Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Taylor and Nolan Counties, Tex.
About 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Dallas, 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares) of Texas cedar and scrub oak have been given over to the 421 wind turbines that comprise the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center....[More]
1. World's Biggest On-Shore Wind Farm
Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Taylor and Nolan Counties, Tex.
About 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Dallas, 47,000 acres (19,000 hectares) of Texas cedar and scrub oak have been given over to the 421 wind turbines that comprise the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center. The 291 1.5-megawatt turbines built by GE and the 130 2.3-megawatt wind turbines built by Siemens together deliver 735 megawatts of peak power. The farm was completed in 2006 and is operated by NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light, which operates wind facilities that deliver over four gigawatts of power across the U.S.
Horse Hollow won't retain the crown for long, however: By the middle of 2009, E.ON Climate and Renewables will complete the fourth phase of the Roscoe Wind Farm in Texas, which will deliver 781.5 megawatts from 627 turbines.
Other giant wind farms that have been announced include the Shepherd's Flat Wind Farm in Oregon (800 megawatts, 303 wind turbines) and a wind farm in Markbygden, Sweden, (four gigawatts, 1,101 wind turbines).
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NextEra Energy Resources
2. World's Biggest Offshore Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Visible from the beach of Skegness, England, the 54 3.6-megawatt turbines of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farm collectively can produce up to 194 megawatts of electricity at peak....[More]
2. World's Biggest Offshore Wind Farm
Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Near Skegness, Lincolnshire, England
Visible from the beach of Skegness, England, the 54 3.6-megawatt turbines of the Lynn and Inner Dowsing offshore wind farm collectively can produce up to 194 megawatts of electricity at peak. Each turbine is 353 feet (107 meters) in diameter and turns on a hub that is 265 feet (80 meters) above sea level. Every turbine sits on a pylon that was driven into the shallow seabed by the Resolution, a vessel purposely built for the installation of offshore wind farms. (It extends six legs into the seabed to stabilize itself before installation of the pylon on which each turbine sits.) The total cost of the project was nearly $500 million.
By the end of 2009, Lynn and Inner Dowsing will have been superseded by the 209-megawatt Horns Rev 2 wind farm sited in the North Sea between 19 and 25 miles (30 and 40 kilometers) west of the westernmost tip of Denmark, which will cost about $670 million. And the 1,000-megawatt London Array in the outer Thames Estuary is projected to be completed in 2012.
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Centrica Energy
3. World's Largest Tidal Power Barrage
Rance Tidal Barrage in Bretagne, France
Many of the world's largest renewable projects have been around for quite some time: Completed in 1967 at a cost of approximately $134 million, the Rance tidal barrage (dam) is the world's first, and remains the world's largest, power plant that produces electricity from tides....[More]
3. World's Largest Tidal Power Barrage
Rance Tidal Barrage in Bretagne, France
Many of the world's largest renewable projects have been around for quite some time: Completed in 1967 at a cost of approximately $134 million, the Rance tidal barrage (dam) is the world's first, and remains the world's largest, power plant that produces electricity from tides. The Rance barrage works by blocking the entrance to the estuary of the Rance River, where average difference between low and high tides is 26 feet (eight meters). The 24 10-megawatt bulb turbines that sit in the barrage beneath the surface can be turned by the water as it flows both into and out of the estuary, allowing the dam to produce electricity almost continuously.
In the future, the U.K. has proposed a tidal power barrage across the Severn Estuary that separates England and Wales. Whereas a number of different barrages have been proposed, the largest would be a 7.4-mile- (12-kilometer-) long dam that could produce 8.6 gigawatts of energy, or 5 percent of the electricity currently used in the U.K.
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4. World's Largest Tidal Power Turbine
SeaGen Turbine in Strangford Lough, Ireland
Like wind turbines, but powered by the flow of water instead of the flow of air, tidal power turbines transform tides or deep ocean currents into electricity....[More]
4. World's Largest Tidal Power Turbine
SeaGen Turbine in Strangford Lough, Ireland
Like wind turbines, but powered by the flow of water instead of the flow of air, tidal power turbines transform tides or deep ocean currents into electricity. The 1.2-megawatt SeaGen tidal power turbine, which consists of a matched pair of turbines, each up to 66 feet (20 meters) in diameter, is currently the only commercial-scale tidal power turbine in the world. This system costs about $5 million per installed megawatt of capacity, or about 30 percent more than offshore wind power, according to the manufacturer. The blades have the ability to turn 180 degrees in order to spin in either incoming or outgoing tidal currents. The turbines can be raised for ease of maintenance, as depicted in this photo. The inset illustration shows the turbines under normal use.
