work in wind-turbine rotors are lift, which acts perpendicular to the direction of wind flow; and drag, which acts parallel to the direction of wind flow.
Turbine blades are shaped a lot like airplane wings -- they use an airfoil design. In an airfoil, one surface of the blade is somewhat rounded, while the other is relatively flat. Lift is a pretty complex phenomenon and may in fact require a Ph.D. in math or physics to fully grasp. But in one simplified explanation of lift, when wind travels over the rounded, downwind face of the blade, it has to move faster to reach the end of the blade in time to meet the wind travelling over the flat, upwind face of the blade (facing the direction from which the wind is blowing). Since faster moving air tends to rise in the atmosphere, the downwind, curved surface ends up with a low-pressure pocket just above it. The low-pressure area sucks the blade in the downwind direction, an effect known as "lift." On the upwind side of the blade, the wind is moving slower and creating an area of higher pressure that pushes on the blade, trying to slow it down. Like in the design of an airplane wing, a high lift-to-drag ratio is essential in designing an efficient turbine blade. Turbine blades are twisted so they can always present an angle that takes advantage of the ideal lift-to-drag force ratio. See How Airplanes Work to learn more about lift, drag and the aerodynamics of an airfoil.
Aerodynamics is not the only design consideration at play in creating an effective wind turbine. Size matters -- the longer the turbine blades (and therefore the greater the diameter of the rotor), the more energy a turbine can capture from the wind and the greater the electricity-generating capacity. Generally speaking, doubling the rotor diameter produces a four-fold increase in energy output. In some cases, however, in a lower-wind-speed area, a smaller-diameter rotor can end up producing more energy than a larger rotor because with a smaller setup, it takes less wind power to spin the smaller generator, so the turbine can be running at full capacity almost all the time. Tower height is a major factor in production capacity, as well. The higher the turbine, the more energy it can capture because wind speeds increase with elevation increase -- ground friction and ground-level objects interrupt the flow of the wind. Scientists estimate a 12 percent increase in wind speed with each doubling of elevation.
Calculating Power
To calculate the amount of power a turbine can actually generate from the wind, you need to know the wind speed at the turbine site and the turbine power rating. Most large turbines produce their maximum power at wind speeds around 15 meters per second (33 mph). Considering steady wind speeds, it's the diameter of the rotor that determines how much energy a turbine can generate. Keep in mind that as a rotor diameter increases, the height of the tower increases as well, which means more access to faster winds.
|Rotor Size and Maximum Power Output
|Rotor Diameter (meters)
|Power Output (kW)
|Sources: Danish Wind Industry Association, American Wind Energy Association
At 33 mph, most large turbines generate their rated power capacity, and at 45 mph (20 meters per second), most large turbines shut down. There are a number of safety systems that can turn off a turbine if wind speeds threaten the structure, including a remarkably simple vibration sensor used in some turbines that basically consists of a metal ball attached to a chain, poised on a tiny pedestal. If the turbine starts vibrating above a certain threshold, the ball falls off the pedestal, pulling on the chain and triggering a shut down.
Probably the most commonly activated safety system in a turbine is the "braking" system, which is triggered by above-threshold wind speeds. These setups use a power-control system that essentially hits the brakes when wind speeds get too high and then "release the brakes" when the wind is back below 45 mph. Modern large-turbine designs use several different types of braking systems:
- Pitch control - The turbine's electronic controller monitors the turbine's power output. At wind speeds over 45 mph, the power output will be too high, at which point the controller tells the blades to alter their pitch so that they become unaligned with the wind. This slows the blades' rotation. Pitch-controlled systems require the blades' mounting angle (on the rotor) to be adjustable.
- Passive stall control - The blades are mounted to the rotor at a fixed angle but are designed so that the twists in the blades themselves will apply the brakes once the wind becomes too fast. The blades are angled so that winds above a certain speed will cause turbulence on the upwind side of the blade, inducing stall. Simply stated, aerodynamic stall occurs when the blade's angle facing the oncoming wind becomes so steep that it starts to eliminate the force of lift, decreasing the speed of the blades.
