Nine of the top 10 carbon dioxide emitting countries in 2010 have more than enough offshore wind energy potential to meet all their current electricity needs. (The one that does not is Iran.) Russia’s offshore wind resources, for example, exceed its current electricity demand by a factor of 23. Canada’s current electricity needs could be met 36 times over with domestic offshore wind energy.posted by stbalbach at 10:56 PM on August 18, 2012 [9 favorites]
In contrast to the Pacific Coast’s steep drop-off, the U.S. East Coast enjoys a wide, shallow expanse of continental shelf that is especially favorable for offshore wind development. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that wind turbines installed in the shallow waters of the Mid-Atlantic region could add up to nearly 300,000 megawatts of capacity—enough to power 90 million U.S. homes. For the entire Atlantic Coast, including deeper waters, the resource is estimated at 1 million megawatts.
sustainablog (http://s.tt/1l0xY)
We've been working with wind power in earnest for over 30 years now and we're really no better off than when we started.Did you, like, even read the text of the FPP?
Those tax subsidies were never consistent or regular, the industry never had a chanceNever had a chance aside from the fact that it's, like, booming?
calls for the continued use of fossil fuels. Of course they don't say thatI didn't read it, but how can you call for something without actually calling for it? The paper was written in 2008, and since then solar power costs have actually come down quite a bit. Solar power will probably overtake nuclear in terms of total energy generated in a few years.
Major change never comes easy, of course — especially when it comes to energy. And Mabus’ crew was a victim of bad timing, starting its biofuel push just as the green bubble was on the edge of bursting. But in the armed services, there is broad agreement that this dependence on foreign has to be tamed. This is the moment for military clean energy. It’s looking less and less likely that the Navy will be able to seize it.Navy: We'll Never, Ever Over-pay for Biofuels
Danger Room incorrectly reported that the Navy could spend as much as an extra $1.8 billion per year on biofuel; a completely incorrect projection lifted from a 2011 Congressionally-mandated report (.pdf) that did not use realistic data or take into account the Navy’s commitment regarding biofuel purchases for operations. The figure is based on a crude extrapolation of analysis and is wrong for several reasonsSenate Panel Keeps Nav'y Biofuel Plan Afloat
On the line is one of the top priorites for Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who has developed an ambitious program to use biofuels and other renewables for half of the Navy’s energy needs by 2020. The biofueled Great Green Fleet, as its called, sailed out on its first demonstration voyage in June.posted by the man of twists and turns at 6:24 AM on August 19, 2012
But Republicans have used the biofuel program as a way to hit the White House. Critics have charged the Navy is moving forward on an ambitious and costly — potentially $1.76 billion per year — alternative energy program when a looming budget freeze threatened to cut funding to new ships and planes.
And yet, you can get right up near them, and the wind rustling through the corn is louder than the distant-sounding whirr of the generators. The noise objections are the most ridiculous, IMHO. All they would have to do is go stand next to one, but they are too intellectually disinterested to even consider that.Some years ago, after wondering over these moans about the loudness of wind turbines, my father and I tracked down some of the nearest to where we live. We stood in a field about 1.5km away from them (less than a mile, and about the distance from them to the nearest village), and listened. He couldn't hear a thing except wind, and I could only hear, upon listening hard, the softest "swoosh". I've been wary of all such complaints ever since.
In response to some of the wind NIMBY-ism, one should ask which would you rather have in your back yard? A wind turbine or a reactor containment vessel? Seems like a no-brainer to me.From my childhood bedroom window I could look out upon a gas turbine power station less than a kilometer away. I guess that most of the folks who lived in villages around were happy to use the electricity it generated. I wonder why they're now against hosting a power station for me to use?
