China installed an 18-megawatt wind turbine earlier this month off the shore of Guangdong province. It is the largest wind turbine ever by power rating, and experts expect it to produce enough power for 36,000 homes every year, Electrek reports.
With 853-foot rotors and a "swept area" of over seven football fields, as Electrek observed, this turbine is massive. And China is in the process of developing one even bigger. It will sweep over nine soccer fields in total area.
Size isn't everything, but if it functions as hoped, a major turbine like this is a significant development in clean air technology. Turbines of this size could make a huge difference in reducing society's dependence on carbon-based energy. In fact, the more wind turbines we have, no matter how large they are, the less we have to rely on dirty fuels or the constant need to drill and mine them.
This latest construction in China is projected to provide 72 gigawatt-hours of effectively free electricity per year, Electrek reported.
"Wow," one commenter said on the Electrek article. "It makes you wonder how big they will get."
Using renewable energy — like wind — does wonders for the environment. In the process, it also reduces pollution, which not only helps people feel better but lowers health care costs. When people aren't getting sick from pollution, they don't need as much medical care. This does not only affect their personal bank accounts, but overall spending on public health goes down, too, along with insurance premiums.
Renewable energy creates jobs, too. It's more labor-intensive than other energy sources, so it provides jobs for people worldwide. In 2016, over 100,000 people worked in wind energy alone. When you add that to those who work in solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal energy, the jobs outnumber those made available by conventional energy, as the Union of Concerned Scientists has detailed.
Renewable energy sources are also more stable when it comes to resources required — there's always wind, and it's free — which means that relying on them makes energy costs more stable, too. Given that energy prices keep rising, that's good news for everyone's wallets.
Wind turbines aren't the only ways people are finding new ways to make, use, and expand the availability of other energy sources. From geothermal energy plants to sharing energy with your neighbors, there are many recent developments that promise to reduce our dependence on carbon-based energy and help us reap these rewards. People are investing more in clean energy technology, too, so bigger and better developments may be on the way.
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