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Japanese breakthrough will make wind power cheaper than nuclear
A surprising aerodynamic innovation in wind turbine design called the 'wind lens' could triple the output of a typical wind turbine, making it less costly than nuclear power.
Mon, Aug 29 2011 at 2:47 AM
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Snapshot from video
NOTE: Some major wind projects like the proposed TWE Carbon Valley project in Wyoming are already pricing in significantly lower than coal power -- $80 per MWh for wind versus $90 per MWh for coal -- and that is without government subsidies using today's wind turbine technology.
The International Clean Energy Analysis (ICEA) gateway estimates that the U.S. possesses 2.2 million km2 of high wind potential (Class 3-7 winds) — about 850,000 square miles of land that could yield high levels of wind energy. This makes the U.S. something of a Saudi Arabia for wind energy, ranked third in the world for total wind energy potential.
Let's say we developed just 20 percent of those wind resources — 170,000 square miles (440,000 km2) or an area roughly 1/4 the size of Alaska — we could produce a whopping 8.7 billion megawatt hours of electricity each year (based on a theoretical conversion of six 1.5 MW turbines per km2 and an average output of 25 percent. (1.5 MW x 365 days x 24 hrs x 25% = 3,285 MWh's).
The United States uses about 26.6 billion MWh's, so at the above rate we could satisfy a full one-third of our total annual energy needs. (Of course, this assumes the concurrent deployment of a nationwide Smart Grid that could store and disburse the variable sources of wind power as needed using a variety of technologies — gas or coal peaking, utility scale storage via batteries or fly-wheels, etc).
Now what if a breakthrough came along that potentially tripled the energy output of those turbines? You see where I'm going. We could in theory supply the TOTAL annual energy needs of the U.S. simply by exploiting 20 percent of our available wind resources.
Well, such a breakthrough has been made, and it's called the "wind lens."
Imagine: no more dirty coal power, no more mining deaths, no more nuclear disasters, no more polluted aquifers as a result of fracking. Our entire society powered by the quiet "woosh" of a wind turbine. Kyushu University's wind lens turbine is one example of the many innovations happening right now that could in the near future make this utopian vision a reality.
Yes, it's a heck of a lot of wind turbines (about 2,640,000) but the U.S. with its endless miles of prairie and agricultural land is one of the few nations that could actually deploy such a network of wind turbines without disrupting the current productivity of the land (Russia and China also come to mind). It would also be a win-win for states in the highest wind area — the Midwest — which has been hard hit by the recession. And think of the millions upon millions of jobs that would be created building a 21st century energy distribution system free of the shackles of ever-diminishing fossil fuel supplies.
It's also important to point out that growth in wind power capacity is perfectly symbiotic with projected growth in electric vehicles. EV battery packs can soak up wind power produced during the night, helping to equalize the curve of daytime energy demand. So the controversial investment currently being entertained by President Obama to pipe oil down from the Canadian Tar Sands would — in my utopian vision — be a moot point.
It is indeed a lofty vision, but the technology we need is now in our reach. And think of the benefits of having our power production fed by a resource that is both free and unlimited. One downside often cited by advocates of coal and gas power is that wind turbines require a lot more maintenence than a typical coal or gas power plant. But in a lagging economy this might just be wind power's biggest upside — it will create lots and lots of permanent jobs, sparking a new cycle of economic growth in America.
Editor's note: Want more info? Karl breaks down the math in his next post.
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
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Unfortunately we already live in a country where air conditioning in homes, cars, and stores is considered essential.
Nuclear waste is not only a very expensive problem, but also is inconvenient, as no workable solution to processing and storing it for umpty-thousand years exists. The only actual reason our nuclear plants are operating is to provide raw material for our nuclear weapons program.
Oh and also, good luck keeping that turbine in the picture safe during the winter, I dont see any possibilities for pitch control.
Dude 1/4 of alaska is like the size of california! What, are you gonna give all the maintnence men camper trucks and 200 gallons of gas? Is that realy that enviormentally friendly? Also, where is all this land? Are you going to destroy national parks and build huge windfarms? Or are you going to kick people out of their homes. Industrial grade wind turbines can be up to 40 stories tall! Talk about defacing the country side!
Not to mention a no fly zone for any living thing.
The Bay of Fundy tides are violent enough to destroy the best engineered tidal turbines. We are working on better engineering.
I remember this being 'new' design 10 years ago
Great news.
Hope this will come soon and be duplicated in Brazil too !
Joao P L
http://www.ddi-ddd.com.br
Mythbusters used this design for their prototipe of a personal plane. How is this new?
Where does you electricity come from?
Lots of prairie space not being used for much of anything. You prefer leveling mountains for coal or burrying toxic waste in the ground?
Do you have any better option? Nothing's perfect. It would be much better having wind farms and solar panels than oil, coal, gas, and nuclear. That's a fact. You're trying to hard to be a hippie.
I'm all for alternative energy, but do the math... The U.S. has 9.83 million km2. If 2.2 km2 is suitable for wind harvesting, then that is just in between 1/4 and 1/5 of the WHOLE country! If you propose 2.63 million wind turbines, then that comes out to more than 1 turbine per square kilometer! Imagine a windturbine every 1000 meters from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains!
The sad part of having each household on it's own power source is that the renewable energy people are more greedy than the oil and gas people. That's why it costs so much to install a personal/household solar or wind system on a house. If we can get the environmentalists to quit being so greedy we could all have affordable renewable energy.
Right On !!!!
I read some studies that show that birds aren't stupid and stay clear of the wind mills. Do you think a bird would really fly through a wind mill? Would you? Birds still would have plenty of space to fly around the windmills. Instead of killing some "stupid" birds (you know the ones that fly into your window) lets just kill the O-zone and all of earth. That sounds like a great idea. If you stupid hippies would stop your nonsense it would be great. THANKS
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