Fuel Frenzy

Available power from wind

10 MPH wind = 3.7 FT-Lbs/sec or 1/150 HP/ft2 = about 5 watts/ft2

Density of Air * Dia of Blade (Sq) * Velocity of wind Cubed * pi/4

Wind is a form of solar energy. Winds are caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, the irregularities of the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Wind flow patterns are modified by the earth's terrain, bodies of water, and vegetative cover.

· The earliest known windmills were in Persia (Iran) and looked like large paddle wheels.

· Today, the largest wind turbines in the world have blades longer than a football field.

· A typical horizontal wind turbine stands as tall as a 20-story building and has three blades that span 200 feet across.

· One very large wind turbine can provide enough electricity for about 300 homes.

· U.S. wind farm installations totaled more than 16,800 megawatts in 2007, enough power to serve approximately 4.5 million average American households.

· Wind energy is generated in 30 different states. Those with the most wind production are Texas, California, Minnesota, Iowa and Wyoming.

The U.S. ranks third in the world in wind power capacity, behind Germany and Spain.

You probably know someone who plans their energy independence around a home windmill. At less than 5 watts per sq foot in a 10 mph wind you can see it is not going to happen.

Lets use a 10 foot diameter windmill. That works out to about 78 sq feet of wind area. Which equals about 400 watts of pure wind power at 10 mph.

From this 400 watts losses quickly start to steal power from your system. Rotor, generator and storage losses reduce your available to maybe 50 watts. Just enough for a small light.

Many people seeking energy independence were led to believe that their small wind generator would generate so much power that they would be able to sell the excess back to the power company. There are a few problems with this idea.

1. Very few (read NO ONE ) will ever generate enough power for their own use. Never mind selling the excess back.

2. Most (read NONE ) small wind generators do NOT generate power that is of a quality acceptable to a power company grid. They want/demand clean 60 cycle AC current which is very difficult and/or very expensive to generate with a small wind generator.

Large Scale Wind Farms

In the US there is significant wind power available Texas to Montana.
A typical 1.5 MW wind turbine - Cost $2 Million - 200 foot blades. Cut in speed 7 mph - Rated wind speed 26 mph.
Because of wind speed variation, wind turbines are lucky to average 30% of rated output.
Very few locations average greater than 20 mph wind speeds.
California's 15,000 wind turbines account for about 1% of California's electrical needs.

The large 1 - 5 MegaWatt wind generators being built today (2008) have blade lengths approaching 300 feet. On systems of this size wind speeds/weather will vary over the length of the blade setting up strong mechanical forces. To expected these devices to rotate for years in all types of weather with minimal maintainence is very optomistic. I would expect concerns operating these large wind turbines on land to place them offshore is very risky.

Lets get this right.....

1. You are going to place these large wind turbines 5 - 20 miles offshore in the ocean.

2. You are going to run high voltage cables back to shore.

3. You will encounted extreme weather conditions.

4. You expect very little maintenance.

5. You expect a long ( 20+ year) life of these units.

Good Luck!

Wind has its problems of cost and low energy density but along with solar it may need to be a large part of America's energy mix in the very near future. Every spinning wind turbine equals less imported oil. A great step in the right direction.

You may have heard of T Boone Pickens - He has a plan and it may just be what we need to get through the next few hundred years while we search for other energy options.

Mr Pickens has said "If we don't reverse this trend (Imported Oil) over the next ten years, we will be importing 75 percent of our oil and paying between $200 and $300 per barrel."

He went on to say that at $300 per barrel "you won't have to worry about healthcare or education. They will be solved. How????? We won't have any money left to deal with either one."

His Plan - Build wind turbines in the Texas to Montana wind corridor and solar panels in the Texas to Calif. Sun belt. With a huge investment it is possible to generate maybe 20% of our electric power with these renewable energy sources within the next 10 or 20 years.

This would take a scale of commitment many times larger than the Manhattan Project.

How big is this project? Try 16,000 large wind turbines per year for the next 30 years and a similar commitment in Solar Power.

His plan also includes converting most of our large diesel trucks to Natural Gas. That could save 30% of our imported oil.

His plan is a great start, but We will need every watt of energy that we can produce domestically, whether it is new sources of oil,,,, additional natural gas,,,, coal, nuclear, wind or solar to replace imported oil and stop shipping Billions dollars overseas.

Is this costly You Bet,,,,,, but right now we send $400 Billion out of the country every year.