Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wind Over-power

I saw an ad in Smithsonian (July 2008) for wind power. They claim that the US has 18GW, enough for 5 million households. This amounts to 3.6kW per household.

At the same time technologyreview.com reported that a waste to energy plant in Ottawa will produce 21MW per day, enough to power 19,000 homes - i.e. 1.1 kW per home. Lacking a better estimate, I'm assuming that other steady burners (coal and nuclear) also produce 1.1 kW per household.

The reason for this difference is that the wind doesn't always blow; storage batteries can be charged when the turbine produces more electricity than is needed. Even so, wind is not yet a reasonable source for a steady 24/7 electric supply.

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