.As much as I would love to regale you with some of the technical details Ken shared with us throughout our two hour tour, why not just watch the Huell Howser show he was on instead to get it straight from the horses mouth? You can view the show in it's entirety by Clicking Here.
Otherwise, what I can tell you is that this $33 per person tour was terrific, fun, interesting, and a photographers dream. We were able to get very up close personal, not just with the wind farms, but also the areas' solar farms and natural gas plants, all of which are working to move America away from oil and coal, and toward cleaner, alternative sources of electricity.
The wind turbine on the left was built using old technology, while the windmill on the right was built using more recent design standards. The biggest difference? The wind turbine tower on the left was built with steel braces and lots and lots of bolts. Which loosen over time as the towers are repeatedly buffeted by the wind. Meaning that some of them lost enough bolts that they actually fell down. Not good! So, they were gradually replaced with the towers on the right which are built of heavy duty fiberglass instead.
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| Nearby residents might disagree, but I found these wind turbines to be works of art in and of themselves, particularly positioned as they are against the San Jacinto Mountains |
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| Yep, definitely a good, windy place in which to build wind farms! |
Very cool. while I have never taken the tour, its always a unique experience driving that way and seeing the miles and miles of windmills.
ReplyDeleteAgree, and now I know just a little more about them than I did before.
DeleteI am always amazed at those gentle giants. They are the most beautiful and amazing manmade objects of that size that there is.
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Loved the pictures.
Love your reference of them as gentle giants. It's very fitting.
DeleteI had no idea that one could tour these farms. We also find them beautiful and love the clean energy they produce.
ReplyDeleteI think I may enjoy researching interesting things we might do on our trips, as I do actually doing them!
DeleteAnyone that has any sort of "engineer type" interest would love this event! Even though I'm not always sure which end of the wrench to use when trying to fix things....I thoroughly enjoyed hearing all of the work done by this industry over the past 20-30 years to help take advantage of this natural source of renewable, clean energy. It may not be the total answer to our national energy needs but given the plans to begin moving some these turbines out onto the open ocean to take advantage of the more consistent wind activity there, I'm sure they will and should play a role in the future of clean energy. Definitely a must do activity if you're in the Palm Springs area! Mike
ReplyDeleteAs you all can see, my husband, Mike, clearly focused on the technical aspects of the tour, while I just focused on the beauty of the wind turbines themselves, and how I could capture them on digital film. A perfect union!
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