Offshore Wind Turbines

Background

The basis of this research page came from the paragraph stated below in Pope Franciscus' encyclical Laudato Si‘: On Care For Our Common Home (Franciscus 2015).

165. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the less harmful alternative or to find short-term solutions. But the international community has still not reached adequate agreements about the responsibility for paying the costs of this energy transition. In recent decades, environmental issues have given rise to considerable public debate and have elicited a variety of committed and generous civic responses. Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.

How Wind Turbines Produce Electricity

Figure 1. Diagram of a Wind Turbine (United States Department of Energy, 2014)

Types of Offshore Wind Turbines

Researchers at Michigan Institute of Technology have been developing turbines that can be used in offshore areas using a tension leg platform (TLP)(Stauffer 2006). With offshore wind power in the United States, 4,000,000 megawatts of capacity could be tapped into and used along the coasts of America (United States Department of Energy 2014).

Figure 2. Anholt Offshore Wind Power Plant in the Kattegat (Siemens AG, 2015)

The Benefits of Offshore Wind Turbines

Wind turbines that are placed offshore will provide clean energy for coastal cities without using finite resources. Offshore turbine builders work with environmentalists to ensure the safety of marine life. Transportation is also easier on the sea with no traffic interference than it is on land. (Haluzan 2015).

References

Haluzan, Ned 2015. Offshore Wind Power: Advantages and Disadvantages Retrieved on December 7th, 2015 from http://www.renewables-info.com/drawbacks_and_benefits/offshore_wind_power_%e2%80%93_advantages_and_disadvantages.html

Franciscus, 2015. Laudato Si‘: On Care For Our Common Home. Retrieved on 25 August 2015 from http://m.vatican.va/content/francescomobile/en/encyclicals/documents/papa. francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html.

United States Department of Energy 2014. How a Wind Turbine Works. Retrieved on September 4th, 2015 from http://www.energy.gov/energysaver/small-wind-electric-systems.

Siemens AG, 2015. Anholt Offshore Wind Power Plant in the Kattegat. Retrieved on 12 October 2015 from http://www.siemens.com/press/en/feature/2013/energy/2013-09-anholt.php#ii143.