The biggest drawback to many real or proposed sources of clean, renewable energy is their intermittency: The wind doesn’t always blow, the sun doesn’t always shine, and so the power they produce may not be available at the times it’s needed. A major goal of energy research has been to find ways to help smooth out these erratic supplies.posted by notashroom at 12:40 PM on August 19, 2012 [2 favorites]
New results from an ongoing research program at MIT, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, show a promising technology that could provide that long-sought way of leveling the load — at far lower cost and with greater longevity than previous methods. The system uses high-temperature batteries whose liquid components, like some novelty cocktails, naturally settle into distinct layers because of their different densities.
The three molten materials form the positive and negative poles of the battery, as well as a layer of electrolyte — a material that charged particles cross through as the battery is being charged or discharged — in between. All three layers are composed of materials that are abundant and inexpensive, explains Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the new paper.
...and for even greater perspective, the 50GW provided by wind power accounts for 0.01% of the 3,741,000GW consumed by the US annually.That isn't how watts works, you can't consume them 'annually', it's the number of joules of energy used each second. Your number is the number of gigawatt hours used each year. 50 GW of wind power would produce 50 GWh in one hour.
There's significant evidence that low-frequency noise from wind turbines can cause health problems. Your humble opinion, I'm sorry to say, counts for very little in that regard.Lol. There are crackpots who think all chemicals and electromagnetic waves make them sick.
…
I would take a containment vessel any day. It's quiet, it doesn't cover vast tracts of landscape, and it's safe.
Jehan, were you there at night, when sound travels differently?Yeah, this is crazytalk. Obviously temperature and pressure have a very slight effect on sound propogation, and those variables are slightly different depending on the time of day, but a cold day would have a higher air density then a hot night, for example. The idea that sound is fundamentally different at night then at day is absurd, it's complete crazytalk.
Given that coal and gas generation is firm the cost of wind would have to drop hugely compared to them for storage like this to become commercialor you could have CO2 pricing that would drive up the cost of coal and other fossil fuels, and let the market figure it out.
You guys can be flippant all you want.Your first comment was "The laws of physics disagree" because he said "thousands" of generations instead of 30-50. From a practical perspective there's little difference. It's like the difference between being crushed under a 1-ton car or a 500 ton boat.
Nuclear power is so expensive compared with other forms of energy that it has become “really hard” to justify, according to the chief executive of General Electric, one of the world’s largest suppliers of atomic equipment.--"Nuclear ‘hard to justify’, says GE chief" (summary without firewall here)posted by No Robots at 8:03 AM on August 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
Germany’s solar power plants produced a record 22 gigawatts of energy on Friday, equivalent to the output of 20 nuclear plants. The country is already a world-leader in solar power and hopes to be free of nuclear energy by 2022.posted by No Robots at 10:58 AM on August 21, 2012 [1 favorite]
The director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, northeast Germany, said the solar power delivered to the national grid on Saturday met 50 per cent of the nation’s energy quota.--"Going nuclear-free: Germany smashes solar power world record"
They didn't have a country-wide 80s style movie montage involving Bavarians in lederhosen on top of roofs installing solar panels to the strains of "Walking on Sunshine".Well, if you like being factually wrong no one is going to stop you, but aside from the Lederhosen they basically have been. Solar power was up to 3.2% at the end of 2011 and had been accelerating.
Key FindingsMy emphasis added. The study seems to include some pretty bad-ass simulations (which I can only assume are hour-by-hour analyses on regional and national levels).
---Renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today, in combination with a more flexible electric system, is more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050 while meeting electricity demand on an hourly basis in every region of the country.
---Increased electric system flexibility, needed to enable electricity supply-demand balance with high levels of renewable generation, can come from a portfolio of supply- and demand-side options, including flexible conventional generation, grid storage, new transmission, more responsive loads, and changes in power system operations.
---The abundance and diversity of U.S. renewable energy resources can support multiple combinations of renewable technologies that result in deep reductions in electric sector greenhouse gas emissions and water use.
---The direct incremental cost associated with high renewable generation is comparable to published cost estimates of other clean energy scenarios. Improvement in the cost and performance of renewable technologies is the most impactful lever for reducing this incremental cost.
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posted by NailsTheCat at 10:27 PM on August 18, 2012 [2 favorites]