A new Harvard study questions the efficacy of wind power as an energy source.
The study, Rethinking WInd Power, suggests that real-world generating capacity of wind farms is being overestimated. The research in mesoscale atmospheric modeling was published on Feb. 25, in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
The study addresses the geophysical limits and climatic effects caused by turbine drag.
Each wind turbine creates behind it a ‘wind shadow’ in which the air has been slowed down by drag on the turbine’s blades. The ideal wind farm strikes a balance, packing as many turbines onto the land as possible, while also spacing them enough to reduce the impact of these wind shadows. But as wind farms grow larger, they start to interact, and the regional-scale wind patterns matter more.
[Harvard applied physicist David Keith]’s research has shown that the generating capacity of very large wind power installations (larger than 100 square kilometers) may peak at between 0.5 and 1 watts per square meter. Previous estimates, which ignored the turbines’ slowing effect on the wind, had put that figure at between 2 and 7 watts per square meter.
In short, we may not have access to as much wind power as scientists thought.
‘One of the inherent challenges of wind energy is that as soon as you start to develop wind farms and harvest the resource, you change the resource, making it difficult to assess what’s really available,’ says [lead author Amanda S. Adams].
But having a truly accurate estimate matters, of course, in the pursuit of carbon-neutral energy sources. Solar, wind, and hydro power, for example, could all play roles in fulfilling energy needs that are currently met by coal or oil.
‘If wind power’s going to make a contribution to global energy requirements that’s serious, 10 or 20 percent or more, then it really has to contribute on the scale of terawatts in the next half-century or less,’ says Keith.
If we were to cover the entire Earth with wind farms, he notes, ‘the system could potentially generate enormous amounts of power, well in excess of 100 terawatts, but at that point my guess, based on our climate modeling, is that the effect of that on global winds, and therefore on climate, would be severe—perhaps bigger than the impact of doubling CO2.’
Harvard said, the research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Report: Government energy loans lead to cronyism
Government watchdog Cause of Action put a report out on Feb. 28, saying the governments outsized influence on markets perverts business incentives, and leads to cronyism. The study finds a 95 percent correlation between companies that received Department of Energy loan guarantees and subsequent campaign contributions.
Could the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program be characterized as a breeding ground for cronyism in the distribution of loans through the 1703, 1705, and Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Guarantee Programs?
Cause of Action was able to determine, through publicly available data combined with a FOIA production[1], that for corporations[2] who have received a loan guarantee of any amount, the likelihood that it made campaign contributions increases significantly. Of the data available, 95% (.95) of DOE loan recipients with less than $1 billion in annual revenue documented political contributions by the organization or senior level staff. Comparatively, only 31% (.319489) of similarly sized organizations that did not receive loans made political contributions in one way or another.
To date, ATVM, 1703, and 1705 loans have awarded guarantees in the amount of $34.5 billion. [3]
According to its website, “Cause of Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan government accountability organization that investigates, exposes, and fights job-killing federal government regulations, waste, fraud, and cronyism.”
(H/T PowerLine for the above links)
Obama names EPA and Energy cabinet positions
The candidates names were not a secret and today President Obama announced his nominees to run the Environmental Protection Agency and to head the Department of Energy, according to a Reuters article on YahooNews. Obama selected EPA veteran Gina McCarthy to replace Lisa Jackson as EPA administrator and MIT scientist Ernest Moniz to take over for Steven Chu as Energy secretary.
McCarthy, currently the assistant EPA administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, has worked for Democrats and Republicans in the past, including Obama’s 2012 presidential opponent, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. [...]
A former undersecretary of energy during the Clinton administration, Moniz is currently director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative, a research group that gets funding from industry heavyweights including BP, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco for academic work on projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
The article said, environmentalists and Democrats largely welcomed McCarthy’s nomination, but were less enthusiastic about Moniz’s selection.
Obama also nominated Sylvia Mathews Burwell, head of the Walmart Foundation, to become director of the White House budget office.
All three nominations require confirmation by the Senate.
Mo. House allows hydro power to count as renewable energy
According to the Associated Press, the Missouri House voted last Thursday to allow hydroelectric power to be used toward meeting the state’s renewable energy requirement — an effort criticized by sponsors of the original initiative approved by voters.
A 2008 voter-backed law requires Missouri investor-owned utilities to use renewable energy sources for increasing amounts of energy production. That requirement is 5 percent next year, 10 percent in 2018, and 15 percent in 2021. It also restricted what hydroelectric power can be applied.
The House legislation would allow hydroelectric power from plants in Missouri, facilities owned by Missouri power companies and those shared under a purchased power agreement to be used starting in 2018, the story said.
