Would you have known that?
A dozen surprising fun facts on renewable energies
What made the Swabian Alb a wind power pioneer, which country lives almost exclusively from hydropower and what the moon has to do with electricity generation. Twelve compact brain knowledge.
Renewable energies not only score through their environmental friendliness, but also stand for amazing stories and technical innovations. A pioneer of wind power was Eugen Hänle, for example, who built the first wind turbine with fiber optic rotors in 1957 on the Swabian Alb. With a rotor length of 17 meters and an output of 100 kilowatts, its invention set new standards – while conventional systems only managed 6 kilowatts at the time. Glass fiber was lighter than steel and paved the way for modern wind power. The economic breakthrough failed to materialize, but Hänle later successfully used his innovation in glider construction.
Today there are wind turbines with comparatively gigantic dimensions: the Haliade-X impresses with a rotor of 220 meters in diameter. A single revolution of this system provides enough electricity for a family home – several times a minute. But the sun also delivers a lot of environmentally friendly energy: the Noor solar park in Morocco is one of the largest worldwide. With a performance of 580 megawatts and 3000 hectares, it supplies around 1.3 million people with energy. Thanks to concentrated solar thermal energy, the park can deliver electricity for up to seven hours even after sunset.
Renewable energies: a history of innovations
It is also exciting how wind power supports aviation these days. Weather data collected by wind farms flow into weather forecasts and thus also help air traffic. Conversely, aircraft also deliver data during their flights, which in turn benefit the wind turbines.
These examples show that renewable energies are not only a central component of the energy transition, but are also full of surprising stories and impressive technology. From the pioneering spirit of the 50s to modern mega systems – the development remains exciting and future -oriented.
Source: Stern
