The Short Path to Oil Independence

An article from the Earth Policy Institute expounds on the usefulness and efficiency of hybrid and wind power. These statistics are probably optimistic, but still very convincing. Realistically, if we shift to "alternate" energies under the Kerry administration, we could quickly and (increasingly) inexpensively move away from dependence on foreign oil.

With gas-electric hybrid cars now on the market, the stage is set for the second step to reduce oil dependence, the use of wind-generated electricity to power automobiles. If we add to the gas-electric hybrid a plug-in capacity and a second battery to increase its electricity storage capacity, motorists could then do their commuting, shopping, and other short-distance travel largely with electricity, saving gasoline for the occasional long trip. This could lop another 20 percent off gasoline use in addition to the initial 50 percent cut from shifting to gas-electric hybrids, for a total reduction in gasoline use of 70 percent.

The plug-in capacity gives access to the country's vast, largely untapped, wind resources. In 1991, the U.S. Department of Energy published a National Wind Resource Inventory in which it pointed out that three of our 50 states—Kansas, North Dakota and Texas—have enough harnessable wind energy to satisfy national electricity needs. Many were astonished by this news since wind power was widely considered a marginal energy source.

Yet in retrospect, we know that this was a gross underestimate simply because it was based on the wind turbine technologies of 1991. Advances in design since then enable turbines to operate at lower wind speeds, to convert wind into electricity more efficiently, and to harness a much larger wind regime.

The average turbine in 1991 was roughly 120 feet tall, whereas new ones are 300 feet tall—the height of a 30-story building. Not only does this more than double the harvestable wind regime, but winds at the higher elevation are stronger and more reliable.

In Europe, which has emerged as the world leader in developing wind energy, wind farms now satisfy the residential electricity needs of 40 million consumers. Last year, the European Wind Energy Association projected that by 2020 this energy source would provide electricity for 195 million people—half the population of Western Europe. A 2004 assessment of Europe's offshore potential by the Garrad Hassan consulting group concluded that if European governments move vigorously to develop this potential, wind could supply all of the region's residential electricity by 2020.
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The cost of wind-generated electricity has been in free fall over the last two decades. The early wind farms in California, where the modern wind industry was born in the early 1980s, generated electricity at a cost of 38¢ per kilowatt-hour. Now many wind farms are producing power at 4¢ per kilowatt-hour, and some long-term supply contracts have recently been signed at 3¢ per kilowatt-hour. And the price is still falling.

Like I said, the numbers are likely optimistic exaggerations, but the prospects are looking good. Elsewhere in the article Brown discusses the revenues earned from "hosting" a wind turbine, which greatly outweigh the profit made from cattle-ranching or even cash-crop farming. He suspects that before long, the farmers of rural America will be asking for turbines (the PIIMBY syndrome that he talks about).

I say Rock On clean, renewable energy sources.

(via DailyKos)