Apparently, without any public discussion, the City of Coos Bay plans to vote on a resolution banning the use of wind power conversion systems within city limits tonight.

The analysis and resolution are hereCoos Bay Wind Resolution. The analysis is not what you would call very analytical and is comprised primarily of general guidelines from ODOE’s website. Other communities were contacted to ask how they handle wind energy to mixed effect leading the author of the analysis to suggest taking a wait and see approach to urban turbines.

The last point is so very typical of Coos County as a whole. Why be an innovator or take the lead in anything when it is so much easier to be a follower and wait and see what other cities do? Nowhere in the analysis is there mention of having spoken to anyone in the industry for qualified answers to the questions raised about citing wind in commercial, industrial or residential areas.

So while the city has taken a neutral position on siting an LNG terminal and building a 36″ gas pipeline why, all of a sudden do they have a fire burning to ban wind? Any ideas, anyone?

Recently, I read the SCDC submission to the AIA Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) committee which seeks to…

provide a road map for communities seeking to improve their sustainability—as defined by a community’s ability to meet the needs of today without reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs [emphasis mine]

The submission gives a pretty clear picture of who SCDC blames for the County’s economic woes these last thirty years.

From its founding, Coos County grew and prospered through its natural resources and the timber, agriculture, milling, shipping and commercial fishing industries. But the 1970’s saw the beginnings of these industries’ ebb. The environmental movement, the spotted owl controversy, government regulations and technological advances in production [emphasis mine] saw a gradual but unstoppable decline in timber harvest, lumber mills, shipping and commercial fishing. The area slumped into major economic hard times. Today, Oregon is second in the nation in unemployment, due in large part to this region, with an unemployment rate of 15%.

The ‘technological advances in production’ must mean ‘cheaper labor in China’. As to the environmentalists and the regulators, unfortunately they weren’t here to stop Weyerhauser from choosing profits over stewardship of the local resources. Nor were they here to stop Weyerhauser from leaving when it became more profitable to move on.

For a reference I read two of the other submissions, Bridgport, CT and Allentown, PA and it was noticeable the authors didn’t seek to place blame or, more accurately, pass the buck. Truly, it is a feather in the cap of SCDC to have submitted an application and I am pleased they did so and more pleased the area was chosen. Kudos!

There are some seeming omissions from the application, however, that make these closing statements in the introduction letter below not quite accurate.

Our clearly-defined objective, identified as the key issue in each of the three aforementioned meetings, is that our citizens will be able to look forward to — and believe in – a sustainable future, through a vision created together.

Namely, while the Port and its future railroad, Jordan Cove and its LNG and ORC and its strip mining, The Mill Casino and its gambling are listed as bright possibilities for the future of Coos Bay there is no mention of any real sustainable industries. (The opposition to the LNG is given passing mention and attributed to retirees that don’t like change). There appears to be no input from any environmentalists or proponents of sustainable industry in the application at all.

Also receiving glowing mention are SCDC members Bandon Dunes and The World with nary a word about The Sentinel or The Bandon Western World (unless you count it as The World).

In Joseph Tainter’s, ‘The Collapse of Complex Societies’, it is pointed out again and again from the collapse of the Romans, the Mayans to the Chacoans that resource depletion is not the cause of collapse in complex systems. Rather it is the leaders of these societies inability to adapt to resource depletion and changing conditions that brings about economic and societal failure.

Coos County is a glowing empirical example of the truth of Tainter’s conclusions. Nothing could punctuate the reason for 15% unemployment and empty storefronts more than the City of Coos Bay’s inability to adapt to a changing environmental and economic landscape than this proposed resolution to ban wind energy until another city models for them what to do!

Coos County has no leadership. The county and its cities are governed by followship and the economic depression that has prevailed these last 30 years will continue unless as Thomas Homer-Dixon hypothesizes in ‘The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization” the local electorate are finally catalyzed to do something about it and stop repeating the same tired old schemes and try something new

A new Zogby poll indicates Americans are wisely beginning to question the manner in which we have financed the war against terrorism. Meanwhile China engages in female infanticide.

More than twice as many U.S. adults (58%) say that debt owed to China is a more serious threat to the long-term security and well-being of the U.S than is terrorism from radical Islamic terrorists (27%).

Interestingly there was little variation by party identification with a majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents all agreeing that the debt owed by the United States to China poses the greater threat.

Meanwhile, in a painful snapshot of the social values of Americas largest creditor ‘gendercide’, discarding infant girls at birth, is still practiced in China to bad effect.

XINRAN XUE, a Chinese writer, describes visiting a peasant family in the Yimeng area of Shandong province. The wife was giving birth. “We had scarcely sat down in the kitchen”, she writes (see article), “when we heard a moan of pain from the bedroom next door…The cries from the inner room grew louder—and abruptly stopped. There was a low sob, and then a man’s gruff voice said accusingly: ‘Useless thing!’

“Suddenly, I thought I heard a slight movement in the slops pail behind me,” Miss Xinran remembers. “To my absolute horror, I saw a tiny foot poking out of the pail. The midwife must have dropped that tiny baby alive into the slops pail! I nearly threw myself at it, but the two policemen [who had accompanied me] held my shoulders in a firm grip. ‘Don’t move, you can’t save it, it’s too late.’

