Wind turbines are becoming ever more ubiquitous thanks to their gradually lowering setup costs and relatively environmentally friendly energy production. It is a bit worrying then to see this particular wind turbine exploding in spectacular fashion. Worrying may actually be the wrong adjective—I believe the correct term is omfg-exploding-wind-turbine-destruction-is-so-satisfying-tastic. Check it out by hitting the video above, then jump in for a brief history lesson.
Wind machines were used way back in 200 B.C. by the Persians, who managed to put the wind crunchers to use for grain grinding purposes. Skip a few years ahead, and you have the first Megawatt wind turbine (pictured), which was setup on a hilltop in Rutland, Vermont and provided power to the local grid during WWII. The turbine was affectionately known as “Grandpa’s Knob.” Charming. Thanks for attending Wind Turbine Retromodo 101; there’ll be a test next week, so get revising. [Live Leak; Wiki]
Ian
February 25, 2008 at 12:27 PM
OT: The USA comments are being displayed in incorrect order. As such, when reading them, they’re all over the place and out of sequence – forcing me to jump to the USA site just get get come context.
Report PermalinkDean
February 25, 2008 at 3:04 PM
I’ve noticed that too, plus some of them are repeated a few times.
Report Permalinkno_va
February 25, 2008 at 3:25 PM
I’m experiencing the same as Ian, I’m getting double-ups and people replying to posts which happen further down the page. Confusing!
Running Firefox 2.X on OSX.
Report PermalinkDavid D.
February 25, 2008 at 3:57 PM
my question is, how did the video “just happen” to catch the disintegration? Was it pre-planned? Or is there a camera that just films the turbine going round and round in case something like this happens? Sounds a bit sus to me.
Report PermalinkcOwMoO
February 28, 2008 at 3:32 PM
I’d say (judging by the weather) that someone went out there to film the turbines hoping for something like this to happen, or maybe another turbine exploded just previously so they started filming.
Report Permalinkwind tech
November 20, 2008 at 4:18 PM
to catch that on film is a once in a life time thing ive seen many runnaways and when you turn around the damn thing falls over
Report Permalinkperfect timing on the camers man when one goes that fast you know something good can happen