Hello friends, this is the Environment Show and welcome.
There is enormous potential from wind energy.
Actually wind has the potential of providing about 40% of our current electric demand.
And because of that and because the costs have declined so remarkably over the last 10 years,
I would expect that over the next 10 years we will see increasing wind power generation.
The good news is that it's a whole lot better than it was when Ronald Reagan was present.
The bad news is that it wasn't good enough and I don't think that we are playing a strong enough international role.
I think people like Margaret Patcher are ahead of us and that is something that one would not have expected in the past.
Randall Swisher, director of the American Wind Energy Association, will be talking wind turbines this time.
And Vermont Governor Madeline Cunen, she helped draw up a seven point plan to save the earth.
Two of our stories and our guests this time on the Environment Show, we hope you'll stay tuned.
The Environment Show is a production of WAMC and is made possible by the J.M. Kaplan Fund of New York.
And this is Bruce Robertson.
Well as NASA scientists scrambled to correct the defect in the Hubble Space Telescope,
many are wondering whether the million spent to launch it was worth it.
The question has been asked of the entire space program right from the earliest days, critics have asked how we on Earth benefit from space exploration.
No doubt our opinion would change at least just a little if we could see the earth for ourselves from outer space.
Well in Santa Monica, Joy Newell went to the studios of artist Tom Van Zant to see a geosphere, a globe of the earth made from satellite photos.
And Joy says it's unlike anything she's ever seen.
As we sat together in front of a 28 by 40 inch transparency of geosphere lit from behind,
the only description of my reaction would be awe.
Van Zant has worked with the project for four years now so he's over the awe and into the pragmatic ways he hopes geosphere will be used to make needed changes.
It's absolutely frightening to see how little green there is.
Well the first stage of any effective action and certainly the first stage of any effective giant change in the way we think,
is reality and we have to look at the world we can't we can't make good decisions if our global consciousness is based upon looking at Earth globes where the primary physical attributes of that globe are political boundaries which in fact don't even show on the reality earth is seen from space.
So the first step is reality. The second step is suspension of denial we do in fact have to change we do in fact have to manage our resources as opposed to continue to utilize them indiscriminately and we do have to fully assume those responsibilities.
Before geosphere consumed Van Zant's energies he was a Marine. He was a war correspondent and then he became an artist well known for sculpturing public places and from murals. He's a man fascinated by technology.
For years Van Zant has been interested in remote sensing or the satellite viewing of the Earth and when the geosphere project became formulated he took it to the National Aviation and Space Administration NASA.
I was fortunate to receive a grant from NASA to develop the software at Jet Propulsion Laboratory which is administered by Caltech but is also a division of NASA and to develop the software for the computer programs that allowed me as an artist to do all the compositing of all of these thousands of satellite images.
The geosphere image of the planet is actually many images as Van Zant said although I could not see a scene or a joining anywhere. How many images?
Well I guess it would depend upon how you count images specific scenes there would be thousands but the the Tyros series satellites and the advanced radiometry instruments that are on those satellites that make these images of the Earth they do it in strips from pole to pole or their polar orbiters.
Sometimes a whole strip can be used sometimes only individual scenes but the great job was not only geometrically aligning all of this work.
The other great job was in a colormetically resolving them one to each other and then the other was to getting all those scenes that would be cloud free so that we could produce a virtually cloud free image of the whole Earth.
Van Zant insisted on a totally cloudless image for the globe not because that's reality but because of the overlays which will be put on top of it like a computerized photo of the actual weather.
Then we can project use it like a set and project onto it say onto the Amazon will be able to project the satellite imagery from 10 years ago or 20 years ago and show what the state of the Amazon rainforest was in 1970 and what it was in 1988 and 89 and what it is today.
Wow and so you really do have comparative photos of the topography absolutely we've got these wonderful banks of satellite photos preserved by by the Earth Resource Satellite Data Processing Center in Sioux Falls South Dakota operated by the United States Geological Survey and by NOAA and we're able to not only see the rate of defilement
but also the rate of defilement for a station with this kind of an instrument but we'll be able to make a risk projection into the future.
