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Outside/In

Windfall, Part 1: Sea Change

Outside/In

NHPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Nature, Science

4.71.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2021

⏱️ 25 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Picture this: thousands of wind turbines off the Atlantic coast, each one taller than the Washington Monument. Offshore wind is seen as an essential solution to climate change, and it’s poised for explosive growth in the United States. How did we get to a moment of such dramatic change? Windfall is the story of a promising renewable technology and the potential of wind power in a changing climate. It’s a story about who has the power to reshape our energy future. Featuring: Henrik Stiesdal, Bryan Wilson, and Bob Grace. Part 1 of 5. Listen to the rest of the series here. SUPPORT Windfall is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In.  Subscribe to our newsletter. LINKS A note about our reporting A video from the power company, Orsted, detailing the decommissioning of Vindeby, the world’s first offshore wind farm.  How a turbine works CREDITS Co-hosts: Sam Evans-Brown and Annie Ropeik Written and reported by Sam Evans-Brown Senior Producer: Jack Rodolico Executive Producer: Erika Janik Mixed by Taylor Quimby Fact-checker: Sara Sneath Editors: Erika Janik, Annie Ropeik, Justine Paradis, Taylor Quimby, Felix Poon, and Hannah McCarthy Special thanks to Sarah Mizes-Tan and WCAI for the audio of the Block Island Wind Farm Tour, and to Vincent Schellings, Walter Musial, Michael Taylor and Dan Shreve Music: Ben Cosgrove, Blue Dot Sessions, and Breakmaster Cylinder Windfall Graphic Design: Sara Plourde Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Outside in is committed to journalistic rigor and transparency.

0:06.2

To learn about the reporting process for this series, please visit windfallpodcast.org.

0:19.8

Imagine a wind turbine, the big ones that you've likely seen before.

0:26.3

If you've never stood right beneath one, this is what it sounds like.

0:33.5

They can be noisier when the weather is just right, or wrong, as it were.

0:38.8

But having stood right beneath several, I can tell you that generally speaking, it's

0:42.7

actually a little uncanny how quiet they are.

0:46.6

The big ones often look like they're moving slowly, but the tip of each blade can be

0:51.0

traveling faster than 150 miles an hour.

0:55.6

Something so big, whispering along, quieter than the traffic on a country road.

1:03.3

And they are big.

1:04.9

It's almost a little unsettling how big they are.

1:07.5

The biggest in the world today are the size of New York City skyscrapers, specifically

1:12.1

almost exactly the size of the Trump world tower.

1:15.9

Each blade is about the length of one and a half Boeing 747s slicing through the air

1:21.6

impossibly fast.

1:23.8

Is it any wonder that these machines have become the symbol of the fight against climate

1:28.0

change?

1:29.0

I remember back in college being handed a poster for some climate rally.

1:33.1

It was just a bunch of silhouettes arranged like that iconic photograph of the soldiers

1:37.0

who hoisted up the flag over Iwo Jima.

1:40.3

But instead of the flag, they're pushing up a wind turbine.

...

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