Zawadi Michael works at the information centre

Last month the EWEA blog brought you the story of a small wind energy project in Tanzania and how it has helped to change the fortunes of some African farmers. Today, in this project update by Fran Witt from Renewable World, we look at how wind-powered electricity is connecting remote communities to the knowledge economy.

We all know that wind energy can light homes and businesses, but how about powering entrepreneurial spirit through education and information access?

Today, social and economic development is based on a “knowledge economy” in which access to knowledge is directly related to information and communication technology. However, as these technologies rapidly advance, the gap between the “information-haves” and the “information have-nots” continues to widen. In many low-income countries such as Tanzania, participation in even a full course of basic education is not universal.

The wind-solar hybrid project in Songambele, supported by Renewable World and its East African partner, the Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), specifically addresses this digital divide,  recognising that increased educational participation and achievement ensures that knowledge and skills can be harnessed to improve health, raise incomes, sustain economic growth and promote equity.

In an editorial published by Recharge, Morten Albæk, Senior Vice-President of marketing at Vestas, argues that claims made by anti-wind campaigners can verge on the ridiculous, but they are powerful. Wind power, meanwhile, is not doing enough to promote its positive message…

Birds are 19,200 times more likely to die from flying into a building than into a wind turbine (according to the US Forest Service.) So calling wind turbines devastating to wildlife is equivalent to describing ordinary houses as mass killing machines. Ironically, 10% of all bird species are threatened by climate change (according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.)

Unfortunately, this is a well-kept secret. Not least due to our industry’s failure to adequately convey even the most appealing truths to the public.

Public and political support for wind energy is being increasingly eroded by media-savvy and politically influential groups that often demonstrate a brazen disregard for fact-based information. This is a growing business risk.

With Global Wind Day just over two months away, the Austrian Wind Energy Association has decided to place a mini wind turbine right in the centre of Vienna. Lukas Pawek, coordinator of Global Wind Day in Austria, explains why…

This week the Austrian Wind Energy Association placed a small wind turbine in the centre of Vienna adorned in art by local graffiti artist Tim Stehle. This event is the official start of the first “Austrian Wind Art Contest”, aiming at promoting Global Wind Day on 15 June. It’s easy to join the contest: just upload a picture before 15 August of your wind art at: www.tagdeswindes.at/kunst, and you could win one of nine prizes from an electric bike to an Apple iPad. A jury of art-cooperatives and wind power companies will select and award the prizes.

Spring is finally approaching, and that means just one more month to submit your entry to the Global Wind Day photo competition which closes on 5 May, and potentially win a €1,000 Amazon voucher! In the latest of the ‘wind energy stories’ series, photographer Robert van Waarden tells and shows the story of Krzysztof Pietrzak, a Polish ornithologist employed at a wind farm near Gościno, Poland.

The shadows are still long on the freshly fallen snow when Krzysztof Pietrzak starts out on his daily walk. Spring is in the air here in Gościno, Poland, and during the next few hours Krzysztof will walk 10 km with his dog Ciapa (‘clumsy’). Krzysztof is an ornithologist. Everyday he follows the same route, monitoring the bird and bat activity at the wind farm near Gościno. His primary job is to determine the mortality rates of birds and bats in relation to the turbines. And Ciapa, despite her playful and clumsy character, is a trained professional particularly good at finding bats.

Inevitably one of the first questions Krzysztof receives is; how many birds or bats have these turbines killed?

Photographer Robert van Waarden reports on wind energy in rural Czech Republic, as part of the Global Wind Day “wind energy stories” series.

“I tried to change things on a national political level but I had to recognise that it wasn’t possible,” says Petr Pavek, leaning against his straw bale house.  He gazes out on his property over-looking the little town of Jindřichovice pod Smrkem in the Czech Republic. In the fields below organic vegetables grow, and cows for organic beef graze on the pasture. A totem pole stands next to his pond and a green roofed garage melds into the landscape. In the village a dog barks, and a lone car rumbles along the road.

Jindřichovice seems like any other quiet town in rural Czech Republic. But from where Pavek stands, the view is drastically different. In the distance, two wind turbines lazily turn in the evening breeze. Beyond, eight sustainable houses stand in a row. Powered by renewable energy, these green-roofed houses were built to attract young people back to the community. When they were completed, over 100 applications poured in. The community selected eight families and sold the houses at cost price.