Until some carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade system pushes fossil fuel prices up to where they probably should be (if all the environmental factors are taken into consideration) any small thing that reduces the cost of generating electricity from renewable energy sources is great news.

Wind turbine parts awaiting installation, photo: Mitch.

With the completion of a new 194 MW wind farm off the coast of Skegness, Lincolnshire the United Kingdom has overtaken Denmark to claim the offshore wind power capacity crown. The new installation brings the UK’s total offshore wind capacity to 590 MW, which is approximately enough electric generating capacity for 300,000 homes.

Photo courtesy of Science Notes

A common complaint registered against wind turbines is that they kill too many birds. This has been largely revealed to be a myth, but it turns out that birds’ nocturnal winged counterparts aren’t so lucky. Bats have been dying in surprisingly high numbers around wind turbines, according to recent studies.

image: Trinifar

In case you’re new to the “new energy economy” debate—in short, figuring out how to transition the entire energy infrastructure of the world away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy—and want as about brief a summary as could be created of the progress made in the last year as well as some of the challenges ahead, this one’s for you.

One of the largest wind farms in development, onshore or offshore, the 1 gigawatt London Array just got one step closer to reality. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar— of self-proclaimed zero carbon city and alternative energy investment fund fame—just announced that it has acquired a 20% stake in the project.