By 2015, the SeaGen turbine will be surpassed by a massive tidal power turbine project in the Wando Hoenggan Waterway off the coast of South Korea, to be built jointly by Lunar Energy and Korean Midland Power Company for $820 million. Generating 300 megawatts of capacity, the 300 one-megawatt, 60-foot- (18-meter-) high turbines will be anchored to the seabed by their own weight.
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Sea Generation
5. World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant
Solar Energy Generating Systems in Southern California
Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) has been the world record holder for largest solar thermal project since its completion in 1990....[More]
5. World's Largest Solar Thermal Plant
Solar Energy Generating Systems in Southern California
Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) has been the world record holder for largest solar thermal project since its completion in 1990. SEGS consists of nine separate solar thermal power plants spread across the Mojave Desert, which collectively can produce 354 megawatts of power. They were designed, built and operated by Luz International, which subsequently went bankrupt when the tax breaks that made the plant profitable evaporated. The chairman of Luz is back, however, heading up Brightsource, a new solar thermal energy company that has just signed the two largest contracts for solar thermal electricity in the world. These contracts will be serviced by 14 solar thermal plants with a total output of 2,600 megawatts, to be built between now and 2017. These facilities differ substantially from SEGS, which uses long troughs to collect the sun's heat; they will consist of thousands of mirrors that will reflect the sun's energy onto a central heating tower.
"The overarching theme of why we moved from trough to tower is that it's much more efficient," says Keely Wachs, director of communications at BrightSource, who notes that the cost of the tower design is also significantly lower, making it cost-competitive with other sources of energy.
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Gregory Kolb, Sandia National Laboratories
6. World's Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant
Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain
The Olmedilla Photovoltaic (PV) Park uses 162,000 flat solar photovoltaic panels to deliver 60 megawatts of electricity on a sunny day....[More]
6. World's Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant
Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain
The Olmedilla Photovoltaic (PV) Park uses 162,000 flat solar photovoltaic panels to deliver 60 megawatts of electricity on a sunny day. The entire plant was completed in 15 months at a cost of about $530 million at current exchange rates. Olmedilla was built with conventional solar panels, which are made with silicon and tend to be heavy and expensive. So-called "thin-film" solar panels, although less efficient per square meter, tend to be much cheaper to produce, and they are the technology being tapped to realize the world's largest proposed PV plant, the Rancho Cielo Solar Farm in Belen, N. Mex., which is expected to cost $840 million, cover an area of 700 acres (285 hectares), and produce 600 megawatts of power.
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Nobesol
7. World's Most Productive Geothermal Field
The Geysers in Sonoma and Lake Counties, Calif.
Despite having declined from a peak production of 2,000 megawatts in the mid-1980's to the present value of about 1,000 megawatts, The Geysers remains the most productive geothermal field in the world, providing nearly 60 percent of the electricity used in California's North Coast region, which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border....[More]
7. World's Most Productive Geothermal Field
The Geysers in Sonoma and Lake Counties, Calif.
Despite having declined from a peak production of 2,000 megawatts in the mid-1980's to the present value of about 1,000 megawatts, The Geysers remains the most productive geothermal field in the world, providing nearly 60 percent of the electricity used in California's North Coast region, which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. (The decline is due to depletion of the aquifer from which the plants draw their steam; newer plant designs re-inject the water in order to eliminate this problem.)
The first commercial geothermal power plant in the U.S. was built at The Geysers in 1960; it produced 11 megawatts of power. Individual plants at this location now average about 50 megawatts, but are dwarfed by the largest geothermal power plant currently proposed, which would be built in Sarulla, North Sumatra, Indonesia, by geothermal technology company Ormat and its partners, producing 330 megawatts of electricity at peak.