Van Zant has a list of some 200 overlays which will make the geosphere a virtually standing library. In the tape you're about to hear there's some kind of electrical interference perhaps because as we talked we stood near an extremely high powered computer graphic imaging machine as he told me about his plans.
We made the image now we're assembling the instrument which is the geosphere itself that the images will be mounted on and going all the way from a school and home globe which will have clear hemispherical accessories that go over this reality globe of the Earth and printed on each one of these accessories will be a different program.
We can have the weather of the whole world one you take those off and put on another pair of accessories and which are perfectly aligned to the image underneath would be all the political borders and boundaries and such you take that off and put on another one and there are all the population distribution around the world and energy generation and use take those off and put on another one and it would be the habitat of all the major species in the world and the migrate.
Patterns of whales and all the bird migrations and salmon and cod and all the fishery resources we take that one off and put on one on medicine or agriculture or minerals and so we have this so what we're doing is changing the basic concept of what a globe is used for instead of being a reference instrument which it by definition has to be if it's surface.
It has to be if it's surface is committed to a specific information we're we're converting it now to a three dimensional library which now can come out in the middle of the school room and be used as a as a world resource education instrument.
Van Sant sees the news media museums and classrooms as the primary geosphere users but he also envisions what he calls earth situation rooms just as phone lines and cables bring us telephone conversations and television pictures.
Van Sant says technology will bring us real photos of situations anywhere on our globe like earthquake devastation for instance and although the geosphere project has turned into a multinational one and the project has the copyright on any geosphere image Van Sant says the marketing of the geosphere products will be non exclusive and non restrictive for the environment showing Los Angeles I'm Joy Newell joy.
Van Sant says technology will bring us real photos of the geosphere products and television pictures and television pictures and television pictures.
Van Sant says technology will bring us real photos of the geosphere products and television pictures and television pictures.
many of the nation's governors.
At the end of the 82nd National Governors Association meeting in Mobile, the chief executives
signed what could be an influential, if not crucial, document designed to set U.S. policy
once and for all on the issue of global warming.
According to Vermont Governor Madeline Cunen, Vice Chair of the Governor's Task Force on
global climate change, drawing up the plan drew together many otherwise disparate viewpoints.
I think the most significant part of that plan is not really written into the plan itself,
but is the fact that all of the governors of the United States of America signed off on it.
And that the chairman of that task force was in fact Jim Thompson, the Governor of Illinois.
And a few years ago, as the Governor of Illinois and I had sat down together and discussed
global warming, or acid rain, or energy alternatives, you would have seen us complete opposites
at the table.
We would not have found many areas of agreement.
But as remarkable about this policy that the governors did adopt is that both the energy
producing states and the receiving states, as we call them, are at the eastern and New England,
really saw eye to eye on most of the issues.
There's some differences in terms of how fast we move what time tables we set.
But the fact that we could agree on these seven points, I think lays the groundwork for
some national consensus and hopefully in the long term some international consensus.
In fact, the overall scope of the seven point plan is global in hopes of emphasizing the
connection between what we do here in the United States and what goes on around the rest
of the world and indeed how that which goes on around the rest of the world is connected
to and affects how we live here in the United States.
Our first point was to ask for immediate global action and for the President of the United
States to take the lead in that regard.
And I think that's still very, very critical.
I realize at the moment his attention is focused elsewhere, but environmental issues will continue
to linger after this present crisis in the mid-east hopefully will receive.
And it's I think crucial that the United States be in the Vanguard, be in the forefront
in terms of bringing other countries around to higher standards of eliminating the chemicals,
the pollutants that cause global warming and that cause destruction of the ozone layer.
And also I emphasize it's very serious in a conservation eliminating CFC research, developing
alternative forms of energy and taking steps within our own states in order to ease the
problem.
So it's a forward looking document.
It's a starting point.
It's not the final word by any means, but I think it reflects a new level of national consensus
on an issue which has had many skeptics.
And certainly the most skeptical have been those states which in fact would find some
of their energy sources being looked at very differently, maybe even boy-cotted if we
are to take firm steps in reducing global warming.
It's interesting that you mentioned that you and Governor Thompson that at one point had
been diametrically opposed.
