Before heading out into the countryside today to visit a windmill farm and historic medieval village, we attended a lecture on how wind turbines work and the math behind their sustainable energy development. During this lecture, we learned some of the formulas required for calculating how much power, lift, and drag is created depending on the shape you use for the turbine blades and how each part of a blade contributes to the machine.

While at the windmill farm, we were able to see elements of our morning lecture at work. It was fascinating seeing the math behind the turbines come alive in a physical form. In terms of sustainability, wind generated electricity is great for the environment as they are a cleaner way of generating power. In fact, one wind turbine alone can power at least 1500 homes for an entire year with the amount of electricity they produce. However, we also learned that the companies responsible for generating wind power turn off the turbines at different points of the day when it becomes too expensive for them to produce electricity or the market is not fit for selling it. They have data centers which calculate the best times to turn off the turbines and when to turn them back on. I wonder whether there is a more efficient way of collecting energy and not having to stop wind power collection as it seems like a waste to rely on the market for when to generate electricity through the turbines.

After our visit to the wind farm, we drove to the medieval village of Elburg that still stands today. While there, we learned about the impact the Protestant reformation had on the village and the end of Spanish rule within the country after the end of the 80 years war. An important part of Dutch culture is their lack of focus around religion. While in Elburg, we learned this village is located within the Dutch bible belt or concentration of Protestant towns that are very religious. This is typically abnormal for the Dutch as religion is a private matter and not relied upon especially within the cities. While visiting the old churches within Elburg, we saw firsthand what the most religious parts of the Netherlands can look like and how there are still measures in place like symbols to keep evil away in case religion is actually false.