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Calpine
8. World's Largest Dry Biomass-Fired Power Plant
Oy Alholmens Kraft in Pietarsaari, Finland
Like most biomass-fired power plants, the Oy Alholmens Kraft power plant relies on locally sourced bark, branches and peat to fuel its enormous boiler—the largest of its kind in the world at 550 megawatts of heat....[More]
8. World's Largest Dry Biomass-Fired Power Plant
Oy Alholmens Kraft in Pietarsaari, Finland
Like most biomass-fired power plants, the Oy Alholmens Kraft power plant relies on locally sourced bark, branches and peat to fuel its enormous boiler—the largest of its kind in the world at 550 megawatts of heat. Burning all that generates a peak output of 240 megawatts of electricity. (The plant also generates 160 megawatts of steam, which is used directly by nearby industry and for district heating.) Both the peat and the wood by-products burned by this plant are harvested sustainably. In the case of the wood, trees equal in amount to those felled are planted every year and are later harvested at maturity. Peat is also continuously generated by decaying plants in wetlands, and although it is produced slowly, it can be harvested sustainably as long as it's carefully managed.
"We need more than 120 trucks [of biomass] per day," says Stig Nickul, managing director of the plant. "One truck is enough for six to seven minutes."
By 2010, Wales will be able to claim a 350-megawatt biomass-fired power plant, but its waste wood feedstock will have to be imported from Canada, making it of questionable renewable value.
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Alholmens Kraft Oy Ab
9. World's Largest Wave Power Plant:
Aguçadoura Wave Farm near Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
The world's first and only commercial wave power plant resembles a 500-foot- (150 meter-) long, 11 foot- (3.5 meter-) wide snake that floats, half-submerged, on the sea surface....[More]
9. World's Largest Wave Power Plant:
Aguçadoura Wave Farm near Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
The world's first and only commercial wave power plant resembles a 500-foot- (150 meter-) long, 11 foot- (3.5 meter-) wide snake that floats, half-submerged, on the sea surface. Each unit is anchored perpendicular to the beach, and has four segments connected in a line by hinges that house independent hydraulic power plants. As each segment surges up or down with the crest of an oncoming wave, its hydraulic power plant pumps a biodegradable hydraulic fluid through a turbine which produces up to 0.75 megawatt of electricity per unit. Three of these, constructed at a cost of $13 million are currently producing a total of 2.25 megawatts at peak off the coast of Portugal, and there are plans to eventually expand the wave farm to 21 megawatts.
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10. World's Largest Hydroelectric Dam
China's Three Gorges Dam
On December 18, 2007, the electricity production capacity of China's Three Gorges Dam reached 14.1 gigawatts, surpassing for the first time the 14-gigawatt generating capacity of the Itaipu Dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, making it the largest and most productive dam in the world....[More]
10. World's Largest Hydroelectric Dam
China's Three Gorges Dam
On December 18, 2007, the electricity production capacity of China's Three Gorges Dam reached 14.1 gigawatts, surpassing for the first time the 14-gigawatt generating capacity of the Itaipu Dam on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, making it the largest and most productive dam in the world. By 2011, it will produce 18 gigawatts of electricity, or as much as 18 large nuclear power plants. Just one of the dam's main generators can produce 700 megawatts of electricity. It s construction cost $26 billion.
A still-larger dam, the Grand Inga Dam, has been proposed for completion between 2020 and 2025 in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the Congo River: Its output could reach 39 gigawatts of power.
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Andrew Hitchcock
Bonus: World's Largest Landfill Gas Recuperation Plant
Puente Hills in Whittier, Calif.
Producing power from the gas that seeps out of landfills is a better alternative than simply flaring it....[More]
Bonus: World's Largest Landfill Gas Recuperation Plant
Puente Hills in Whittier, Calif.
Producing power from the gas that seeps out of landfills is a better alternative than simply flaring it. (Though it's debatable whether or not landfill gas constitutes a renewable resource, because yields of combustible gas from landfills decline between 2 and 15 percent per year after a landfill is capped and no more garbage is being added, according to Jeff Pierce, vice president of power plant development company SCS energy). Landfill gas is about half methane and half carbon dioxide and also contains water vapor, which makes it more difficult to handle than conventional natural gas.
