McElroy and team assess global wind power

A team at Harvard University says, at least in theory, yes. Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the researchers, led by Michael McElroy, examined global wind resources and determined that a super-connected network of 2.5 megawatt wind turbines could meet global electricity demands – even if they only operated at 20 percent capacity.

Sectioning the globe into approximately 1,275 square mile segments, the team analyzed wind speeds every six hours and non-urban, non-forested and non-ice covered areas where turbines could realistically be built.

They determined that the contiguous U.S., for example, can get more than 16 times the energy it now consumes from an array of turbines. China could see an 18-fold increase compared to 2005 consumption. And the bulk of it would be supplied by land-based wind turbines. The rest could be gotten from offshore larger turbines with 50 miles from shore.

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