Re:Wind Energy Is One of the Cheapest, and It's Getting Cheaper
by alphydan on Monday September 04, 2017 @04:45PM
(#15170759)
The question has been asked in the past and modelled with some level of detail. For example: Estimating maximum global land surface wind power extractability and associated climatic consequences [0].
At a higher level the question is easy: Sun shines, warms the air more in the tropics, creates a gradient, and wind flows. What if we capture all this energy? But the details of the calculation are subtle. The cited paper says: It could have dire climatic consequences!
But it may be over-estimating how many locations are really suitable for wind turbines. Many things limit the efficiency (i.e. cost effectiveness) of a wind farm (turbulence, minimum average wind speed, maximum speeds, access to the site, distance from cities, etc).
One important point is that most of the energy exchange happens at high altitude (where the turbines can't reach).
At a higher level the question is easy: Sun shines, warms the air more in the tropics, creates a gradient, and wind flows. What if we capture all this energy? But the details of the calculation are subtle. The cited paper says: It could have dire climatic consequences!
But it may be over-estimating how many locations are really suitable for wind turbines. Many things limit the efficiency (i.e. cost effectiveness) of a wind farm (turbulence, minimum average wind speed, maximum speeds, access to the site, distance from cities, etc).
One important point is that most of the energy exchange happens at high altitude (where the turbines can't reach).
[0] https://www.earth-syst-dynam.net/2/1/2011/esd-2-1-2011.pdf