The world's largest landfill gas plant sits atop the Puente Hills landfill—the largest in the U.S.—which accepts trash from Los Angeles County. Pierce says that because this active landfill is still growing, production at the 20 year old Puente Hills landfill gas plant has not yet peaked, and averages about 50 megawatts.
Another 50-megawatt landfill gas plant sits atop another gigantic dump in Incheon, South Korea. Currently there are no plans for units larger than either the Puente Hills or Incheon facilities.
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Jeff Pierce, SCS Energy
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
I like the idea of using wind energy. However, I've read that these wind catchers that look so graceful in photos make a horrible noise. I read that they are placed near homes and make life unbearable for humans and animals.
And if they are placed in areas where humans do not live, what effect do they have on biological organisms of all kinds?
Wind energy sounds so very clean. I'd like to know more about the toll they make take in quality of life and what can be done about that.
I like the idea of using wind energy. However, I've read that these wind catchers that look so graceful in photos make a horrible noise. I read that they are placed near homes and make life unbearable for humans and animals.
And if they are placed in areas where humans do not live, what effect do they have on biological organisms of all kinds?
Wind energy sounds so very clean. I'd like to know more about the toll they make take in quality of life and what can be done about that.
Every single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a ley player in rebuiling the US Power Grid.
Every single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a ley player in rebuiling the US Power Grid.
Every single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a key player in rebuilding the US Power Grid.
And others? Why does this article minimize the impacts of biofuel and geothermal? Geothermal is one of the key solutions to the energy crisis. Demoting them to a slot at the far end of the slideshow with very little recognition doesn't do justice for this industry. Once a geothermal drill is online it produces electricity 24/7!! AND it doesn't take up the extensive space that the wind and solar farms use. AND it doesn't kill birds or fish (major criticisms for wind farms, wave generators, and hydro electric projects). Quit selling the geothermal businesses short, they may not have the strongest PR campaign (for now), but the engineers and business owners in the geothermal industry are true renewable energy pioneers!
A lot of people dont know exactly what clean coal technology is, so Ill fill you in: it refers not to any one technology, but to an entire suite of advanced technologies.
During the Americas Power Factuality Tour, weve been traveling around the country talking to the people who are behind the production of cleaner electricity from coal including a stop at the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin. Theyve installed a retrofit system that has reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent and sulfur dioxide emissions by 95 percent.
In addition, through a pilot project in partnership with Alstom Power, theyre developing the latest in carbon capture technology. Check out http://sn.im/factuality5 to get the facts on clean coal technology once and for all.
What? I didn't mention clean coal in my original post about geothermal because there is NO SUCH THING. The term "clean coal" is part of an aggressive PR campaign put on by the money mongers in the coal industry. There is no such thing as clean arsenic, and no amount of "carbon storage" will offset the damage done by the actual coal mining process. Coal isn't a renewable resource anyways, so even if science manages to clean up the process we still only have a finite amount of coal available. Don't try to pitch coal as a solution when anyone who's paying attention can see it's really a HUGE part of the problem.
Last year, I toured Iceland and was impressed by the fact that virtually all of the country's electricity and heat is generated geothermally. Perhaps no single generating facility is the largest, but taken as a whole, their geothermal generating capacity must set some kind of record.
Missing from discussion is wood burning for energy as a means of bypassing the methane created by rotting wood. Methane is 22X more effective as a GWG than CO2.
Missing is that escaped hydrogen will react with atmospheric hydroxyls, thus allowing more methane to remain in the atmosphere. Hydroxyls typically remove methane, but may be reduced.
Missing is the total lifecycle cost of manufacturing the "green" energy devices.
I assume that the output figures you give for wind power generators assume that all the turbines are running. However, I have never seen a wind mill field where more than a few of the turbines were spinning, although there was plenty of wind. This observation includes seeing the large number of turbines in Spain in the highlands between Madrid and Barcelona last week. I have read that about a 30% output is typical. Why?
I assume that the output figures you give for wind power generators assume that all the turbines are running. However, I have never seen a wind mill field where more than a few of the turbines were spinning, although there was plenty of wind. This observation includes seeing the large number of turbines in Spain in the highlands between Madrid and Barcelona last week. I have read that about a 30% output is typical. Why?