- Active stall control - The blades in this type of power-control system are pitchable, like the blades in a pitch-controlled system. An active stall system reads the power output the way a pitch-controlled system does, but instead of pitching the blades out of alignment with the wind, it pitches them to produce stall.
(See Petester's Basic Aerodynamics for a nice explanation of both lift and still.)
Globally, at least 50,000 wind turbines are producing a total of 50 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually. In the next section, we'll examine the availability of wind resources and how much electricity wind turbines can actually produce.
Wind-power Resources and Economics
A Watt?
On a global scale, wind turbines are currently generating about as much electricity as eight large nuclear power plants. That includes not only utility-scale turbines, but also small turbines generating electricity for individual homes or businesses (sometimes used in conjunction with photovoltaic solar energy). A small, 10-kW-capacity turbine can generate up to 16,000 kWh per year, and a typical U.S. household consumes about 10,000 kWh in a year.
A typical large wind turbine can generate up to 1.8 MW of electricity, or 5.2 million KWh annually, under ideal conditions -- enough to power nearly 600 households. Still, nuclear and coal power plants can produce electricity cheaper than wind turbines can. So why use wind energy? The two biggest reasons for using wind to generate electricity are the most obvious ones: Wind power is clean, and it's renewable. It doesn't release harmful gases like CO2 and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere the way coal does (see How Global Warming Works), and we are in no danger of running out of wind anytime soon. There is also the independence associated with wind energy, as any country can generate it at home with no foreign support. And a wind turbine can bring electricity to remote areas not served by the central power grid.
But there are downsides, too. Wind turbines can't always run at 100 percent power like many other types of power plants, since wind speeds fluctuate. Wind turbines can be noisy if you live close to a wind plant, they can be hazardous to birds and bats, and in hard-packed desert areas there is a risk of land erosion if you dig up the ground to install turbines. Also, since wind is a relatively unreliable source of energy, operators of wind-power plants have to back up the system with a small amount of reliable, non-renewable energy for times when wind speeds die down. Some argue that the use of unclean energy to support the production of clean energy cancels out the benefits, but the wind industry claims that the amount of unclean energy that's necessary to maintain a steady supply of electricity in a wind system is far too small to defeat the benefits of generating wind power.
Wind Power Usage in the U.S.
Potential disadvantages aside, the United States has a good number of wind turbines installed, totaling more than 9,000 MW of generating capacity in 2006. That capacity generates in the area of 25 billion kWh of electricity, which sounds like a lot but is actually less than 1 percent of the power generated in the country each year. As of 2005, U.S. electricity generation breaks down like this:
- Coal: 52%
- Nuclear: 20%
- Natural gas: 16%
- Hydropower: 7%
- Other (including wind, biomass, geothermal and solar): 5%
Source: American Wind Energy Association
The current total electricity generation in the United States is in the area of 3.6 trillion kWh every year. Wind has the potential to generate far more than 1 percent of that electricity. According to American Wind Energy Association, the estimated U.S. wind-energy potential is about 10.8 trillion kWh per year -- about equal to the amount of energy in 20 billion barrels of oil (the current global yearly oil supply). To make wind energy feasible in a given area, it requires minimum wind speeds of 9 mph (3 meters per second) for small turbines and 13 mph (6 meters per second) for large turbines. Those wind speeds are common in the United States, although most of it is unharnessed.
When it comes to wind turbines, placement is everything. Knowing how much wind an area has, what the speeds are and how long those speeds last are the crucial deciding factors in building an efficient wind farm. The kinetic energy in wind increases exponentially in proportion to its speed, so a small increase in wind speed is in fact a large increase in power potential. The general rule of thumb is that with a doubling a wind speed comes an eight-fold increase in power potential. So theoretically, a turbine in an area with average wind speeds of 26 mph will actually generate eight times more electricity than one set up where wind speeds average 13 mph. It's "theoretically" because in real-world condition, there is a limit to how much energy a turbine can extract from the wind. It's called the Betz limit, and it's about 59 percent. But a small increase in wind speed still leads to a significant increase in power output.
