Wind Turbines

State officials are holding a public meeting Monday in Annapolis on the possibility of placing wind turbines off Maryland's Atlantic coast. The state Department of Natural Resources and Maryland Energy Administration will discuss their efforts to map and learn more about the ocean areas under consideration for leasing to wind energy companies. As part of the state's policy to promote renewable energy, officials last year invited wind developers to express their interest in placing large turbines a dozen or more miles off the state's 31-mile coastline.

Federal wildlife agencies proposed Wednesday increased protections for loggerhead turtles along both U.S. coasts, including in Maryland. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they had determined that the status of seven of nine population groups of the turtles around the world had worsened to the point that they should be considered endangered, including those in the...

A n Abell Foundation report recently trumpeted the supposed "potential" of offshore wind to provide two-thirds of Maryland's electricity needs. Talk about hot air. With about 100,000 industrial wind turbines in operation around the world - 35,000 in the U.S. alone - there is not a shred of empirical evidence that wind has been responsible for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions in the production of electricity - or that it has contributed to any reductions in fossil fuel use. Although 20 percent of Denmark's installed electricity capacity consists of wind energy, much more than half of its actual generation is exported, for grid security reasons, to elsewhere in Scandinavia, where it displaces highly flexible hydro generation at no savings in CO2 emissions but with substantial cost to Danish ratepayers.

A Howard County councilman wants to ease zoning approval for small residential and commercial wind turbines. There are now two wind turbines in the county. One is outside a recently opened Ellicott City apartment house for limited-income renters that was built for the county's Housing Commission. A second is on a farm in the western part of the county, according to Joshua Feldmark, director of the county's Office of Environmental Sustainability. Feldmark said County Executive Ken Ulman expects to support the proposal by Councilman Calvin Ball, an East Columbia Democrat.

Offshore wind energy can furnish Marylanders with as much as two-thirds of the electricity they currently use, and if aggressively developed, could turn the state into a net exporter of power, a new report by the Abell Foundation says. About 2,900 wind turbines could be placed using current technology in relatively shallow Atlantic waters 28 miles to 43 miles off the Maryland coast, according to the report, which was written by researchers at the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration.

Offshore wind energy can furnish Marylanders with as much as two-thirds of the electricity they currently use, and if aggressively developed, could turn the state into a net exporter of power, a new report by the Abell Foundation says. About 2,900 wind turbines could be placed using current technology in relatively shallow Atlantic waters 28 miles to 43 miles off the Maryland coast, according to the report, which was written by researchers at the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration.

As the Baltimore County Council prepares to consider new regulations for wind turbines in residential neighborhoods, at least one member is strongly opposed to the idea. The Planning Board voted unanimously recently to recommend allowing one wind turbine no taller than 60 feet per one-acre property. The recommendation - which came in response to a council request for new regulations - would set rules for residential areas only. The Planning Board said it did not intend to limit the prospects for wind energy in industrial and commercial zones.

As the Baltimore County Council prepares to consider new regulations for wind turbines in residential neighborhoods, at least one member is strongly opposed to the idea. The Planning Board voted unanimously recently to recommend allowing one wind turbine no taller than 60 feet per one-acre property. The recommendation - which came in response to a council request for new regulations - would set rules for residential areas only. The Planning Board said it did not intend to limit the prospects for wind energy in industrial and commercial zones.