A very interesting slide show. My reservation is the emphasis on the very concrete interpretation "the biggest". In particular, the Three Gorges Dam is nothing for technocrats anywhere to be proud of.
As for what to do instead, a good survey of examples showing how to invest toward authentic sustainability, both in Europe and the USA, is given in "A Smart City Goes Live", in Der Spiegel http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,629392,00.html
The article describes projects which place footprints on built spaces and work toward improving efficiency and responsiveness, by increasing the feedback networks in existing systems as well as installing more capacity, with less environmental impact, in places where the natural environment has already been built over.
FROM TECHNOCRACY TO NET ENERGY ANALYSIS: ENGINEERS,ECONOMISTS AND RECURRING ENERGY THEORIES OF VALUE by Ernst R. Berndt WP#1353-82 September 1982 available at http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/2023/SWP-1353-09057784.pdf?sequence=1
Mark Hatfield, Senator from Oregon at the time, is quoted in the Introduction:
"Pragmatically, a way to begin would be to set up a capability in government to budget according to flows of energy rather than money. Energy is the all-pervasive underlying currency of our society."
Of course there are more recent fruits of the 1970's energy crisis. One of the best in my opinion is easily found on Google:
Environmental Accounting Using Emergy: Evaluation of the State of West Virginia by Daniel E. Campbell Sherry L. Brandt-Williams USEPA, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
Energy is the all-pervasive currency of our natural world, both living and nonliving. In the living world, energy harvest and distribution has been decentralised, across the face and depths of the planet, as well as among and within organisms. The living, evolutionary outcome is the result of over 3 billion years of trial and error, the record of which is stored in the DNA and RNA of all living things. If you are looking at discrete organisms, there is nothing of the individual size or scale of the built world's "worlds largest" power plants. There are sequoias and blue whales, but our vast, intricate systems of energy distribution from smaller sources are by far more common.
Think of a rain forest, and all of the interlocking elements of its habitat, from leaves through soil invertebrates and microbes, and the rivers which carry away the excess rain to riparian ecosystems and built environments downstream.
I am far more interested in the smartest, most resilient systems than I am in the biggest plants.
Energy companies want to increase capacity by building new plants, if possible with subsidies, to enable sell of more power. They are not suited for helping clients to use less energy. The big thing onwards is to save energy by using better technology, find new ways of living, working and acting. The "drivers" behind this movement is not Energy Companies. The quickest way is to put more tax on gasoline. People will then drive less and require more fuel efficient cars. That will drive the technology development. That is important!
Energy companies want to increase capacity by building new plants, if possible with subsidies, to enable sell of more power. They are not suited for helping clients to use less energy. The big thing onwards is to save energy by using better technology, find new ways of living, working and acting. The "drivers" behind this movement is not Energy Companies. The quickest way is to put more tax on gasoline. People will then drive less and require more fuel efficient cars. That will drive the technology development. That is important!
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Iceland produces over 80% of its electrical power via hydroelectric power plants, not geothermal plants. Reference wikipedia.org/list of countries by elec. production from renewable energy soureces. It shows that hydroelectric plants produce 7019 MW of electricity; geothermal plants produce 1658 MW of electricity.
I don't know why people continually claim Iceland produces the majority of its electricity using geothermal. Did your tour guide state this?
I think China's Three Gorges Dam deserves recognition for its power production and control of very destructive river flooding. It is of the scale the world and China need. Geothermal has a good future too, in the Ring of Fire nations, Italy, and the Yellowstone caldera (which is an intolerable unmanaged volcanic hazard to the US, an order of magnitude greater hazard in frequency compared to equally damaging meteor strikes).
Blue-Green Acres
Full-size Unmanned Aircraft Flies on Hydrogen Fuel
Recycling Could Replace Mining for U.S. Iron Supply
29 Comments
Add Commentthe last one is labeled "bonus," my friend. around here, we're all about throwing in a little something extra.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this-- the author
I like the idea of using wind energy. However, I've read that these wind catchers that look so graceful in photos make a horrible noise. I read that they are placed near homes and make life unbearable for humans and animals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd if they are placed in areas where humans do not live, what effect do they have on biological organisms of all kinds?
