http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16658695 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16658695 (audio slide show) 1 billion dollars into a dying small american city, for clean energy. Too bad, it's not an american company investing in it, it's a european company. And they're not doing it for charity, it's for profit. Too bad we waste our money enriching the status quo and killing bogeymen terrorists in the middle east for our energy. I guess the only question is, when do we hit peak wind? Oh that's right, never!
When we have installed enough turbines. There is such thing as peak wind, but we'd have to really waste a lot of energy to reach it. Currently, the limitation is around 20% of grid capacity, because wind is a variable source. Having unpredictable fluxuations in grid utilization is not good for the grid so you have to be careful when you add a lot of wind to a grid. By adding storage you could go a lot higher, but it will increase the cost of wind power to "firm" it up.
Alright, I'd say that would be peak wind capacity. Unlike oil it wouldn't run out at least until the solar system imploded. Does this maximum capacity include farming the ocean? I always thought that there was enough wind in wyoming to energize america. I guess someone was just blowing hot air.
Something like 2% of solar energy gets converted into wind energy. That's a LOT of energy. I don't know how much wind energy there is in WY, but I know it's a lot 'cause the wind seems to always be whipping across I-25 when I drive up to MT.
