In a study published in the journal Wind Energy (PDF), the authors detailed how their five years of modeling studies determined that by placing 144,000 offshore wind turbines – each 270 feet high and each capable of generating 5 megawatts of power – up and down the coast from Maine to Florida we could provide enough electricity for the entire region.

While looking for the best places to capture and utilize wind energy, the researchers looked for regions with a low hurricane risk, a water depth of less than 100 feet, and areas without any conflicting uses such as shipping lanes or bird migration paths. The offshore area from Virginia to Maine was found to have “the most exceptional overall resource” due to wind patterns and a significantly less chance of devastating hurricane activity in the future. For the area south of Virginia down to Florida, the report stated that quite a large area could be available for offshore wind if the concept of floating turbines were developed into more feasible units from their current prototype-like state.

“People mistakenly think that wind energy is not useful because output from most land-based turbines peaks in the late evening/early morning, when electricity demand is low,” said Mike Dvorak, principle author of the study. “The real value of offshore wind energy is that it often peaks when we need the most electricity — during the middle of the day.”

With the $2.5 billion Cape Wind Project starting to take shape off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and lawsuits opposing it being dropped, we could soon see much more offshore wind development in the near future. Currently the U.S. gets just 4 percent of its electricity from wind power. Would residents up and down the East Coast trade off the distant sight of 144,000 turbines off the coast of their beach to know all their power is coming from a clean and renewable source? Would you?

[via NBC News]

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Energy payback considers how much energy goes into producing a device, and compares that with output. When wind turbines are designed for use on land, the blades that capture wind and the mechanisms that produce electricity typically account for most of the energy used to manufacture the turbines. The tower and foundation, which support the turbine, usually uses only a third of the energy in production.

Offshore wind turbines are different: The towers and foundations must be much taller, heavier and larger. The steel and concrete used in these structures takes much more energy in manufacturing. Steel can also corrode, shortening its lifespan.

The researchers suggest that using different materials can help solve these problems. Composite materials, which are currently used to make some wind turbine blades, can also be used for towers. These materials are corrosion-free, lighter, stronger and more resilient than steel, according to the researchers. They’re also less expensive.

Using “guyed” towers, which are held in place with steel cables rather than free-standing, can also help reduce the amount of energy used in manufacturing, and the researchers say it can be an important first step before manufacturers are able to change materials. Eventually, they will be able to save significant cost and energy, doubling energy payback ratios.

Main image credit: C.G.P. Grey/Flickr

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The U.S. government is planning to auction off an area encompassing 2,434 square miles in the Atlantic Ocean to developers of wind farms, opening up the continental shelf for the projects 10 miles offshore. The area encompasses a wide swath of the east coast, totaling 1.5 million acres of open ocean from Massachusetts to Virginia. The auction is scheduled to take place before year’s end and interested developers are doing what they can to avoid the angry divisions surrounding the Cape Wind Project, including studying wind farm effects on marine life and migratory birds. The American Wind and Wildlife Institute, a partnership between wildlife conservation groups and the wind industry, is working to make sure concerns from both sides are heeded.

“Cape Wind really helped focus attention on what we didn’t know and what we needed to know for offshore wind in order to estimate risk,” said Taber Allison, director of research at the American Wind and Wildlife Institute.

While the development and construction of any offshore wind turbines on the east coast is probably years away, the federal government is interested in pursuing the technology in order to meet the country’s energy needs. Wind farms in the Atlantic ocean could generate more than 1,000 GW of power per year, and we need to start now if we are to ever ween ourselves off fossil fuels and replace them with renewable energy sources.

“We’re not a new technology — the offshore wind industry has been operating in Europe since 1991,” said Jim Lanard, president of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition. “The U.S. is two decades behind. To catch up, we have to make big investments, just like nuclear, oil, gas and coal had to make big investments at the start.”

We definitely have a lot of catching up to do and while there is seemingly always some controversy surrounding offshore wind farms, this new plan could be just what the doctor ordered. At 10 miles off the coast, the turbines would be barely (if at all) visible to the naked eye and if the environmental studies pan out, I hope development starts sooner rather than later.

[via Bluefield Daily Telegraph ]

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Americans for Prosperity (AFP), fueled with money from the Koch Brothers, are up in arms over a kite-flying rally sponsored by the Sierra Club to celebrate “New Jersey’s offshore wind potential” on Global Wind Day. “Bring your family, friends and kites,” they say. Will they stop at nothing? Apparently not, they’re actually offering free kites for radicals that don’t have their own.

Thank God that a stalwart forward-thinking organization like Americans for Prosperity is looking out for all that is good and decent in this country, exposing these windy fanatics for what they are: moms and dads flying kites with their kids. But don’t let that fool you, my friend, behind these scenes of happy families spending time together in the sun is an extremist agenda to harness clean energy and help build a sustainable future for all our children. A future free from the destabilizing effects of a world grappling for the diminishing and harder-to-reach supplies of fossil fuels. And who wants that? Not AFP or the Koch Brothers, that’s for sure. So they’re doing something about it.

AFP chartered six buses from across New Jersey to launch a “counter-protest” (apparently flying a kite to celebrate wind energy is a “protest” otherwise how could there be a counter-protest?) to bravely go “toe-to-toe” with these kite-flying kids in an effort to “combat their radical agenda and tell the truth about the costs of offshore wind.”

Next AFP will hold a rally to tell the truth about the costs of our continued reliance on fossil fuels. The cost in dollars, lives, and the possibility of a livable future for our kids. Not.

Main image credit: OceanCity.ShownbyPhotos.com

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