Slashdot Mirror
Wind Could Provide 100% of World Energy Needs
Damien1972 sends in a report on a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, which finds that wind power could provide for the entire world's current and future energy needs. "To estimate the earth's capacity for wind power, the researchers first sectioned the globe into areas of approximately 3,300 square kilometers (2,050 square miles) and surveyed local wind speeds every six hours. They imagined 2.5 megawatt turbines crisscrossing the terrestrial globe, excluding 'areas classified as forested, areas occupied by permanent snow or ice, areas covered by water, and areas identified as either developed or urban,' according to the paper. They also included the possibility of 3.6 megawatt offshore wind turbines, but restricted them to 50 nautical miles off the coast and to oceans depths less than 200 meters. Using [these] criteria the researchers found that wind energy could not only supply all of the world's energy requirements, but it could provide over forty times the world's current electrical consumption and over five times the global use of total energy needs."
I mean, really, this kind of talk is nonsensical. The more we invest in such technologies the better, but how do exaggeration and fanciful claims help investors take the industry seriously?
How about start with "Less dependence on terrorist-funding nations" and go from there... Plenty compelling without the bullshit science fact afterthought.
It seems to me we'd have to rape the earth in a way most of us would consider fairly extreme to erect giant concrete towers on every square meter of ocean and land. The ecolgical impact of billions of tonnes of raw materials being mined would be astronomical.
It's been a long time.
"Part of me thinks some of them are disinfo agents on the fossil fuel payrolls."
That part would be your brain, apparently some of these morons can live without one.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.