100 percent renewable energy possible by 2030

A new study published in the journal Energy Policy says that we could achieve 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, and not just U.S., but the world.  The study says that we have access to all the necessary technology, but strong political would have to exist for it to happen.

So, how can we get to 100 percent renewables by 2030? 

Well, to be exact, the study says we'll need all of these:

• 4 million 5 MW wind turbines
• 1.7 billion 3 kW roof-mounted solar PV systems
• 90,000 300 MW solar power plants (including PV and concentrated solar)
• A smattering of geothermal, wave, and tidal power plants

The calculations leave out biomass because of pollution and land-use issues, as well as nuclear power.  The wind turbines are larger than most currently operating today, but a few 5 MW offshore turbines have been built.

Two major hurdles to this plan are finding ways to interconnect the various power sources based on output and variability (wind being high output but high variability, tidal and geothermal being low output but low variability), and a supply bottleneck of rare earth materials.  For those materials, mining would have to increase by five times the current rate and recycling would have to be introduced.

The authors say political roadblocks to such a massive build-up of renewable energy would be the largest challenge of all.

via Physorg

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Visualizing a lifetime of human energy consumption

(Image Credit: Flickr - Beige Alert)

In his second State of the Union address, President Obama made it clear that energy is one of the most important issues facing the United States today.

Although the president mentioned that he would champion investment in clean energy, like wind and solar power, it’s clear that fossil fuels will still be around for a few years to come.

Education is key when it comes to understanding the need for new technologies and alternative sources of energy. Often, people don’t really realize how much energy is required for each and every one of their daily activities.

Day-to-day waste may not seem significant, but added up over larger periods of time, an individual’s waste can be much larger than most realize. Energy audits, power saving gadgets, and energy monitors can help you evaluate your family’s energy usage over time, and show you areas where you can improve.

The infographic below shows what consumption looks like over the course of a lifetime at average consumption and waste levels (click here to see the original).

Are there any behaviors or activities listed here that you think you could change or eliminate to conserve energy? Share your thoughts in a comment.

Need help conserving energy? Check out these related posts:

• Energy Efficiency for the New Year
• Quiz: Rate Your Winter Energy Use
• Want to Go Solar? Cut Your Energy Use First

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How does a wind turbine work?

I don't know about you, but I love the word "turbine." It speaks of great, enormous machines, capable of moving vast quantities of something-or-other, and to me, have an unapproachability that makes them sexy. Kind of like the tall lanky outsider who comes to class in the middle of the quarter and never talks.

I used to work at the UCLA co-gen plant, albeit as an office-manager type person, but I did get to tour around the big co-generation plant and the engineers there would explain to me how things were working. Being the young, starry-eyed, English-major that I was, most of it went in one ear and out the other, as I wondered if my hazel-eyed, alt-rock listening, musician-on-the-side tour guide was going to ask me out.

But I digress. In later years, as I began to immerse myself in all sorts of alternative choices -- from moving to Costa Rica to composting to not owning a TV or clothes dryer -- my husband also began to immerse himself in alternative fuels.

At the same time, we made frequent trips to our nearest biggish town, Santa Cruz (not to be confused with the fabulous, seaside Santa Cruz here in California). The road to said town was bumpy, rough, potholed dirt and gravel, but had some of the most breathtaking views I've seen in my lifetime - great, sweeping open spaces of forest and cattle land; soft hills that turned into layered mountain ranges, huge trees whose canopies dripped with ripe mangoes, no buildings or people for as far as your eyes could see, swirling dust and hot humid air.

Amidst these views, close to the road, was one fabulously solitary windmill. I fell in love with this windmill and have wanted one ever since.

I am quite sure that the simple country windmill of my Santa Cruz trips is not what I'd get if I invested in my own personal wind turbine, but this morning I decided it was time to find out.

So what is a wind turbine anyway?

1. From Princeton: (Noun) turbine: Rotary engine in which the kinetic energy of a moving fluid is converted into mechanical energy by causing a bladed rotor to rotate.

2. From Wikipedia: A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.

The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. Early turbine examples are windmills and water wheels.

3. From Wiktionary: (Noun) turbine (plural turbines) 1. Any of various rotarymachines that use the kinetic energy of a continuousstream of fluid (a liquid or a gas) to turn a shaft

4. From Tuition.com: Turbine -- A rotary motor driven by a flow of water, steam or wind to produce electrical energy.

My first question is answered! My windmill IS a type (albeit old-fashioned) of wind turbine! This is such great news! So, now that we (I) know what a turbine is, what exactly is a wind turbine?

Wind turbine definition from Wikipedia: A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or pumping water, the device is called a windmill or wind pump.

And finally, how can this be applied to my house to help save energy?

Well, if you're this guy, you can build your own and fabricate a system to not only harvest the energy, but to transfer it into useful power for your home. If you're not that brilliant, you can purchase a system and installation (rather like you would with solar) from several different companies including Skystream Energy, and WindSpot, or you can sift through My Wind Power System and find a system that works for you.

As for me, I think I'm going to see if I can't talk my husband (he is, in fact, brilliant enough to build a windmill and convert the energy it makes into useful energy in our home) into building me one that looks a little old fashioned and a lot like the one on the road to nowhere.

--Jocelyn Broyles

 

Related:

• Wind Power Systems
• How Much Power Will a Home Wind Turbine Produce?
• Wind Power Designed From Sycamore Tree Seed 

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