Wind Energy Could Provide 15 Percent of World’s Needs
energy, spatial analysis, water July 10th, 2008
Wind energy has the potential to provide 10 to 15 percent of future world energy requirements, according to Paul Dimotakis, chief technologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL). JPL hosts a team of scientists that analyze global wind data generated from NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite, and produce global wind power maps.
QuikSCAT, launched in 1999, tracks the speed, direction and power of winds near the ocean surface. Data from QuikSCAT, collected continuously by a specialized microwave radar instrument named SeaWinds, also are used to predict storms and enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts.
If ocean areas with high winds were tapped for wind energy, they could potentially generate 500 to 800 watts of energy per square meter. This is slightly less than solar energy (which generates about one kilowatt of energy per square meter), but wind power can be converted to electricity more efficiently and at a lower cost per watt of electricity produced.
Winds are generally stronger over open ocean than on land, and technologies have been developed to create floating wind farms. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact, and winds are generally stronger over the ocean due to less friction to slow the wind down.
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July 10th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
What exactly is the map showing us? With no units on the scale, it makes it hard to interprete. More information would be helpful.
Thanks for the story, though. It’s great to see that this kind of thinking is taking place. Now to get these ocean wind farms built!