Wind Farms
Photo courtesy General Electric Company
As in most other areas of power production, when it comes to capturing energy from the wind, efficiency comes in large numbers. Groups of large turbines, called wind farms or wind plants, are the most cost-efficient use of wind-energy capacity. The most common utility-scale wind turbines have power capacities between 700 KW and 1.8 MW, and they're grouped together to get the most electricity out of the wind resources available. They are typically spaced far apart in rural areas with high wind speeds, and the small footprint of HAWTs means that agricultural use of the land in nearly unaffected. Wind farms have capacities ranging anywhere from a few MW to hundreds of MW. The world's largest wind plant is the Raheenleagh Wind Farm located off the coast of Ireland. At full capacity (it's currently operating at partial capacity), it will have 200 turbines, a total power rating of 520 MW and cost nearly $600 million to build.
The cost of utility-scale wind power has come down dramatically in the last two decades due to technological and design advancements in turbine production and installation. In the early 1980s, wind power cost about 30 cents per kWh. In 2006, wind power costs as little as 3 to 5 cents per kWh where wind is especially abundant. The higher the wind speed over time in a given turbine area, the lower the cost of the electricity that turbine produces. On average, the cost of wind power is about 4 to 10 cents per kWh in the United States.
|Energy Costs Comparison
|Resource Type
|Average Cost (cents per kWh)
|Natural gas
|Hydrogen fuel cell
|Sources: American Wind Energy Association, Wind Blog, Stanford School of Earth Sciences
Many large energy companies offer "green pricing" programs that let customers pay more per kWh to use wind energy instead of energy from "system power," which is the pool of all of the electricity produced in the area, renewable and non-renewable. If you choose to purchase wind energy and you live in the general vicinity of a wind farm, the electricity you use in your home might actually be wind-generated; more often, the higher price you pay goes to support the cost of wind energy, but the electricity you use in your home still comes from system power. In states where the energy market has been deregulated, consumers may be able to purchase "green electricity" directly from a renewable-energy provider, in which case the electricity they're using in their homes definitely does come from wind or other renewable sources.
Implementing a small wind turbine system for your own needs is one way to guarantee that the energy you use is clean and renewable. A residential or business turbine setup can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $80,000. A large-scale setup costs a whole lot more. A single, 1.8-MW turbine can run up to $1.5 million installed, and that's not including the land, transmission lines and other infrastructure costs associated with a wind-power system. Overall, wind farms cost in the area of $1,000 per kW of capacity, so a wind farm consisting of seven 1.8-MW turbines runs about $12.6 million. The "payback time" for a large wind turbine -- the time it takes to generate enough electricity to make up for the energy consumed building and installing the turbine -- is about three to eight months, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Government Incentives
Government incentives for both large- and small-scale producers contribute to the economic feasibility of a wind-power system. Just a few of the current economic incentive programs for renewable energy systems include:
- Production Tax Credit:
Basically, wind-power generators, usually businesses, receive 1.8 cents
(as of Dec. 2005) per kWh of wind energy produced for wholesale
distribution during the first 10 years the wind farm is up and running.
- Net metering - In this system, individuals and
businesses producing renewable energy receive credits for each kWh they
produce beyond their own needs. When someone produces more electricity
than he needs, his power meter runs backwards, sending that excess
electricity to the power grid. He receives credits for the electricity
he sends to the grid, which count as payment toward any electricity he
draws from the grid when his turbine can't provide enough power for his
home or business. (Many large energy companies don't much care for this
setup since they are essentially purchasing the individual producer's
wind power at retail price instead of the wholesale price they'd be
paying a wind farm.)
