http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/potential-in-the-wind-23-times-curre

[DREDIOCK]

Interesting article

I dont give a damn about the global warming arguement.
But I dont mind green technologies for my own selfish reasons.
New technologies typically spur new industries. Which is good for economic growth.
And I wouldnt at all mind a cleaner place to live.


Potential wind power is 23 times current US electricity use

A trio of researchers have calculated the sort of yields we might see if the world took advantage of all the wind power available to it. It's a bit of a thought experiment, but the numbers are still impressive: 40 times the current global electric use.

By John Timmer  | Last updated June 23, 2009 6:15 AM CT

When the National Academies of Science recently looked at the potential for renewable energy deployment in the states, its expert panel made some reasonable assumptions, such as limits imposed by manufacturing capacity and the current electric grid. This week, the NAS Proceedings will see the publication of a paper that considers what would happen if we dropped reasonableness from the analysis, and calculated what we might achieve if we pushed wind power to its maximal capacity. The paper is an odd mix of these unreasonable assumptions and conservative estimates, and is probably best viewed as a sort of thought experiment. Still, the numbers the come out of the analysis are quite impressive: maxing out deployment of current-generation technology could produce five times the total energy used in the world today, and 40 times the electricity.

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/potential-in-the-wind-23-times-current-us-consumption.ars

[Strip]

The total power received from the sun is magnitudes greater than the power required by the entire population. Only downside is both have peak times and off times. I agree with your feelings towards it tho.

Strip

[moot]

No profit, no wind or solar.

[Shuffler]

I save trees by conserving toilet paper.

I burn lots of gas..... I'm trying to deplete those darn arabs.

[moot]

Better alternatives to wind and solar.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/05/interview-dr-richard-nebel-of.html
For orders of magnitude less than e.g. ITER or JET.

[gunnss]

My personal experience with wind power is dismal. The problem is that wind power is directly tied to wind speed, up a knot voltage spike, down a knot voltage sag. When the mills are a significant part of the grid, the variation in power generated, acts like the 600 pound gorilla and destabilises the grid. My facility depends on stable input power and the D#@#$ windmills generate alarms on a regular basis. The operators seem unwilling to spend the money to filter the input. (our filters are around a million dollars a megawatt base cost)
Regards,
Kevin