Being a Wind Tech isn’t just about having an aptitude for mechanics and electricity.  It’s also not just about being able to brave the heights and extreme elements.  It’s not about the solitary work and time spent traveling away from home.  It’s not just about the good money you make, or the large number of advancement opportunities. It’s about all of these things sure, but really it’s about so much more!

In my opinion, it’s about being involved in a 100% positive position in life.  Someone employed in a “green collar wind job” should be beaming with pride.  Not only are you benefiting yourself and your company for the work you do, you also benefit the environment and all of humanity.  I know it’s a cheesy statement, but it’s absolutely true.  There aren’t many jobs out there you can say that about. The Wind industry is very unique in the sense that greed is welcome.  As long as safety is a high priority, the bigger, better, faster, and stronger the Wind Industry becomes, the better for everyone!  

There is no mass destruction of land like coal mining requires; no chance of inflicting cancer on local communities such as natural gas (and again coal) has been blamed for.  No water pollution, no transportation of raw materials, and no threat to the environment in the way that nuclear, gas, and coal all contribute to.  If you want a real eye opener, do a little research on the fresh water crisis we’re heading for.  Wind needs no water to produce energy… only wind.   

Hopefully you are inspired by this information and you will take your roll in the developing wind community seriously.  The Wind Industry is relatively small right now but is growing at a furious pace.  A major goal that has been established but the US Department of Energy is that 20% of the United States energy production will be provided by Wind by the year 2030.  The current pace is putting us ahead of schedule.  What’s so exciting about this, like most new technologies, advancements in efficiency and cost effectiveness comes with time.  There are certainly challenges to hit this goal, but most expect to keep pace.  Expect big things out of wind and be proud to be a part of this historic boom.  The wind industry is currently aiding the evolution of human kind in ways never seen before.  It’s about low cost energy, and a positive impact to the planet, and everyone on it.  Thank you for doing your part!                  

Advancements in technology these days are moving at a break neck pace.  We hear about the next new thing every day, like smart phones, tablets, 3D televisions, electric cars, or outposts on Mars.  Ok maybe we are a few years off from living on Mars but it won’t surprise me when we get there. 

The Wind Industry is no exception to this technological boom.  Scientists and Engineers worldwide are working on projects that will advance and even change the face of wind power altogether.  Some of these current advancements are simple, small changes in the system to ring out better efficiency.  Others however are huge leaps forward that are changing industry standards and growing their edge over other energy technologies.  Keep in mind that the Wind Industry is in its teenage adolescent years and it’s going through a lot of changes and growing fast.  It’s important to be in the know but it would certainly be a full time job trying to keep up with all of these industry advancements.  It may seem daunting but there are some good tricks to keeping current. 

There are a great number of websites dedicated to the Wind Industry that can be a great source for learning trends.  Navigating through that web however can really be a big time commitment that most of us just don’t have.  I’ve recently learned a great way to streamline this process saving loads of time and I only have to navigate to one place.  Do you know what an RSS feed is?  This is the key to my savvy surfing.  I log into my RSS feed every day and all of the articles from the websites I have subscribed to are waiting for me to read.  Making the internet work for me!  A one stop current events shop that is customized completely to my interest of Wind.  If you are ready to take advantage of these time saving methods you should do a little research first.  If you do an internet search for RSS feeds and you’ll get a good deal of detail on how to get started.  I personally use the “Google Reader” for my RSS feeds.   

Once you get going be careful because it can be addictive.  My reader populates at least 100 articles a day with Wind Energy current topics and other various interests like living on Mars.  Some I skip, some I save and some I will email to colleagues that I know would be interested.  Bonus Point… This makes me appear smart and informed.  Which really in the end, isn’t that the goal?  The Wind industry is still young and being in the know is a must if you want to be one of the many who will bring this industry into the mainstream.  The opportunity is there.