Amazon’s Jeff Bezos standing on top of a giant wind turbine is a sight to behold

By Trevor Mogg Published October 25, 2017

He founded ecommerce giant Amazon and the ambitious space company Blue Origin, and he now owns the Washington Post, so if Jeff Bezos wants to bless his new wind farm by standing atop a turbine and smashing a bottle of champagne on it, that’s fine by us.

Fun day christening Amazon’s latest wind farm. #RenewableEnergy pic.twitter.com/cTxeXdsFop

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) October 19, 2017

The wind farm in question is in Texas and is, according to Amazon, the company’s largest renewable energy project to date. Bezos posted a video of his bottle-smashing exploits on Twitter. The footage begins close up to the Amazon CEO before moving away to reveal the vast expanse of the wind farm. It also makes you realize just how mind-bogglingly massive one of those wind turbines actually is, or just how tiny Jeff Bezos is. We’re guessing the former.

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Located in Scurry County, Amazon’s latest wind farm includes 100 turbines capable of providing enough clean energy to power thousands of homes. The company said these projects also help to support “hundreds of jobs and provide tens of millions of dollars of investment in local communities across the country.”

Kara Hurst, Amazon’s worldwide director of sustainability, described the company’s investment in renewable energy as a “win-win-win-win — it’s right for our customers, our communities, our business, and our planet.”

The company has so far launched 18 wind and solar projects across the U.S., with 35 more under development. “These are important steps toward reaching our long-term goal to power our global infrastructure using 100 percent renewable energy,” Hurst said.

Alongside its investment in renewable energy, Amazon is also focusing on sustainability, evidenced by its Frustration-Free Packaging program that helped to eliminate more than 55,000 tons of packaging in 2016.

Amazon’s announcement of its latest wind farm comes just a few days after Greenpeace criticized it for being “one of the least transparent companies in the world in terms of its environmental performance,” claiming it refuses to report its greenhouse gas footprint, “nor does it publish any restrictions on hazardous chemicals in its devices or being used in its supply chain as other leading electronics brands provide.”

Even if Greenpeace is unimpressed by Bezos’s smashing video, hopefully it will at least welcome this latest renewable energy effort from the company.

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts

Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

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jeep compass ev us newjeepcompassfirsteditionhawaii 4

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This is a brand new electric version of the Jeep Compass, and being built on Stellantis' STLA platform—the same architecture underpinning models like the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008—it looks much slicker and packs a lot more inside than previous versions of the Compass.
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The design's been refreshed too, and inside you’ll find the kind of tech and comfort you’d expect in a modern EV—sleek, smart, and ready for both city streets and dirt trails.
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Plans to build it in Canada were recently put on hold, with production now delayed until at least early 2026. Some of that might have to do with possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican vehicles—adding a layer of uncertainty to the whole rollout.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed that the company has “temporarily paused work on the next-generation Jeep Compass, including activities at” the Canadian plant that was originally meant to build the model. They added that Stellantis is “reassessing its product strategy in North America” to better match customer needs and demand for different powertrain options.
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That’s a shame, because on paper, this electric Jeep hits a lot of sweet spots. Let’s just hope it finds a way over here.

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