Wetterlings new power plant

M3mphis

M3mphis

Joined
Jan 13, 2011
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I thought this was really cool. Wetterlings is dropping off the power grid and becoming self-sufficient and green with a new water turbine. If you hurry maybe you can still get a flight over to their dedication of the new turbine on Thursday! ;)

http://www.wetterlings.se/the/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:opening-of-our-water-power-station&catid=49&Itemid=68

Also, notice that they sell hickory chips for bbq'ing from the handle scraps. That's awesome!

ETA: the "Embarrassment" smiley in the URL is by chance only! I didn't put it in there!
 
That is really cool.
Just like the old days..
Looking forward to their new axes coming out as mentioned in their news video. A splitter and a hybrid carpenter looking tool.
 
Funny, the Greenies in this country have decided that hydro power is totally non-green and unsustainable. Take it from someone that lives in the Northwest.

It is kind of of like steel alloys around here. Only this weeks' favorite Greenie power source is PC. Hydro is way old school.
 
Found an 8/21/11 article from Sweden that mentions this hydro project:
(with help from Google translate)

"Julia Kaltenbach Hoff has many future plans. Among other things, the plant will become self sufficient in electricity. The axe forge is located next to a pond and was driven from the start with its own hydroelectric power. But in the 1970s it began purchasing electricity instead. The same turbines used then will be refurbished and reused. 'It is certainly a big investment, but we expect to earn it in ten years.'"

The article also has some background info on the 23-year-old CEO of Wetterlings:

"When Julia Kaltenbach Hoff as 19-year-old traveled in Morocco, she thought about what she wanted to make of her life and wrote a list of possible things. Learning to forge ended up at the top of the list... She called a forge in Hälsingland and asked if they had room for an apprentice... 'The coolest thing I did was a cleaver entirely in Damascus, which I still use for everything in the kitchen.'..."

"Axes are timeless, they can have perfect function and be stylish. People have personal relationships with their axes... If I were to tattoo me, I would choose an ax motif."

4027789354.jpg


Article quotes and photo from Arbetarbladet.se
http://arbetarbladet.se/nyheter/gavle/1.3825464-en-22-arig-yxnord-blev-lyckad-vd-i-storvik
 
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Sidehill Gouger said:
Funny, the Greenies in this country have decided that hydro power is totally non-green and unsustainable. Take it from someone that lives in the Northwest.

It is kind of of like steel alloys around here. Only this weeks' favorite Greenie power source is PC. Hydro is way old school.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, Gouger. Some of those same greenie's ride around on their mopeds glaring at me in my pickup. What they don't realize is that my pickup puts out a small fraction of the pollution as their beloved moped...but I digress.
 
Nicely done overall, at least they are trying - could this be an effort to go after the bushcraft audience?
 
Operator1975 said:
Nicely done overall, at least they are trying - could this be an effort to go after the bushcraft audience?
Click to expand...

Maybe, who knows. Looking at their electricity rates in Sweden...

One source says that their average equals $2.37USD per kW. I pay like $0.08USD per kW.
 
Look at Canada - they were ahead of the game long ago - everywhere you go there is a hydro damn - and rightfully so. At least they have some common sense and willingness to help out the common man, while we try and grab every penny we can from anyone. I salute these countries trying to at least make an impact.
 
Well techinically you are like the sister to canada out there - we acknowledge you but dont really listen to what you have to say.
 
Operator1975 said:
Well techinically you are like the sister to canada out there - we acknowledge you but dont really listen to what you have to say.
Click to expand...

That is sadly true. That is also why the direction this country is headed is certainly not popular out here (a colossal understatement).
 
Washington is like Idaho - big on hydro power. We're having to go back and retrofit some of our dams with better systems for transporting salmon through the dams but other than that it's all working pretty well. We're very fortunate here when it comes to hydro power. We have big mountains close to the sea and lots of precipitation. That means a lot of water has to fall a long way in a short distance. It's hydro power heaven.
 
But if the Greenies have their way all the hydro dams in Washington and Oregon will be taken out starting with the upper Columbia and Snake. They have already blown a number on smaller rivers. Hydro is not considered a sustainable, environmentally friendly, non-fossil fuel energy source by that crowd.
 
Hydro power. Hmmmm, I live an hour away from Niagara Falls & pay more per KWH than those in NYC, 500 miles away. Go figure. They buy large quantity of it for cheap & sell it to us for a profit, what a scam.
 
Sidehill Gouger said:
But if the Greenies have their way all the hydro dams in Washington and Oregon will be taken out starting with the upper Columbia and Snake.
Click to expand...

I'm a 'Greenie' and I fully support hydro power. I suppose there are fringe elements for every issue but I think the mainstream supports hydro power. But you're right, I've heard of people that want to do away with all the dams.

We're starting to veer into politics. I'll try to stay on topic from here on.

Washington State became the center of the aluminum and aircraft industries for the same reason that Europe industrialized before the rest of the world. For Europe, high mountains (the Alps) in close proximity to the ocean gave them an abundance of hydro power. Originally it was in the form of waterwheels which operated trip hammers, bellows and mills. The discovery and generation of electricity just made this power source even easier to harness and utilize.

Smaller run-of-the-river hydro plants operate as the old waterwheels did, without blocking the river or inundating vast tracts of valuable land. These can be useful in areas where large dams aren't economically feasible.
 
Square_peg said:
I'm a 'Greenie' and I fully support hydro power. I suppose there are fringe elements for every issue but I think the mainstream supports hydro power. But you're right, I've heard of people that want to do away with all the dams.
...
Click to expand...

As Pegs mentioned, onsite hydro generation (like Wetterlings is doing) is supported by many (I'm guessing most) "Greenies".
Looks like dam removal to restore salmon runs also has mainstream support and is not just a "Greenie" thing.

"Bulldozers Tear Into Big Washington Dams --
Dignitaries and Native Tribe cheer on historic watershed restoration effort above Olympic National Park..."
"...joined at the ceremony by U.S. Senators...Governor...Secretary of the Interior ...and Director of the National Park Service...
"...Twenty-five years ago, the idea of removing this dam or any dam was really seen as a crazy idea by a bunch of wild-eyed environmental extremists. Now it is a mainstream idea, because people recognize the benefits of restoring healthy rivers—benefits not only to the environment, but to communities."
"...Congress authorized the dam removal 20 years ago, but it took two decades to get the money and logistical details in place."

--Quoted from a National Geographic story about the largest dam removal in US history,
by Brian Clark Howard, 9/23/11
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110923-elwha-dam-removal/
 
To me "greenie" has the connotation of referring to those who care more about what is fashionable within the "green" movement than what actually makes sense. I didn't think "greenie" referred to everyone who cares about taking care of nature.
 
The older I get the more 'Green' I become. My wife and I do not refer to ourselves as 'Greenies' but we are both defiantly conservationists and staunch protectors of the environment. There are some people who would never cut down anything, but often a tree's best friend is an axe or a chainsaw.
'
We are big on hydro here. And all of NZ is 'NUCLEAR FREE' we're proud of that.

regards...Frank
 
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