Obama To Talk Green Economy At Windmill Part Manufacturer

President-elect Barack Obama will call for action to stimulate the economy at an Ohio company that manufactures very large bolts for wind turbine towers, according to announcements by the President-elect's team and information received by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The company, Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., Inc., is based in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and the visit will take place Friday, January 16, as the President-elect travels from Illinois to Washington, D.C., for his Inauguration.

"We are very excited by the selection," said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. "On that factory floor in Ohio, President-elect Obama will see first-hand how renewable energy creates American manufacturing jobs and helps revitalize our economy.

"The U.S. wind energy industry alone has opened or expanded more than 50 wind turbine component manufacturing facilities in the past two years, creating an estimated 9,000 domestic manufacturing jobs in 2008," added Bode, who will be present for the event. "With the right policies, the renewable energy industries are ready to meet the President-elect's call to double renewable energy production within three years and help drive our economy to recovery."

"Our company is planning for growth to meet expected increases in wind power sales, and is looking to add up to 40 full time associates in 2009 to our current 65," said Cardinal Founder and President John Grabner. Cardinal is the largest manufacturer of American-made large-scale threaded fasteners, which are used to bolt wind turbine towers, which can stand 200 feet tall or more, to their foundations. Cardinal uses only American-made materials and all production occurs at Cardinal's 95,000 square foot factory in Cleveland. The company has been in business for 25 years, and recently added a Wind Power team to meet demand from the expanding U.S. wind industry.

About 80,000 U.S. workers are employed in the wind industry today, in jobs as varied as turbine component manufacturing, construction and installation of wind turbines, wind turbine operations and maintenance, services, and more. Wind power's recent growth has accelerated job creation, particularly in manufacturing, where the share of domestically manufactured wind turbine components has nearly doubled in three years, expanding from 25%-30% in 2005 to 50% in 2008.

Wind power is now a mainstream option for new electricity generation: as a share of the entire new generating capacity installed annually in the country to meet electricity demand, wind power has expanded from less than 2% of new capacity added in 2004 to 35% of new capacity added in 2008, second only to natural gas.

Comments

[frantaylor]

03:04 AM on 01/19/2009

The transmissions in electric-power generating windmills are a tough piece of technology. They take a beating far beyond anything your car transmission will ever see. The poor things tend to chew themselves to pieces in short order. It's on top of a pole and you can't just take it to the shop for repair, maintenance is VERY expensive. Designing and building windmiils that are financially feasible is daunting work and this company deserves great success if they can pull it off.

[TheOside]

12:05 PM on 01/17/2009

Wind power is a good power supplement. Though, you still need base power for when the wind isn't blowing. O needs to use some of the money from green energy to develop geothermal power. The west is loaded with "hot spots" near the surface. Active volcanos exist from California to Washington. Yellowstone area is home to a super volcano. Righter's will argue for nuclear, geothermal is an alternative.

[frantaylor]

02:59 AM on 01/19/2009

There is a lot of geothermal research going on in Hawaii, they are trying very hard but they cannot get it to work. Geothermal is not an alternative until they actually figure out how to do it.

[plantguy]

10:56 PM on 01/16/2009

How many jobs does wind power create once they are built and installed? Not even close to the number as coal fired plants.

[frantaylor]

02:57 AM on 01/19/2009

Your flawed logic fails to take the "Broken Window Fallacy" into account.

[Greenguy25]

03:32 PM on 01/16/2009

The maglev wind systems are an ideal solution for the home wind debate, but lets be true to the facts. Spacester, your on the ball today. Wind is not going to be a very good option for the onsite power generation market, but wind farms are a perfect solution for distributed power. As we all know, there is not going to be just one option with renewable energy, it will require a combination of varying technologies.

Perhaps a homebased solar system to generate half the onsite power needs with distributed wind power for the rest. I'll even stretch out the future a bit further and say, solar and wind regardless of where they are, can help process hydrogen to run homebased fuelcell systems.

http://www.mygreenscene.com

[Bedo]

01:19 PM on 01/16/2009

Any news on better generators for the home windmills?

[spacester]

03:05 PM on 01/16/2009

Thanks for the compliment, Greenguy25.

Home Wind Power, broadly distributed, would be awesome.

I've looked into it a bit, crunched some basic numbers, and it is not entirely encouraging.

Here's my nutshell conclusion: Roof-top wind is not going to be a big part of the solution. You're going to have to build a separate tower to get the diameter needed to get enough power. The tower & its foundation drive the cost up a lot (you'll need contractors, it is not a DIY thing for most folks).

There just isn't a whole lot of energy density in the wind. By the time you make the thing big enough to generate enough power to run your household, it's too big for your roof to support.

Having said that, if you have a house that doesn't follow typical American usage patterns, roof-top still might work as part of an overall approach.

Also, while towers in the yards of subdivisions seems highly improbable, I can see Federal subsidies enabling broad implementation for rural America.

[Greenguy25]

12:51 PM on 01/16/2009

Well said spacester,

Lets keep the argument of protectionism out of our discussions on renewable energy and focus on being the world leader in the new energy age. If we can be the best, the trade opportunities will follow.

http://www.mygreenscene.com

[spacester]

12:25 PM on 01/16/2009

"Cardinal is the largest manufacturer of American-made large-scale threaded fasteners, which are used to bolt wind turbine towers, which can stand 200 feet tall or more, to their foundations. Cardinal uses only American-made materials and all production occurs at Cardinal's 95,000 square foot factory in Cleveland"

Excellent choice by Obama's people.

As a Mechanical Engineer, I sure as heck wouldn't want to specify such critical fasteners if there was any chance of them being made in China. Metallurgy matters, and I am sure that this company makes its fasteners in full compliance with standards set by SAE and AISI and others.

Most people do not realize or appreciate that our industrial base has an incredibly rich, scientifically sound and actively enforced network of Engineering Standards developed with Public Safety as the primary criteria. China does not, and there is ZERO "protectionism" (in the political sense) involved here in the decision to "Buy American".

Perhaps this is a minor point in the big picture, but as we move forward with re-establishing our manufacturing base, it is something policy wonks should keep in mind.

[Word2mom]

01:09 PM on 01/16/2009

Where are all the right wing haters on this story???? A few more days, my fellow Americans. . . a few more days. . .

[BearsLeft]

03:45 PM on 01/16/2009

There are good reasons why American made products cost more than Chinese. Quality, compliance with safety standards, compliance with environmental standards, compliance with worker protections and workplace standards. You give up a lot when you make buying decisions based on price alone.