Wind energy isn’t just clean, renewable and plentiful — it’s a major source of current and future jobs in the U.S. That wind-win situation is the message breezing into nine states over the next month as one of GE’s giant, 131-foot wind turbine blades — which is nearly half a football field long — travels 2,436 miles as part of our “Capture the Wind” tour that just kicked-off. Last year in our “Blade Runners” series on GE Reports, we traveled with driver Chris Lewis of Landstar Ranger trucking as he hauled one of the massive blades from the Iowa factory of our supplier TPI Composites to GE’s Renewable Energy Global Headquarters in upstate New York. This year, we’re back with Chris at the wheel as the blade snakes its way to the huge Windpower 2010 conference in Dallas, Texas — with people all along the way signing the blade in support of clean energy. In the video below, it gets the marching band treatment as it leaves the factory of our supplier MFG, which stands for Molded Fiber Glass Companies, in Aberdeen, S.D.
As GE’s Vivek Kemp explains in the clip below, the signatures can mean support of more clean energy manufacturing in the U.S., more clean energy itself, or support for new government policies that will help juice the growing clean energy economy with stronger renewable energy standards. To highlight the personal role that everyone can play in making clean energy a reality, the blade will carry the message: “I’m helping to build America’s energy future.”
In the clip below, South Dakota Lt. Governor Dennis Daugaard explains the huge impact that green energy jobs are having on his state. But he notes there’s a catch: Despite being a net exporter of energy, there are huge missed opportunities in South Dakota as electricity transmission and distribution issues prevent them from exporting even more.
You can follow the progress of the “Capture the Wind” tour – and see daily updates from Vivek on the road — on www.facebook.com/ecomagination. Below are some of the photos shot during the first couple of days of the trip.
Gallery guide: Click on the small half-circles on the right and left side of the gallery to see more images. To magnify or reduce an image, either click on it or roll your mouse wheel.
GE Reports will also be providing updates over the next few weeks as the blade winds its way to Texas. If you’re in one of the cities below, stop by and put your John Hancock on it. And if you pass Chris on the highway, honk if you like wind!
Tour stops:
- April 30: Top Crop Wind Farm – Ransom, Ill.
- May 6: Center of Science and Industry Museum – Columbus, Ohio
- May 7: Clean Air Fair – Columbus, Ohio
- May 13: GE Appliance Park – Louisville, Ky.
- May 15: Louisville Zoo – Louisville, Ky.
- May 19: Molded Fiber Glass Companies – Gainesville, Texas
- May 23: Windpower 2010 – Dallas, Texas
* Read the launch announcement
* Track the blade’s journey on this map
* See daily updates on http://www.facebook.com/ecomagination
Learn more in these GE Reports stories and videos:
* “Blade runners Part 1: How 134-foot wind blades are born”
* “Blade runners Part 2: Truckin’ down I-80 with GE’s wind blade”
* “Blade runners Part 3: GE’s wind blade breezes into town”
* “$450M manufacturing investment powers offshore wind”
* “Took a whole lot of trying, just to get up that hill”
* “Renewables study: 274,000 jobs can be added”
* “Builder of largest US wind farm inks $1.4B turbine deal”