Wind energy sounds so very clean. I'd like to know more about the toll they make take in quality of life and what can be done about that.
I like the idea of using wind energy. However, I've read that these wind catchers that look so graceful in photos make a horrible noise. I read that they are placed near homes and make life unbearable for humans and animals.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd if they are placed in areas where humans do not live, what effect do they have on biological organisms of all kinds?
Wind energy sounds so very clean. I'd like to know more about the toll they make take in quality of life and what can be done about that.
Probably we must not obtain energy from tidals, someone say that it slows down Earth spinning, thus making days and nights longer
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe I am an idiot, but I would have not noticed it without you warning me, please keep my self-confidence satisfyed
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a ley player in rebuiling the US Power Grid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a ley player in rebuiling the US Power Grid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery single one of these can and will at one time use Beacon Power's highspeed Flywheel for Frequency Regulation. They are a key player in rebuilding the US Power Grid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd others? Why does this article minimize the impacts of biofuel and geothermal? Geothermal is one of the key solutions to the energy crisis. Demoting them to a slot at the far end of the slideshow with very little recognition doesn't do justice for this industry. Once a geothermal drill is online it produces electricity 24/7!! AND it doesn't take up the extensive space that the wind and solar farms use. AND it doesn't kill birds or fish (major criticisms for wind farms, wave generators, and hydro electric projects). Quit selling the geothermal businesses short, they may not have the strongest PR campaign (for now), but the engineers and business owners in the geothermal industry are true renewable energy pioneers!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not consider clean coal technology?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA lot of people dont know exactly what clean coal technology is, so Ill fill you in: it refers not to any one technology, but to an entire suite of advanced technologies.
During the Americas Power Factuality Tour, weve been traveling around the country talking to the people who are behind the production of cleaner electricity from coal including a stop at the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in Wisconsin. Theyve installed a retrofit system that has reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 percent and sulfur dioxide emissions by 95 percent.
In addition, through a pilot project in partnership with Alstom Power, theyre developing the latest in carbon capture technology. Check out http://sn.im/factuality5 to get the facts on clean coal technology once and for all.
Very nice, b ut a lot of non scientific confusion between power and energy, Mw and Mwh...Gw and Gwh... Please, correct it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat? I didn't mention clean coal in my original post about geothermal because there is NO SUCH THING. The term "clean coal" is part of an aggressive PR campaign put on by the money mongers in the coal industry. There is no such thing as clean arsenic, and no amount of "carbon storage" will offset the damage done by the actual coal mining process. Coal isn't a renewable resource anyways, so even if science manages to clean up the process we still only have a finite amount of coal available. Don't try to pitch coal as a solution when anyone who's paying attention can see it's really a HUGE part of the problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLast year, I toured Iceland and was impressed by the fact that virtually all of the country's electricity and heat is generated geothermally. Perhaps no single generating facility is the largest, but taken as a whole, their geothermal generating capacity must set some kind of record.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMissing from discussion is wood burning for energy as a means of bypassing the methane created by rotting wood. Methane is 22X more effective as a GWG than CO2.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMissing is that escaped hydrogen will react with atmospheric hydroxyls, thus allowing more methane to remain in the atmosphere. Hydroxyls typically remove methane, but may be reduced.
Missing is the total lifecycle cost of manufacturing the "green" energy devices.
I assume that the output figures you give for wind power generators assume that all the turbines are running. However, I have never seen a wind mill field where more than a few of the turbines were spinning, although there was plenty of wind. This observation includes seeing the large number of turbines in Spain in the highlands between Madrid and Barcelona last week. I have read that about a 30% output is typical. Why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI assume that the output figures you give for wind power generators assume that all the turbines are running. However, I have never seen a wind mill field where more than a few of the turbines were spinning, although there was plenty of wind. This observation includes seeing the large number of turbines in Spain in the highlands between Madrid and Barcelona last week. I have read that about a 30% output is typical. Why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA very interesting slide show. My reservation is the emphasis on the very concrete interpretation "the biggest". In particular, the Three Gorges Dam is nothing for technocrats anywhere to be proud of.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs for what to do instead, a good survey of examples showing how to invest toward authentic sustainability, both in Europe and the USA, is given in "A Smart City Goes Live", in Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,629392,00.html
The article describes projects which place footprints on built spaces and work toward improving efficiency and responsiveness, by increasing the feedback networks in existing systems as well as installing more capacity, with less environmental impact, in places where the natural environment has already been built over.
