
Wind could power the entire world - nreece
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0622-hance_global_wind.html
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patio11
Lemon/penny batteries could power the entire world, too. Here's the math:

One lemon/penny battery generates 0.0001 W. Thus, one kilowatt requires 10
megalemons. 10 megalemons produces 365 * 24 = 8760 kilowatt hours per year, or
876 KWH per megalemon per year.

The US consumes roughly 4 trillion KWH per year, which would require about 4.5
petalemon to power. Worldwide production last year was on the order of 6.5
gigalemons (13 megatonnes according to Wiki, 200g for the average lemon), so
we have a bit to go, but this proves that a significant fraction of the US's
electrical needs can be provided by lemon batteries currently. Minor
implementation details such as maintenance of the lemon batteries, storage of
them, operating lifetime, cost, and trivialities such as "Where do we find 4.5
petapennies?" can be hammered out at a later date.

(P.S. Less sarcastically, if you want to generate the world's electricity
needs without being primarily reliant on fossil fuels, you have two options.
The first is nuclear power. The second is dividing the world into permanent
camps: those that have sufficient access to electricity to enjoy a standard of
living comparable to America in the early 1900s, and those who do not. Group
#2 will have to vastly outnumber Group #1.)

~~~
pygy
I agree that the best option availlable at the moment is nuclear energy.

But what about the thermic solar plants that are currently being built in the
deserts of the US and Africa? Those with parabolic mirrors heating the pipes
set at their focal point?

~~~
gaius
I foresee issues around the longevity of mirrors in sandstorms.

~~~
dan_the_welder
Legions of itinerant mirror polishers.

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billroberts
I suggest reading <http://www.withouthotair.com> for a reasoned discussion of
this issue. A couple of quotes:

"if we covered the windiest 10% of the country [the UK] with windmills
(delivering 2 W/m2), we would be able to generate 20 kWh/d per person, which
is half of the power used by driving an average fossil-fuel car 50 km per
day".

"I should emphasize how generous an assumption I’m making. Let’s compare this
estimate of British wind potential with current installed wind power
worldwide. The windmills that would be required to provide the UK with 20
kWh/d per person amount to 50 times the entire wind hardware of Denmark; 7
times all the wind farms of Germany; and double the entire fleet of all wind
turbines in the world."

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lionheart
In theory, yes. And in theory, all we would have to do is pave over a few
square kilometers of New Mexico and we can power the entire world with solar.

But these studies completely ignore all of the practical issues with wind
power at its current scale, let alone scaling it to power the whole world.

~~~
blueben
Start now. Continue R&D and funding. In 10 years, the technology will be
dramatically advanced and scaling will be far easier.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean it isn't worth doing anyway. When the
Manhattan project started, they had no clue how they would come up with the
theoretical quantity of nuclear material they needed. It was impossible. They
went forward anyway and in the process invented the methods they needed to
make it happen. Now we have nuclear weapons coming out of our ears.

~~~
berntb
They did a preplanned thing in Sweden when they built warships and planted
trees suitable for new warships.

Now those trees are ready to be used -- but those pesky iron ships, from the
1860s onwards, got between. :-)

Check: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Fusion

Will they work? We will know in less than ten years. If they work, the money
would be better used in battery research, to run cars on electricity.

~~~
blueben
If you wait because something better might come along which disrupts your
present efforts, you will wait forever.

Eventually, you must commit to something while recognizing that you may have
to be adaptable and change your course later. Success depends less on what you
choose to do and more on the fact that you are doing it.

~~~
berntb
Yeah, but you need to do some sanity checking to see how likely things are to
ever be competitive...

I agree that wind research should be done, but I really think/hope something
better (lower investment costs and lower aesthetic impact) will be found.

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jasonkester
It's difficult to take articles like this seriously. This type of "if we
covered the entire earth's surface with (wind|solar|biomass|exercise bikes),
we could power the entire world" argument is already reduced to absurdity.
There's nothing there even to poke fun at.

It's cool that some of these technologies are making progress and all, but
really, is there anybody who actually thinks it's a good idea to scale them up
to this level? In the name of the environment???

~~~
dan_the_welder
Let me put that another way.

"Does anybody think it's a good idea to depend entirely on a finite resource
that can only be used once and also smells?"

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rjurney
And totally mess up my waves by reducing wind speeds. Stay away from my waves,
you scoundrels!

~~~
vidarh
I read that in a "get off my lawn" old mans voice.

~~~
rjurney
Except with a 'surfer bra wannabe accent?

:)

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luckyland
i'm riding the thermal drafts of HN comment hot air right now, dude.

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joel_feather
Wind power is only available in certain parts of the world. Distribution would
be a massive problem. Thousands of miles of cables and transformers are not
easy to maintain.

~~~
dan_the_welder
We already have thousand of miles of cables and transformers.

My Aunt and Uncle own a wind power company and they cleverly sited nine
turbines next to a coal plant so they would not have to run miles of cables.

These are trivial problems.

~~~
joel_feather
That must be the most uninformed thing that I've read in my life. How is the
map of electricity cables between chad and congo?

Are you aware that wind power needs special sites? And you cannot just move it
beside where you want it?

~~~
dan_the_welder
Yes I am aware of this and far from being uninformed I am speaking of things I
learned from the owners of a successful Wind Power Utility. see Lingan under
projects <http://www.confedpower.com>

They are in Nova Scotia, not Chad so I can't comment on the situation there.

Extra bonus points. This was a startup by people with no prior experience in
the industry that has done extremely well from the getgo.

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tybris
Never thought wind power would destroy the environment.

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sjs382
_could_ not _should_

