Making wind even greener
Wind is the fastest growing energy source in the world. According to the World Energy Council, over the last decade global wind energy capacity has doubled every three years. And many parts of the world are just beginning to tap the wind. Clean, renewable, cost-competitive and widely distributed, wind is on the move.The above said, the wind energy industry must continue to implement refinements that make it even greener. Take wind towers, for example. Today, virtually all industrial wind turbine support structures are made of steel or concrete, non-renewable materials for which there is a much greener alternative: engineered wood. Carbon-neutral and renewable, as well as strong, durable, and cost-competitive, engineered wood is an ideal material for wind turbine support structures.
GRAPHIC: Skyscraperpage.com
BC wood, BC wind and BC technical expertise: a natural convergence
Although Germany has been developing timber towers for multi-megawatt turbines for a number of years, to date none has been used on a commercial basis. Here in British Columbia, Canadian Timber Structures (CTS) will take advantage of the province's world-class forest and wind resources. Together with leading-edge forest product manufacturers and internationally recognized timber designers, engineers, academic and research institutions CTS will develop, prove, manufacture and market environmentally, economically and socially responsible engineered wood turbine support structures for the wind energy industry in Canada and abroad.
Updates
October, 2011 — A report written by Steve Davis and Associates commissioned by the Canadian Wind Energy Association and titled Additional Industrial Electricity Load Growth in BC to 2025 makes it abundantly clear that demand in BC for electricity is poised to accelerate.
18 May 2011 – Northern Development Initiative Trust commits $138,000 to Northern Lights College/Canadian Timber Structures Training Tower Project (click for full story)
March 2011 – Engineered Wood Wind Turbine Tower Concept, published by Wood Design and Building Magazine (Spring 2011, Volume 54, pages 26-29) (click for full story)
March 2011 - Northern Lights College receives Transport Canada variance for 30 metre training tower in Dawson Creek
4 March 2011 - Canadian Timber Structures wind analysis at Northern Lights College’s future wind turbine site shows steady Class III winds (click to read more)
10 November 2010 - Canadian Timber Structures and Northern Lights College, in collaboration with Aeolis Wind Power, has signed an agreement to deploy a ZephIR laser anemometer at the College’s Mile Zero Farm (click to read more)
29 June 2010 - Canadian Timber Structures joins ANSI/APA PRG 320-201x standards committee for performance-rated cross-laminated timber
18 May 2011 – Northern Development Initiative Trust commits $138,000 to Northern Lights College/Canadian Timber Structures Training Tower Project (click for full story)
March 2011 – Engineered Wood Wind Turbine Tower Concept, published by Wood Design and Building Magazine (Spring 2011, Volume 54, pages 26-29) (click for full story)
March 2011 - Northern Lights College receives Transport Canada variance for 30 metre training tower in Dawson Creek
4 March 2011 - Canadian Timber Structures wind analysis at Northern Lights College’s future wind turbine site shows steady Class III winds (click to read more)
10 November 2010 - Canadian Timber Structures and Northern Lights College, in collaboration with Aeolis Wind Power, has signed an agreement to deploy a ZephIR laser anemometer at the College’s Mile Zero Farm (click to read more)
29 June 2010 - Canadian Timber Structures joins ANSI/APA PRG 320-201x standards committee for performance-rated cross-laminated timber