Now see eye to eye and that the Governor's all signed on to this.
That is in stark contrast to the United States as a nation versus the rest of the world.
Many of the other industrialized nations, Great Britain and West Germany and many others,
take a rather dim view of our leadership or lack of leadership when it comes to environmental
policy.
The Bush administration has now in fact reversed its original opposition to helping fund
a global CFC reduction program, but as I mentioned the United States is not seen as
a world leader and even considered somewhat recalcentrate on the environmental issues.
How do you assess our national environmental policy and do we have one?
Well it's a tough question to answer frankly because I think there's some mixed signals.
I think individuals like William Riley, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
who is a Bush appointee clearly.
Is pointing us in the right direction.
Is this strong spokesman for environmental issues?
I think then you have some naysayers within the administration as well such as Johnson,
Nunu and Dick Dharman who basically want it all written down in an economic cost benefit
analysis and don't take into account the fact that the environment exacts a very heavy
cost if it's mistreated and sometimes you can't even pay back that cost at any price.
So I think there is frankly some tug of war within the Bush administration and some of
these issues.
The good news is that it's a whole lot better than it was when Ronald Reagan was present.
The bad news is that it wasn't good enough and I don't think that we are playing a strong
enough international role.
I think people like Margaret Patcher are ahead of us and that is something that one would
not have expected in the past.
I think there's still some educating to do.
I think there's some sorting out but I do think that there definitely is a different climate
and attitude on environmental issues than there has been in the previous administration
but I don't think it's given the importance that I attach to it that many, many citizens
attach to it to really are convinced that environmental issues are going to be the key questions
of our well-being and also our economic vitality into the next century.
Remind Governor Madeline Cunin, the seven point plan calls on the entire world to come
together on an international agreement to protect the atmosphere.
It does no good the governor say to make strides in one area while backsliding in another.
The plan also calls on the United States to stabilize its emissions of carbon dioxide.
The plan also proposes banning the production and use of CFCs altogether, developing alternative
energy sources including wind and solar and safe nuclear power to increase funding and
participation in forestry programs specifically to reforest depleted areas.
The plan also would begin working on long-range plans to deal with a possible dramatic climate
change including a rise in sea levels and finally the governor's plan calls on the world
to devote more time and money to research.
For the Environment Show, this is Bruce Robertson.
Bob Dylan's song of the 60s said it.
With the storms of political conflict brewing in the Middle East, we may find the answer
to peace and energy in the more gentle winds in the mountains and valleys.
Often called one of the alternative energy sources, wind is in fact an ancient and proven
source of energy, a source that we have not really exploited.
And properly installed, a wind turbine or windmill is capable of providing useful energy
both commercially and privately.
There are today over 15,000 wind turbines generating electricity for electric utilities,
primarily in California and Hawaii, but there are thousands of homeowners or small businessmen
or farmers that have individual wind turbines that are being used to provide either electricity
or pump water for their own individual use.
Randall Swisher is the executive director of the American Wind Energy Association based
in Washington, D.C.
Swisher says you might be surprised to learn just how widely useful wind turbines can be.
The amount of power that is generated by the wind is directly proportional to the speed
of the wind.
Actually, it's a function of cube of the wind speed so that it makes a tremendous difference
whether you're in a wind speed of 18, 19, 20 miles an hour or 14 or 15.
But the Department of Energy has estimated that 37 of the 50 states have a good enough
wind for utility grade wind generation.
So the wind resources in this country are widely dispersed, really pretty strong in every
region of the country other than the southeast.
I would expect it through the decade or the 90s, we would see those resources taped increasingly.
Let's talk a little bit more about the placement of a windmill.
You've mentioned 37 of the 50 states.
Is it possible to deduce where in a particular region the best wind is and how do we go about
finding that?
There are measuring devices available, animometers which measure the speed of the wind and utilities.
And wind project developers have placed animometers in many regions of the country to get a good
sense of the nature of the winds in a particular region and to begin to then figure out how
big a part wind energy potentially could play in their electric generation.
Now would you have to take a series of readings over a protracted period of time so you could
establish whether or not the wind is in fact a constant year round or it's just a seasonal
gust or what?
That's right.