- Renewable-energy credits
- Many states now have renewable-energy quotas for power companies,
whereby those companies have to buy a certain percentage of their
electricity from renewable sources. If someone with his own turbine
lives in a state that has a "green credit program," he receives
tradable credits for each megawatt-hour of renewable energy he produces
in a year. He can then sell those credits to large, conventional-energy
companies looking to meet their state or federal renewable-energy
- Installation tax credits: The federal government and some states offer tax credits for the costs of setting up a renewable-energy system. Maryland, for instance, offers businesses or landlords a credit for 25 percent of the cost of purchasing and installing a wind-turbine system if the energy-supplied building meets certain overall "green criteria."
Photo courtesy NREL (left) and stock.xchng
Residential wind turbine (left) and utility-scale wind turbine
While wind energy is still subsidized by the government, it is currently a competitive product and, by most accounts, can stand on its own as a viable power source. The Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy science and technology lab, estimates that wind power is capable of supplying 20 percent of the United States' electricity based on wind resources alone. The American Wind Energy Association puts that number at a theoretical 100 percent. Whichever estimate is right, the United States probably won't be seeing those percentages anytime soon. The American Wind Energy Association projects that by 2020, wind will provide 6 percent of all U.S. electricity. While the United States has one of the largest installed wind-power bases in the world in terms of sheer wattage, percentage-wise, it is lagging behind other developed countries. The United Kingdom has a stated goal of 10 percent wind power by 2010. Germany currently generates 8 percent of its power from wind, and Spain is at 6 percent. Denmark, the world leader in clean-energy consumption, gets more than 20 percent of its electricity from wind.
For more information on wind power and related topics, check out the links on the next page.
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
- How Biodiesel Works
- How Emergency Power Systems Work
- How Fuel Cells Work
- How the Hydrogen Economy Works
- How Hydropower Plants Work
- How Nuclear Power Works
- How Power Grids Work
- How Solar Cells Work


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Charlemagne Palestine & Janek Schaefer – Raga De L'apres Midi Pour Aude (excerpt) (Desire Path)
This right here is a seriously epic collaboration. Yes. These two dudes work insanely well together, and just look at the list of sounds here: shruti box, harmonica, carillon & desk bells/chimes, prayer bear (um, what?), sine waves, melodica, and, best of all, lots of voices. Two side long tracks that bring the fuckin drone. The A side starts out with an incredibly rich drone, warm & inviting, mostly blissful, that soon has Palestine's vocals bleeding into it, groaning & howling, turning into some ceremonial Eyes Wide Shut shit, dark and creepy as fuck, layers and layers of voice, some conjuring good spirits, others warding off the evil ones. The other side starts out with some location recordings, people talking at a festival or something, can i buy cialis without prescription then the drone comes in, this time the most unsettling harmonium/sine wave drone imaginable, a dense disharmonic wall of unintelligible fear and dark swells of demonic scum, more voices come in, speaking a foreign language, exorcising the evil, and the drone fades, turning into bells & pleasantries, eventually ending on a bright note with euphoric harmoniums and bright pure bliss. This is the fucking best. Honestly, Desire Path is literally the most potently awesome label right now. This is only their fourth release and the other three have been absolutely untouchable. Slow and steady wins the race, and Desire Path is miles ahead. As if you needed any more incentive to pick this up, it comes on flame red vinyl and is accompanied by a motherfucking demon mask.
Charlemagne Palestine & Janek Schaefer – Day Of The Demons (Desire Path, 2012)May 2, 2012
- Categories: Album Reviews


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Hawaii Family Court
Hawaii's Family Court of the First Judicial Circuit is a place no one wants to go, and a place we couldn't live without. Writer Jana Wolff gained special access to the court to shed some light on what happens inside.
(page 1 of 4)
Though thousands of families in our community are affected by what happens there, Hawaii's Family Court is basically invisible: Many of its courtrooms are off limits, its litigants are anonymous and its records are restricted. Now that Family Court has moved from a drab building in Honolulu to a brand new one in Kapolei, it's much brighter inside; but most of us are still in the dark about what goes on there.
