Comments on: Clean Energy: The State of the States https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/ Sun, 01 Nov 2015 22:40:57 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: RickR https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473408 Sun, 01 Nov 2015 22:40:57 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473408 Greg

Only slightly off topic, I think you and your readers will be interested in this:
Coal not coming back, Appalachian Power president says

(apologies if you’ve already seen and posted on it)

]]> By: cosmicomics https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473407 Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:15:03 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473407 #3
One more thing. The higher you go, the better the resource. The important wind speeds are the cut in and optimal speeds. Large, modern turbines would have no problem with the Texas wind, so the current average size would be due to other (historical, political, economic) factors.

]]> By: cosmicomics https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473406 Sat, 31 Oct 2015 00:03:11 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473406 #3

http://apps2.eere.energy.gov/wind/windexchange/windmaps/

If you look at the upper left hand map, you’ll notice that there’s a corridor from North Dakota to Texas with excellent wind resources. Even though these states are governed by Republicans, they’re among the country’s leaders in wind energy, and have wind lobbies that can block initiatives designed to make electricity from wind more expensive.

I don’t know how the size of Texas turbines compares to that of other states, but you could easily look into it by clicking on as many states as you want and doing your calculations. You might also find something by googling: U.S. wind turbines average size/capacity 2015.

]]> By: cosmicomics https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473405 Fri, 30 Oct 2015 23:37:28 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473405 ” ‘You are going to find people in this town who say they are for ‘all of the above’ energy, but they’re really for none of the above and all of the below,’ he said, underscoring his support for aboveground wind and solar resources.”
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/will-conservatives-finally-embrace-clean-energy?intcid=mod-latest

The “he” is Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The article shows that an increasing number of Republicans accept the reality of climate change, and that some of them are pushing for positive changes in American energy policy. It seems that the party’s presidential candidates are in line with the fossil fuel companies, but not with a large number of their voters.

]]> By: Doug Alder https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473404 Fri, 30 Oct 2015 23:33:40 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473404 #2 thanks. So according to figures in that pdf they are averaging 1.68 MW per tower – by today’s standards that on the low side. I’ve never been to TX so is the wind there, while plentiful enough for generation, not fast enough to get into the 2.5-5MW range that other places are, or is it a case of the hardware they are using?

]]> By: cosmicomics https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473403 Fri, 30 Oct 2015 23:21:11 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473403 #1
Please see:
http://awea.files.cms-plus.com/FileDownloads/pdfs/texas.pdf

Texas leads the U.S. in installed capacity, but is behind leaders like Iowa in the percentage of electricity produced by wind.

]]> By: Doug Alder https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/10/30/clean-energy-the-state-of-the-states/#comment-473402 Fri, 30 Oct 2015 21:55:44 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=21745#comment-473402 I thought Texas was doing better recently having heard about a lot of wind generation there but energy.gov says

“Renewable sources provide 2.55% of Texas’s energy production, totaling 303,697 billion BTUs. This is 4.03% of total U.S. renewable energy production.”

see http://energy.gov/maps/renewable-energy-production-state

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