Today's wind turbines: sleek, powerful, quiet
Foundation Windpower offers today's most advanced wind-turbines. These 1.0- and 1.6-megawatt machines generate considerable quantities of green, emission-free electricity.
Large turbines are more efficient, reliable and cost effective than their smaller counterparts. Increased height accesses stronger, "cleaner" wind free of turbulence from ground clutter. Under average conditions, doubling tower height increases wind energy output by over 30 percent. Larger blades allow generation of electricity during periods of marginal wind and reach full generation capacity in significantly lower wind than their smaller counterparts. Modern turbines likewise require markedly fewer maintenance hours than their predecessors.
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Specifications
Wind factors meters/sec. mph
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Sound: Foundation wind turbines generate a sound impact of 50-60dB: roughly the sound of a human conversation. At 1/4 mile, a modern turbine is about as loud as your kitchen refrigerator.
Stability: Foundations take advantage of a patented design used for construction of 20 percent of the world's wind turbines. These foundations are designed to modern safety standards and allow turbines to survive even extreme conditions.
Electromagnetic emissions: Modern wind turbines do not generate active electromagnetic emissions. Electromagnetic effects stem only from the transmission of power down the turbine tower to the customer meter—roughly equivalent to the power lines connecting the customer site to the grid.
Bird safety: Foundation turbines' slow radial velocity allows blades to remain visible, Single-pole towers prevent birds from perching or nesting. Prepared ground at the base eliminates nests for rodents, insects and other food sources that attract birds. Comprehensive studies yield bird-strike estimates at between 1-2 birds per turbine per year. This represents a "biologically and statistically insignificant" number roughly equal to that of a house cat. Although the impact on birds is low, Foundation Windpower implements methods developed by the American Wind Energy Association to minimize the chances of bird strikes at any given project site.
"The Audubon Society has taken a position that wind power, when deployed responsibly, is a net positive for bird populations." Former Audubon president John Flicker wrote, "Most of today's rapidly growing demand for energy is now being met by natural gas and expanded coal-burning power plants, which are this country's single greatest source of the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause global warming. If we don't find ways to reduce these emissions, far more birds—and people—will be threatened by global warming than by wind turbines."
Matt Wilson, CEO
Foundation Windpower