Potential wind power is 23 times current US electricity use:
[Via Nature Blogs - All Stories]
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 capac...
[More] The name of the paper is Global potential for wind-generated electricity. It is Open Access so anyone can read it. Here is the abstract:
The potential of wind power as a global source of electricity is assessed by using winds derived through assimilation of data from a variety of meteorological sources. The analysis indicates that a net- work of land-based 2.5-megawatt (MW) turbines restricted to non-forested, ice-free, nonurban areas operating at as little as 20% of their rated capacity could supply > 40 times current worldwide consumption of electricity, > 5 times total global use of energy in all forms. Resources in the contiguous United States, speciï¬[trademark]cally in the central plain states, could accommodate as much as 16 times total current demand for electricity in the United States. Estimates are given also for quantities of electricity that could be obtained by using a network of 3.6-MW turbines deployed in ocean waters with depths < 200 m within 50 nautical miles (92.6 km) of closest coastlines. Cool. It is a thought experiment type of paper but does provide some real direction. And as this figure shows, the US is in pretty good shape:
[More at Path to Sustainable]
Technorati Tags: Energy Use, Environment, Science 9:42:06 AM 
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