Because Family Court deals specifically with juveniles and families, the law requires strict confidentiality in many of its cases. But a confidential court need not be a secret one. That's the view of Senior Judge Frances Q.F. Wong, who, just before she retired after 23 years as a full-time judge, granted special permission to Jana Wolff on behalf of HONOLULU Magazine to take a look inside Family Court of the First Judicial Circuit.
Thanks to her, here's a peek.
Editor's Note: The names of all parties—except for judges—have been changed. Additionally, since this article went to print, Judge Karen Radius has retired, but continues to be actively involved in Girls Court.
Juvenile Justice
"Hats off; gum out."
With that, a bailiff ushers into the courtroom a boy named Matt, who, in a T-shirt, board shorts and slippers, could be any other local 16-year-old—except that the flock of adults in business attire who are filing in behind him suggests this kid's in deep kimchi.
"Please rise," says the bailiff as the black-robed judge sweeps in and sits behind his raised desk, and those assembled announce who they are—deputy prosecutor, deputy attorney general, therapist from the Department of Health, probation officer, the minor and his mom. Two big guys, one in a tan sheriff's uniform and one who looks like a bouncer—stand quietly in the back of the room, adding to the sense that this may not end well.
It doesn't. Matt admits to cruising with an 18-year-old friend and jumping out of the car to rip off a brand-new backpack from a younger boy walking home from school … but Matt is fuzzy about where he got the crowbar that was under his shirt and neglects to mention what the prosecuting attorney eventually reveals: that the one-way fight with the obviously traumatized 12-year-old victim was posted on YouTube.
The judge prefaces his ruling with a warning and a wish for Matt's future. "If you can't do it for yourself, son, do it for your baby girl," he tells the teenage dad, whose marching orders include a letter to the victim, $180 restitution, a psych evaluation and a sentence at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility. At that, the now-crying teen gives his mom the stuff in his pockets and a long hug before being led out in ankle chains by the sheriff.
Drama and Trauma
Family Court is a one-stop shop for all kinds of misery: a place for families who hit and abuse; for kids who are addicts and prostitutes and criminals (and victims of each); for parents who can't stand each other; and for mentally ill people who are a danger to themselves and others. Referred to metaphorically as the ER of the Judiciary Hospital, Family Court is a place where no one wants to go and a place that we couldn't live without.
Judge Linda Luke, who has been at it for more than two decades, is quick to acknowledge that the best she and the other family court judges can do is to triage—to stop the bleeding of thousands of Hawaii's troubled families and failed relationships. When you consider that there is a caseload of nearly 30,000 each year in the Family Court on Oahu, and only nine full-time judges assigned to hear cases, you start to understand why, with 10 to 20 cases on a typical morning calendar (not including trials), a judge might have only 10 or 15 minutes to hear from both sides and decide the fate of a family in crisis.
"This isn't the Judge Judy show," assures Judge Karen Radius, who, after 17 years on the bench, knows that there is no such thing as an instant solution like those you see on TV. "Problems don't happen quickly and they don't get resolved quickly." With situations as dire as whether children will be taken from their parents, or which parent gets custody, or whether patients have to stay in the hospital against their will, family court judges can't let speed trump good decisions. That's why they spend at least an hour prepping for every hour they are in court, facing a pile of files at the end of each day to review for the next.
Even though the parties raise their right hands and swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, some of the gritty tales they tell inside each of the small courtrooms seem too painful or perplexing to believe. "I'm not creative enough to make up what I see every day," says Judge Michael Broderick, whose weekly calendar includes 60 to 70 cases of varying kinds: domestic abuse, paternity, guardianship, adoption and involuntary civil commitment.


