It’s true. We are on a spaceship. We are all aware that our ship spins at just over 1,000 MPH and that it travels around our star. What most of us do not realize is that our ship is traveling at about 67,000 MPH. We are part of a solar system that travels around a black hole at about ½ million MPH. We are part of the Milky Way galaxy that is moving away from the Big Bang point at 1.3 million MPH and accelerating. Our universe is expanding at an acerated rate and is measured in light years. I wonder if our local universe is also moving in relation to others?
The world’s tallest wooden wind turbine is nearly complete — and its creators say it makes wind power way more efficient
“Wood enables building higher towers at a lower cost.”
By Rick KazmerDecember 1, 2023
The experts at Sweden’s Modvion are using the strength of wood to help capture the power of wind — and setting records in the process.
The company’s unique, wood-based wind turbine was ordered by Sweden-based energy company Varberg Energi, and will be the world’s tallest wooden turbine when completed. It will stand at 344 feet including the blades, per an Electrek report on the news. Still under construction, the record-breaker is set for completion by the end of this year in Skara, Sweden.
The company is also touting other benefits of the wood design, in addition to height.
Modvion experts said on the company website that the laminated wood used to build the structure is stronger and lighter than steel, when part of the turbine structure.
Photos on the company’s website show cranes stacking wooden cylinders that make the tower. The cylinders are divided into several semicircular parts, which are combined on-site. Since the turbine tower parts are hollow, the walls can be made thicker, increasing the strength.
The modular wood design uses glue during assembly, instead of a heap of bolts. In short, the concept maximizes the strength of natural wood fibers, its builders said.
“We’re bringing to market the next generation of tall towers in engineered wood, nature’s own carbon (fiber),” Modvion CEO Otto Lundman said on the company’s website.
The Modvion team said that height matters when it comes to catching wind. As part of a point-by-point benefit guide, they claim the wood towers more efficiently reach the sky than other types, reducing cost. The reason, in part, is due to the fact that they don’t need as much reinforcement to support their own weight. The lighter materials also make for easier transport.
Modvion’s builders use Scandinavian spruce, which they said grows fast enough to overcome logging.
“Wood enables building higher towers at a lower cost, which makes wind power more efficient since winds are stronger and more stable higher up,” Lundman told Electrek.
The team said wooden towers will contribute 90% less dirty air during their lifespan than their metal counterparts. When decommissioned, the intent is for the turbines to be reused in other construction projects, according to Modvion’s website.
The company already has a proven prototype in Björkö, an island in Sweden. It was built in 2020. Two other projects are in the works, including Varberg’s.
“Modvion’s tower enables the construction of cost-effective, tall wind turbines — a key to a carbon-neutral energy system,” Varberg CEO Björn Sjöström said.
About three years ago I submitted a post on this topic. My belief system programming was produced and directed by my mom, a devoted Roman Catholic. As I understand it her mom, a Southern Bell, was a convert at some point in her life. Mom insured that I attended mass every week and was enrolled in a catholic school for my first ten years in Dayton, OH, Newburg, NY, Colorado Springs, and Ottawa Canada. I attended catechism class for each of those ten years and was taught that the Catholic Church was the one true church and the only path to a wonderful afterlife. The Pope was our leader and infallible when it came to matters of faith. Protestants (the protestors) were misguided and should be encouraged to return to one true faith. I was so well programmed that I continued to attend mass through my last two years of high school and four years at university. I even required my first wife to attend catholic lessons prior to our marriage in the church.
While I did question certain puzzling aspects of church history and rules that seemed not to be part of scripture I was told that “Faith” alone would overcome any doubts. It was only later that I understood that “Faith”, especially fervent faith, can overcome evidence and facts. Why are there so many different belief systems with all of them populated by devotees that are positive that their path to the afterlife is either the only one or if not, by far the best? Is it possible for all of them to be valid?
In an effort to ferret out the truth, I began my research. I attended several other church services, and read the Book of Mormon and the Koran. I read about the inquisition and the dalliances (and atrocities) of several popes in history. I learned of the Council of Nicene and the process that Emperor Constantine directed to determine what books make into the Scriptures we have today. I wondered how they could know for sure that these represented the “Word” of the creator.
I wondered why an all-powerful God would need to create humans to worship him/her. Did God have sex or need it? If there were entities on other worlds do we share the same God? Is the God of our Galaxy the same as the one in other Galaxies? Is the God of our Universe the same as the God of other Universes? Is it possible that the gods of the Romans, Greeks, Norse, Mayans, etc., etc., were not myths (they were real to them)? Is it possible that we do not know the truth?
One of the basic tenants on which our country was founded on freedom of religion (you are entitled to your beliefs). Bout half of the founding fathers were Deists. I am convinced that their intent was that the USA was to be a secular refuge, open to all beliefs (even non-beliefs). That is my position on the topic.
As for my belief, I do my best to resist believing. I prefer experience and evidence-based facts (as best we are to ascertain). I have no idea what happens when we die, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that something does exist after death (or near death). I am excited to find out when my time comes.