The result of the male female imbalance is that unpartnered young adult males turn to crime and violence.

Throughout human history, young men have been responsible for the vast preponderance of crime and violence—especially single men in countries where status and social acceptance depend on being married and having children, as it does in China and India. A rising population of frustrated single men spells trouble.

The crime rate has almost doubled in China during the past 20 years of rising sex ratios, with stories abounding of bride abduction, the trafficking of women, rape and prostitution. A study into whether these things were connected† concluded that they were, and that higher sex ratios accounted for about one-seventh of the rise in crime. In India, too, there is a correlation between provincial crime rates and sex ratios. In “Bare Branches”††, Valerie Hudson and Andrea den Boer gave warning that the social problems of biased sex ratios would lead to more authoritarian policing. Governments, they say, “must decrease the threat to society posed by these young men. Increased authoritarianism in an effort to crack down on crime, gangs, smuggling and so forth can be one result.”

Gender discrepancy is happening all over the world with a corresponding rise in violence… boys need girls and we girls need boys in equal numbers or all hell breaks out.

Also, while on the subject of China, South Africa is now accepting major investments in energy and rare earth mining and refining from China. Like America, they hope to develop jobs and improve the South African economy. Relying heavily on China hasn’t worked out so well here.

All this time I thought research and development and prototype design was the hardest part (and believe me it isn’t easy), but the procedural side of launching a new product is pretty damned intense. The brain power required from conceptualization to production is not only extensive but the diversity required puts the old ‘thinking ten moves ahead’ process in a chess game to shame.

There are so many facets to consider and I am so grateful to have backers, partners, friends, lawyers, accountants and employees capable of contributing so much to this effort. This is both an exhilarating time and a critically demanding time but I love what I am doing and look forward to each 16 hour day.

These stills will be animated into some educational videos describing how the LIM works and placed on the Rogue River Wind website that is also being professionally designed.

The above is fun but there is also the nuts and bolts paperwork side, shareholder agreements, manufacturing contracts, procedural manuals and regulatory issues. Tracking regulatory changes and legislative issues like investor owned utility PG&E trying to make competition illegal.

The state wants to encourage power-company competition, green energy and lower rates with the Community Choice law.

So, how does Pacific Gas & Electric Co. respond to these threats to its monopoly?

The utility giant bankrolls a deceptive June ballot initiative that seeks to rewrite California’s constitution, kill upstarts in their tracks and block the expansion of municipal utility companies such as the one saving money for residents of Sacramento.

Considering that Congress hasn’t been able to accomplish much requiring a 60 vote filibuster proof majority rather than the old 51 votes, PG&E’s request to require two-thirds of voters to approve an alternative energy option, dooms renewable energy in California to painful and costly death. Grrrr!

Okay, back to business and the website will carry all our technical information soon and will provide an energy blog with updates just like the one above.

Doe Run was evicted from Peru

Peru’s mining, oil and energy association (SNMPE) said Saturday it has expelled US mining company Doe Run from its roster for not cleaning up its pollution problems, which environmentalists say are among the worst in the world.

“It has not shown… any willingness to comply with its environmental commitments and its obligations to the country, its workers, the La Oroya population and its creditors,” SNMPE said in a statement.

So we have high hopes that ORC will not behave like Doe Run? Are both companies possibly tied through the myriad offshore corporations controlling the purse strings of both companies? Would be interesting to find out.

Rogue River Wind is very proud to announce the successful development of a high bandwidth wind powered generator capable of working in turbulent, gusty wind at all speeds utilizing the increased aerodynamic efficiencies of ducted fan technology. To be specific what we mean by high bandwidth is that unlike typical power curves where the turbine only produces power between 22 and 29mph for example, the LIM turns on at 8mph but more importantly continues to produce power at 80 or 90mph. Since the power output of a turbine is proportional to the cube of the velocity, every time you double the wind speed you get 8 times the power.

We did it. We will be build one more pre production prototype before beginning the full production V-LIM here in Oregon but what is most exciting is the scalability of the generator.

With a few adjustments generators now being purchased with American tax dollars from China could be built right here in the US with much higher efficiencies and providing American jobs. Something to think about with respect to the new $1.4B Oregon Shepherd’s Flat wind farm slated for 2012. While the LIM generator coupled to the standard open bladed wind turbines will not operate at a high bandwidth because open bladed fans simply cannot, the generator can be stacked and perform much better than the Chinese generators based upon 1930’s technology…. AND MADE IN AMERICA!

We will be making some noise about these jobs going offshore when we can build them right here, providing long term family wage jobs in Oregon, in the coming days and weeks. Please watch the news and contact your representatives to keep American tax dollars in the US.

It has been painful, it has been hard, but boy am I a happy camper!

The first power curves for the V-LIM are done and I will publish them here after some additional verification soon. We have learned a lot from these tests, have changed the magnet topology for a more focused flux and will segment the stator for faster saturation in the production models. Even without these changes we outperform our competitors and after such a long hard struggle, I can’t tell if I am happy or just relieved to be past this point. Am definitely exhausted.

More data soon to come, here and at Rogue River Wind.

Takes a lot of time to set up the load in order to test this generator. We are winding inductors, ordering resistors, locking the axle down tight to avoid torquing the whole thing across the building and borrowing meters, oscilloscopes and all matter of digital displays…