It would be a big mistake to go out on one day and take a bunch of readings and then
assume that that's the way that the wind would blow every day or every year.
The wind varies in any region on a seasonal basis generally.
I mean here in California for example the winds start picking up in March or April and
then peak in the summer months and begin to decline the fall.
80% of the wind energy in California is generated between March and October.
But coincidentally that happens to match the peak demand for the utilities which are summer
peaking utilities so it's a pretty good fit between the need to the utility and the availability
of the wind in those areas.
That's another part of the country.
Montana, the Dakota's, Minnesota you would find that the winds are strongest in the winter
and just coincidentally it happens that the utilities in those regions are generally winter
peaking utilities.
They need more power in the winter so again that's a fairly good match.
Of course one of the biggest problems is that wind does not blow all the time.
The challenge is to find either other backup sources of energy or find a way to store
the energy generated when the wind is blowing.
Additionally swisher says in order to erect the tower of 50 to 60 feet high onto which
you would mount the blades and rotor and you would need a tower of that height you would
also need about an acre of open space and many if not most of us simply do not have that
much space to spare.
Furthermore there could also be local zoning restrictions on putting up a tower of that
height.
Lastly swisher says cost could be a factor as well.
The average homeowner uses 500 to 600 kilowatt hours of electricity per month and a typical
wind turbine generates 10 to 20 kilowatts.
He would need therefore about 20 thousand dollars to put up a wind generator of this size.
Still swisher is hopeful.
I don't look for wind turbines to sprout from every yard but I think that doesn't diminish
the fact that there is enormous potential from wind energy.
Actually wind has the potential of providing about 40 percent of our current electric
demand and because of that and because the costs have declined so remarkably over the last
10 years because of the efficiency with which we are generating power from the wind has
increased so dramatically.
I would expect that over the next 10 years we will see increasing wind power generation.
Still swisher is director of the Wind Energy Association of Washington DC.
For the Environment Show this is Bruce Robertson.
We'll close our show this week with a musical selection, Wind Song, included on a new album
by John Denver.
The wind is the whisper of our Father the Earth.
The wind is the hand of our Father the Sky.
The wind watches over our troubles and pleasures.
The wind is the sky the first to learn the fly.
The wind is the barrel of bad good fighting.
We've heard dogs, bring her dogs.
The wind is the rain.
It fills us with rain.
Oh the wind is the singer who sang the first song.
The wind is the whisper of anger and warning.
The wind breaks the fragrance of freshly morn hay.
The wind is the racer and the wild star in running.
And the queen tastes the sun on a snow summer's day.
Wind knows the song to the cities and canyons.
Under the moon, the roar of the sea.
The wind is the whisper of the given morning.
The wind is the whisper of all that is free.
So welcome to wind that the wisdom he offers.
Follow her summer which he calls again.
In your heart and your spirit that the breeze is around you.
Lift up your voice and sing with wave.
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la.
Wind song by John Denver from his new album Earth Songs
from Wind Star Records released in association with the National Wildlife Federation.
And with that selection we close this week's show.
We hope you enjoyed the Environment Show.
Next week news from the Aspen Institute on Global Change
and what is happening to our primary schools.
It's reading, writing and resources.
The Environment.
Two of the stories we'll be tracking for you next time on the Environment Show.
The Environment Show is a program about the environment, the air, water, soil, wildlife and people of our common habitat.
By the way if you know of something that you think we ought to know about or have any questions about this week's or any week's show, feel free to drop us a line.
We're at the Environment Show, WAMC 318 Central Avenue in Albany, New York and the Zip Code is 1-2-2-0-6.
The Environment Show is a production of WAMC, Dr. Alan Shartock Executive Producer.
This is Bruce Robertson.
The Environment Show is made possible by the J.M. Kaplan Fund of New York.
The Environment Show is a program about the environment, the air, water, soil, wildlife and people of our common habitat.
The Environment Show is a program about the environment, the air, water, soil, wildlife and people of our common habitat.
The Environment Show is a program about the environment, the air, water, soil, wildlife and people of our common habitat.
The Environment Show is a program about the environment, the air, water, soil, wildlife and people of our common habitat.