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Boudoir Vénitien
All the sensuality of an intimate Italian boudoir
Indisponible -
In the mist of the ducal city, the muted intimacy of an alcove with endless secrets. The scent of sweet, refined rice powders and make-up. Swirls of hair hidden by a silk veil. Beautiful women get ready for the Carnival, slipping into dresses that twirl about and catch the eyes of their sweethearts.
Floral, Powdery.
Refined, tender, powdery.
Powdery note, raspberry, rose.
During the first use, wait until the wax is evenly consumed, all the way to the edges, before extinguishing the candle.
The wick must always remain centred. If necessary, trim it to about 0.5 cm, straighten it and centre it.
Ideal for perfuming your bedroom.


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My AccountLibrary Catalog
You're never far from a branch and all the services the Cambridge Public Library has to offer. All locations are accessible by public transportation. Click here for transit options near your branch.
449 Broadway 02138: open Monday-Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday-Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 1-5pm: Book drop available 24/7 (garage drops available when garage is open to the public)
open Monday-Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday-Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 1-5pm
open Monday-Thursday 12-7pm, Friday 12-5pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, Sunday 1-5pm
open Monday 1-5pm, Tuesday & Thursday 9am-1pm, Wednesday 5-9pm, closed Friday-Sunday
245 Concord Avenue 02138: open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am-6pm, Tuesday 10am-8pm, closed Thursday: Book drop available when the branch is closed
45 Pearl Street: open Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10am-6pm, Tuesday & Thursday 10am-9pm (except Children's - 6pm), Saturday 10am-2pm: Book drop available 24/7
64 Aberdeen Avenue 02138: open Monday, Tuesday, Friday 10am-6pm, Thursday 1-8pm, closed Wednesday: Book drop available when the branch is closed
48 Sixth St. 02141: open Monday & Friday 10am-6pm and Tuesday-Thursday 10am-8pm: Book drop available when the branch is closed
70 Rindge Avenue 02140: open Monday & Wednesday 10am-8pm, Thursday & Friday 10am-6pm, closed Tuesday: Book drop available when the branch is closed
826 Cambridge Street 02141: open Monday & Wednesday 10am-8pm, Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 1-5pm
See when the Main and Branch libraries are closed.


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The client, a major European energy supplier, provides electricity and gas to retail customers in its home country as well as generating electricity through nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources.
As customers are changing their digital interactions with utilities—especially within the connected home arena—the client's innovation division wanted to explore the possibility of a voice-enabled smart home service. This could allow customers to interact with the energy supplier without having to use a computer, phone or laptop.
The team operationalized an existing proof of concept based on Amazon's home device, Echo, and the back-end, natural language-processing product that powers Alexa, the Amazon Echo voice service. The success of this connected home prototype suggested that the Echo/Alexa solution could voice enable many customer inquiries and interactions.
With Accenture's help, the client built a production-quality Echo/Alexa connected home solution in just six weeks. The solution passed the Amazon app store certification on the first attempt, including a security vulnerability assessment by an external vendor. The client is one of the first blue chip companies (and only utility) to be involved in the launch of Echo products in its home country.
The engagement has positioned the client to better deflect call center costs through the increasing use of self-serve channels by customers. Customers can now take advantage of several customer portal activities, in a hands-free, voice-enabled, interactive way, to:
Submit meter readings
Request their account balance
Request their next payment date
Request their tariff end date
The client's "skill" logged 600 unique customer views and 20 customer ratings within its first few months of deployment, averaging 4.2 out of 5 stars. The project helped secure the client's reputation as an innovative energy retailer and connected-home leader, bringing the client's digital strategy of "making energy easy" to life and setting a new standard for customer service and engagement in the utility industry of the client's home country.
A relentless obsession with customers is no longer an option. It's a must.
Sharing real-world insights and opinions to help reimagine the future utility for the digital era.
Helping electricity, gas and water companies transform their businesses for the digital world.


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Private lessons are offered Monday – Friday at the Moore Community Center in Ellsworth. To sign up for lessons or a class, please contact us through this website or via phone (207-664-9258). We look forward to making music with you soon!
