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Re:Airbus and Boeing are exploring the viability of electric... by adventured on Sunday April 08, 2018 @05:53PM (#16788673)
US wind energy production has increased eight fold in 12 years. The US has greater wind energy production capacity per capita than Norway does for example.

Hydro power is an impossible resource to perpetually manufacture more of. The US has heavily tapped out its potential in hydro. First it's difficult/undesirable to manufacture a new source of hydro once you reach saturation, and second it's arguably a terrible idea to do so when you have good alternatives to damming up a natural water flow.

The US is the world's #2 nation in wind energy production and is adding more wind capacity per year than any other nation not named China.

Let's put it into context with the parent's comment you're replying to:

Norway had 1,162 MW of wind capacity in 2017. The US had 89,077. That's a 76 fold gap. However there is only a 63 fold gap in the population size between the two nations.

Given Norway has a meaningfully higher GDP per capita than the US (~15-20% higher typically), it looks even worse when you consider the GDP per capita vs wind energy capacity per capita ratio.

The US exceeds the vast majority of all countries on per capita wind energy capacity, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, South Korea, Italy, Belgium, China, Greece, Turkey, Taiwan, Poland, Mexico, Brazil. Overall the US is doing OK with renewables and keeps getting better by the year. It's obviously important that that trend remain intact.

Re:Airbus and Boeing are exploring the viability of electric... by vilmosi on Sunday April 08, 2018 @06:48PM (#16788931)
Wouldn't a country with vast access to hydro power be inclined to not invest in wind? And why cherry pick wind power anyway?
Re:Airbus and Boeing are exploring the viability of electric... by jacoblambda on Sunday April 08, 2018 @09:16PM (#16789552)
I believe they specifically mentioned wind because that was the specific form of renewable energy the grandparent was talking about.

As for why a country with vast access to hydro would prefer wind energy, Hydro requires large investments, is excruciatingly difficult to upgrade, interferes with local water flow and ecosystems, and in the case that either it is improperly maintained or a major accident occurs, can be very dangerous and deadly.

Re:Airbus and Boeing are exploring the viability of electric... by Kimm0n0 on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @08:03PM (#16816923)
It is not cost-effective to build much wind power in Norway, because of excessive cheap hydro power. Statoil and Statkraft build them in UK, where the price and subsidies are more favourable.