Wind power could meet all US electricity needs  

Posted by Big Gav in

The LA Times has an article on a new report noting that wind power could meet the entire electricity demand in the US - Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs, report says.

Wind turbines off U.S. coastlines could potentially supply more than enough electricity to meet the nation's current demand, the Interior Department reported Thursday.

Simply harnessing the wind in relatively shallow waters -- the most accessible and technically feasible sites for offshore turbines -- could produce at least 20% of the power demand for most coastal states, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said, unveiling a report by the Minerals Management Service that details the potential for oil, gas and renewable development on the outer continental shelf.

The biggest wind potential lies off the nation's Atlantic coast, which the Interior report estimates could produce 1,000 gigawatts of electricity -- enough to meet a quarter of the national demand.

The report also notes large potential in the Pacific, including off the California coast, but said the area presented technical challenges.

The Interior Department released an executive summary of the report on Thursday.

It noted that "strong wind resources also exist offshore California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, but it appears that the majority of this resource lies in deep waters where technology constraints are potentially significant" -- a sentiment Salazar echoed when asked about Pacific wind potential.

2 comments

What? We were right all along.

Well why was this not on CNN and FOX today.

Oh yeah, a real shift from nuclear and fossil fuels is boring news... let's hear more about the octuplets!

Sad that 'slim pickens' had to make this political and the media had to make it a social pandemic about global warming CO2...

Really has diluted and diverted the real problems and solutions to making real energy sustainable.

Seriously we fix energy and we end pandemics, power politics and pollution. Without them ...the news can really focus on issues about holywood and whose twittering.

Anonymous   says 5:42 AM

EHS: I agree the media are prone to ADHD and fixation on trivia.

I'm unclear what you mean about T. Boone Pickens (there is a different guy named Slim - but I see you used air quotes...) The Pickens Plan is debatable in its focus on freeing up natural gas to power long-haul trucking, but that's his stated motive for going all out to build wind power.

I can't tell if you are suggesting we don't need to limit CO2 emissions - to me its extremely clear we really do. What's a "social pandemic"?

I agree there is a convergence between the apparently separate goals or motives of energy independence, avoiding a new and much worse "energy crisis" from peak oil, and those of lowering our CO2 emissions (and smog).

I don't agree that "we fix energy, we fix pandemics" - surely a pandemic depends on the genetics of specific strains like H5N1, not on what energy sources we rely on?

Are you thinking rather of "panics" in general?

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