FROM TECHNOCRACY TO NET ENERGY ANALYSIS: ENGINEERS,ECONOMISTS AND RECURRING ENERGY THEORIES OF VALUE
by Ernst R. Berndt
WP#1353-82 September 1982
available at
http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/2023/SWP-1353-09057784.pdf?sequence=1
Mark Hatfield, Senator from Oregon at the time, is quoted in the Introduction:
"Pragmatically, a way to begin would be to set up a capability
in government to budget according to flows of energy rather
than money. Energy is the all-pervasive underlying currency
of our society."
Of course there are more recent fruits of the 1970's energy crisis. One of the best in my opinion is easily found on Google:
Environmental Accounting Using Emergy: Evaluation of the State of West Virginia
by Daniel E. Campbell Sherry L. Brandt-Williams
USEPA, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
www.epa.gov/NHEERL/publications/files/wvevaluationposted.pdf
Energy is the all-pervasive currency of our natural world, both living and nonliving. In the living world, energy harvest and distribution has been decentralised, across the face and depths of the planet, as well as among and within organisms.
The living, evolutionary outcome is the result of over 3 billion years of trial and error, the record of which is stored in the DNA and RNA of all living things. If you are looking at discrete organisms, there is nothing of the individual size or scale of the built world's "worlds largest" power plants. There are sequoias and blue whales, but our vast, intricate systems of energy distribution from smaller sources are by far more common.
Think of a rain forest, and all of the interlocking elements of its habitat, from leaves through soil invertebrates and microbes, and the rivers which carry away the excess rain to riparian ecosystems and built environments downstream.
I am far more interested in the smartest, most resilient systems than I am in the biggest plants.
Energy companies want to increase capacity by building new plants, if possible with subsidies, to enable sell of more power. They are not suited for helping clients to use less energy. The big thing onwards is to save energy by using better technology, find new ways of living, working and acting. The "drivers" behind this movement is not Energy Companies. The quickest way is to put more tax on gasoline. People will then drive less and require more fuel efficient cars. That will drive the technology development. That is important!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnergy companies want to increase capacity by building new plants, if possible with subsidies, to enable sell of more power. They are not suited for helping clients to use less energy. The big thing onwards is to save energy by using better technology, find new ways of living, working and acting. The "drivers" behind this movement is not Energy Companies. The quickest way is to put more tax on gasoline. People will then drive less and require more fuel efficient cars. That will drive the technology development. That is important!
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi,
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Davmosh
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIceland produces over 80% of its electrical power via hydroelectric power plants, not geothermal plants. Reference wikipedia.org/list of countries by elec. production from renewable energy soureces. It shows that hydroelectric plants produce 7019 MW of electricity; geothermal plants produce 1658 MW of electricity.
I don't know why people continually claim Iceland produces the majority of its electricity using geothermal. Did your tour guide state this?
I Am with the idea of using nuclear energy, it is more productive and tested already in the field
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee also
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1479461
Wind power is a complete disaster
by Michael J. Trebilcock
I think China's Three Gorges Dam deserves recognition for its power production and control of very destructive river flooding. It is of the scale the world and China need. Geothermal has a good future too, in the Ring of Fire nations, Italy, and the Yellowstone caldera (which is an intolerable unmanaged volcanic hazard to the US, an order of magnitude greater hazard in frequency compared to equally damaging meteor strikes).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWE need "Forever Clean Energy, America" and 2.5M "forever jobs"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAmazing!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article forgets that electricity is not the only source of energy in the world, as it only lists electrical projects.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrazil�s sugarcane generates more power than all its hydroelectric plants.
That means it produces far more energy than the Three Gorges here listed
Yet it is not included.
This article forgets that electricity is not the only source of energy in the world, as it only lists electrical projects.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBrazil´s sugarcane generates more power than all its hydroelectric plants according to its Ministry of Energy study.
That means it produces far more energy than the Three Gorges here listed
Yet it is not included.