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First Quarter Begins!
Sep 16, 2019
"We can't all be heroes, because somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by."
– Will Rogers


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Our tools and documents answer many questions, but maybe not all. Your contact in your local sales office will provide you with the support you need in order to find a solution to your specific problem.
Planning Assistance
You plan – and we back you with our valuable expertise. Our customers enjoy support in many ways from detailed information on products, systems and materials to practical online calculation tools and personal assistance.


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well, good for you then, i wish you the best of luck with your studies and future employment.
I'm going to have to disagree slightly with thorc954. Not every T3 and T4 should be disbanded. But all private for-profit one should. After the purge, the following T4 schools would remain: CUNY--Queens College, North Carolina Central University, Southern University (really cheap), University of North Dakota and University of the District of Columbia. I did not go through the T3's but many of them should go as well.
how so?quote author=thorc954 link=topic=9404.msg76835#msg76835 date=1207793028]JD2008, if you go to cooley and get any financial stuff, just be cognizant of the fact that it may disappear after the first year. Either way though, good luck


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Singer Tulisa Contostavlos was "upset but not angry" after a confrontation with a celebrity blogger in Chelmsford, her tour manager has told a court.
Writer Savvas Morgan said he suffered swelling to his eye after an alleged incident involving the 25-year-old in Chelmsford, Essex, last year.
But the ex-N-Dubz star and former X-Factor judge has claimed she did not attack him and has been the victim of a vendetta, saying Mr Morgan had a "strange obsession" with her.
Contostavlos denies an assault charge linked to the alleged altercation at the V Festival last August.
The star is on trial at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court with her assistant, Gareth Varey, who is accused of threatening behaviour, which he also denies.
Her tour manager, Drew Lyall, said he had put in arm around her after witnessing the aftermath of the incident.
Mr Lyall, who told the court he had assisted Contostavlos on hundreds of occasions, added: "She was very upset and briefly mentioned it was a guy who had been hounding her or harassing her for a very long period.
"She hadn't mentioned any particular individual before the incident, I had never seen him before.
"She was calm. She was just a little bit upset."
Other celebrities, including singer and rapper Misha B, Sugababes singer Mutya Buena, singer Alexandra Burke and rapper Wretch 32, all witnessed the incident but have not given evidence.
Contostavlos told the court that Mr Morgan had had a "vendetta" against her since an incident in which she asked security to remove him from a VIP area at the Whisky Mist nightclub in London's Mayfair.
She also outlined her suspicions that Mr Morgan was involved in the release of a sex tape of her online.
But she claimed she had no grudge against him, saying: "He was one of many."
Mr Morgan told the court that Contostavlos raised her fists in the air and was swinging her arms in a backstage area at the festival.
"Everyone was jumping around trying to get at me, there was a lot going on," he said.
Prosecutor Matthew McNiff said the incident happened at 12.30am on August 18 as Mr Morgan was about to leave. He said Contostavlos accused Mr Morgan of stalking her, and swore at him.
Contostavlos and Varey, 28, both of Royal Drive, Friern Barnet, north London, are both on unconditional bail.


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Cardigan and scarf from Parkmall, Thrifted button down top,
SM department store shoes and acid washed leggings, Joelle necklace
I fell in love with my friend's sun glasses, he got it at forever 21.
I was amazed by my friend's ring, he made it himself.
I adore my friend's shoe, it's sort of a keds inspired shoe.
Now I wanna buy it also.
Those were one of those days wherein my friends and I just do crazy
things inside the classroom while waiting for our next professor. Now this
time since it was the first day of classes from our holiday break, most of our professors
usually wont come. As soon as we saw a note from our professor, we just shouted
and enjoy our vacant time. This time we spare our time clicking our cameras, since
it was also a wash day ( civilian attire every Wednesday ) we love to be vain as always.
XOXO Miki