Towards an Enlightened Wind Power Industry: Utilizing Popular Media

Project developers, manufacturers, financiers and others in the wind power industry need to make critical planning decisions that will have significant impacts on the long-term performance and financial success of wind farms. However, these parties often base critical decisions on assumptions that may not always apply, thereby not maximizing the success of the development. By leveraging the collective scientific expertise of its membership, the AMS Renewable Energy Subcommittee (RES) has delivered greater understanding of scientific concepts to industry players via the popular press. By January 2013, the RES will have published three white papers in North American Wind Power (NAWP) Magazine, a leading industry publication. These white papers address the topics of wind shear, turbulence, and atmospheric stability, and were written to catalyze multi-disciplinary advances in these areas that involve decisions made by many types of professionals, including engineers, atmospheric scientists, and financiers, among others. Choice and order of topics have been key elements of RES activities. The white paper program group explained such concepts with language targeted for a lay audience, worked collaboratively with the NAWP editorial staff, and adhered to a rigorous drafting and approval schedule. The knowledge these white papers impart is expected to influence decisions made by key industry players, thereby extending the life of turbines, seeing the best sites chosen for projects, and increasing the power production of farms. Moreover, the model that the RES pioneered in this white paper program may be applied in other vertical sectors. AMS interest groups in health, aviation, agriculture, and more could draw on the RES's approach and enlighten decision makers who would benefit from deeper understanding of relevant principles behind atmospheric science.