“It’s quite clear that the international community must redouble our efforts to implement the Paris climate change agreement,” Mr. The lifelong diplomat - who recently assumed the presidency of the Global Green Growth Institute, an international organization based in Seoul, South Korea, that focuses on clean energy development - said he hoped to use the next chapter of his career to help poor countries meet their goals under the Paris agreement on climate change. Today that initiative, the Green Climate Fund, is an “empty shell,” Mr. I grabbed the drone, and still have all of my fingers. I could have somehow knocked the drone into the drink, destroying a very expensive reporting tool. I could have fallen out of the boat while reaching for the drone. I’ll admit to being nervous: I could have ended up with nasty cuts, or worse, from the propellers. “Grab it at the bottom, not the top!” he warned - the sturdy legs of the drone were much safer than the spinning propellers. So, it was up to me to stand at the front as Tim brought the drone gently, carefully, within reach. The craft was so small that Tim worried about trying to land the drone on it. The real challenge came when we went out on Travis Johnson’s fishing skiff for some aerial shots of the bayous near Jean Lafitte. I was in Louisiana for one of the many reporting trips that went into the project, so I took a couple of days out to be Tim’s drone watcher. Forests, valleys, cities and suburbs do not. That means places like hilltops, plains and oceanfronts make good sites for wind turbines. You can find wind speeds for where you are by asking independent site assessors, or even checking with a nearby airport.īut even if you live in a particularly wind-swept part of the world, surrounding structures or geographical features - like buildings, trees or hillsides - can easily rob the wind of its energy.

Average annual wind speeds in New York City are about 9 m.p.h. The majority of American cities fall short by that measure. The Department of Energy recommends a minimum average wind speed of 10 miles an hour for a grid-connected wind turbine. Wind now makes up 6 percent of total power generation in the United States.īut wind power is not a practical option for most individual households, said Michael Welch, a senior editor for Home Power magazine.įor a wind turbine to make economic sense, average wind speeds need to be higher than they are in most places. New wind power installations reached 7 gigawatts in 2017, the American Wind Energy Association reported. And at the utility level, wind power has made great inroads in recent years. Wind turbines might seem like a fun, idyllic way to generate clean electricity.

Home wind electric generator