These 2007 numbers argue against any significant effect of wind power. States with most wind energy installed, by capacity (MWatt)
- -1. Texas 2,768 MW
- -2. California 2,361
- -3. Iowa 936
- -4. Minnesota 895
- -5. Washington 818
Total = 7778 MegaWatts. This is my estimate. Wikipedia shows 16,000 MWatts of total installed generation capacity in 2007. To be extremely clear that is ALL OF IT. EVERY LAST WINDMILL.
Palo Verde Nuclear Plant averaged over 3200 MWatt of electrical power production in 2003. Read that again because its only 1 nuclear power plant. We generate about 20% of our electricity by nuclear means.
It appears unless I have made a mistake that the entire wind power generation base = ~ 5 nuclear plants. And given the fact that nuclear only generates 1 in 5 units of power required to run our economy it is clear that wind power will require decades to develop sufficient capacity. Of course by then usage will have gone up. Doing this we are using gobs of steel and not really making a dent in our power budget. Its profitable for now only because the steel required is being bought in small quantities.
We’re currently skating towards oblivion. However human behavior is nonlinear. I expect that to change shortly when energy prices get high enough. We are very soon to find out how much people really care about the psuedo-environmental fictional causes like global warming. Imovable object meets irresistable force. The reason for this is the left has set up an energy disaster in the making. World energy use growth is going to make costs go parabolic and lead to economic dislocations of a larger magnitude than what we are accustomed. This may well be what the leftist had planned. But oweing to their rather flacid reasoning capabilities I have to imagine they just were too stupid to know better.
They are going to soon find them and their causes on the outs with the average citizen. Their immovable object of resistance to any and all effective technology will meet that irresistable force. Something has to give. That’s the nature of the nonlinear behavoir when compulsive daydreamers careen from crisis to crisis.
There is very little chance that wind power will ever meet more than a small fraction of our needs because it is too dilute a source. Steel prices are bound to rise and too large a fraction of the economy would have to be devoted solely to it.
I suggest that before 15 years has passed some other break through technology will supercede wind power. The only course that has the advantage of the numbers is start drilling now. The price of oil is not ever going to return to 40 dollars per barrel until alternative sources are mainstream so there is no reason not to drill as market forces will still be in play and force their development.
