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How to Build a Wind Turbine From Scratch

Stefanie Spear
Sep. 20, 2014 07:41AM EST Climate

Thanks to filmmaker Jake Beed and the Action4Climate video competition, you can have a first-hand look at what it's like to build a wind turbine from scratch. In If You Build It, watch a group of young Canadians strive for a more sustainable way of life by figuring out how to generate their own power via a homemade wind turbine.

With little to no prior knowledge or experience, the group finds help in the surrounding community's skill sets that all come together to create a moment that will last for as long as the wind blows. This film is inspiring. It shows how you can build a community by building a wind turbine and that passion is the key ingredient to getting things done.

Renewable energy deployment is key to solving global energy issues. Especially in energy poor countries, it's vital that communities embrace clean energy and work on strategies to keep the power generation locally owned.

One great example is in the Dharnai village in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states. The community is now lit-up by a community-owned solar-powered micro-grid. Dharnai is the first village in India where all aspects of life are powered by solar. The 100 kilowatt (kW) system powers the 450 homes of the 2,400 residents, 50 commercial operations, two schools, a training center and a health care facility. A battery backup ensures power around the clock.

“If we are to end extreme poverty, we must tackle energy poverty,” said World Bank Senior Director for Energy & Extractives Anita Marangoly George. “With 1.2 billion people still living without electricity across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, it’s clear where our work will be focused for the foreseeable future. Our priority is to find the cleanest energy solutions to meet local needs in the smartest ways possible.”

The Action4Climate video competition received more than 230 entries from 70 countries from students inspired to share their climate change stories. To watch other Action4Climate videos, click here.

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Leaked Audio Shows Oil Lobbyist Bragging About Success in Criminalizing Pipeline Protests

Politics

Protesters gathered outside US Bank and Wells Fargo locations around the U.S. to protest investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline on Dec. 1, 2016. This photo is from a protest outside US Bank in south Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fibonacci Blue / CC BY 2.0

By Jake Johnson

As a growing number of states move to pass laws that would criminalize pipeline protests and hit demonstrators with years in prison, an audio recording obtained by The Intercept showed a representative of a powerful oil and gas lobbying group bragging about the industry's success in crafting anti-protest legislation behind closed doors.


Speaking during a conference in Washington, DC in June, Derrick Morgan, senior vice president for federal and regulatory affairs at the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), touted "model legislation" that states across the nation have passed in recent months.

AFPM represents a number of major fossil fuel giants, including Chevron, Koch Industries and ExxonMobil.

"We've seen a lot of success at the state level, particularly starting with Oklahoma in 2017," said Morgan, citing Dakota Access Pipeline protests as the motivation behind the aggressive lobbying effort. "We're up to nine states that have passed laws that are substantially close to the model policy that you have in your packet."


The audio recording comes just months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that would punish anti-pipeline demonstrators with up to 10 years in prison, a move environmentalists condemned as a flagrant attack on free expression.

"Big Oil is hijacking our legislative system," Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network said after the Texas Senate passed the bill in May.

As The Intercept's Lee Fang reported Monday, the model legislation Morgan cited in his remarks "has been introduced in various forms in 22 states and passed in ... Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota."

"The AFPM lobbyist also boasted that the template legislation has enjoyed bipartisan support," according to Fang. "In Louisiana, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the version of the bill there, which is being challenged by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Even in Illinois, Morgan noted, 'We almost got that across the finish line in a very Democratic-dominated legislature.' The bill did not pass as it got pushed aside over time constraints at the end of the legislative session."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.

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