Study Shows Wind Power Much Better than Ethanol

[kristopher]

A study compiled by Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University reviewed twelve combinations of electric power generation and vehicular motivation, ranking them from best to worst.

Wind power emerged as the overall victor in the study. When teamed with battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, wind power claimed the top two spots, being the best in seven of the eleven categories. Photovoltaics failed to make the top five. The Study ranked ethanol as the biggest loser of the study surprisingly falling behind clean coal.

"My hope is that policy makers will use this information and begin to focus on the best solutions to climate change, air pollution, and energy security,” said Jacobson.

So far two major alternative energy organizations RePower America and the Pickens Plan are using the information from the study to bolster their plans. Jacobson has also presented his results to New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

His ranking includes research from water usage to terrorism. His study emphasized the categories of global warming emission and mortality over all others. Nuclear and ethanol did not do well in either category.

His study shows how nuclear pollutes throughout its lifespan starting in ore mining to waste storage. Ethanol made from corn and cellulosic ethanol also showed high emissions throughout its lifespan. Much of the emission released early in the processing of ethanol is never recaptured.

Experts agree significant warming will occur by the end of the century. Delays in addressing the problem will make the issue worse. Wind power is commercially ready to use and produces zero emissions.

With fuel prices low, wind power may take a back seat to the other problems we face. Jacobson says that the U.S. could install 73,000 to 144,000 five megawatt wind turbines, which would cut carbon emissions by one third.

http://www.beyondfossilfuel.com/windpower/study_121908.html

[Dead_Parrot]

1. lol

Rinse and repeat.

[bananas]

2. "RePower America and the Pickens Plan are using the information from the study to bolster their plan

http://www.repoweramerica.org/plan/what-experts-are-saying/


President-elect Barack Obama, July 17, 2008

"For decades, Al Gore has challenged the skeptics in Washington on climate change and awakened the conscience of a nation to the urgency of this threat. I strongly agree with Vice President Gore that we cannot drill our way to energy independence, but must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as President. It's a strategy that will create millions of new jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced, and one that will leave our children a world that is cleaner and safer."

<snip>

Dr. James Hansen — Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

"This is just what the doctor ordered -- to cure our carbon addiction and stimulate the economy. It would be the turning point that is needed to lead the world to a stable climate."

<snip>

Carol M. Browner former EPA Administrator, and Principal of The Albright Group LLC

"Once again, Al Gore is demonstrating his passion, leadership and ingenuity when it comes to offering real solutions to the climate and energy crisis. Al Gore recognizes that the enormity of the problem demands a hands-on approach that requires all of us to pitch in with good old-fashioned American innovation and resourcefulness. The time is now to move beyond conventional thinking and short-term politics, and Al Gore is charting a new course that will bring real, lasting change."

<snip>

[Laelth]

3. Ethanol is a DEFINITE boondoggle and a VERY bad idea.

Wind power is just an ORDINARY boondoggle and a REGULAR bad idea.

The cited essay in the OP is silly: Study proves cancer better than heart attack.

Yeah? So what? Both are BAD.

Wind Power BLOWS.

See the following:
http://www.keepersoftheblueridge.com/faqs.html
http://www.nortexwind.org/index.htm
http://www.stopillwind.org/index.php
http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/

There's more, but you get the idea. :)

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[jpak]

4. McCain lost - too bad - no nukes for you

:rofl:

[kristopher]

5. Who is behind those astroturf sites?

If you look, you'll find they are anonymous front groups for coal power producers and minerals mining companies. Manufactured 'grassroots' putting out manufactured disinformation and lies to preserve their profits.

[Laelth]

6. I know you want to believe that, but it's just not true.

Just watch this series of videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNxvkrgoPLo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_utFV2ukOtU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOd5tSZF3A4&feature=related

Those are real people expressing real concerns, and they're not a front for the coal industry or anyone else.

Wind power BLOWS. :hi:

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[kristopher]

7. Sure it is.

Any project that causes alteration to a locale's "sense of place" is going to have a certain number of people that are disturbed by change. These websites are a product of a deliberate effort by fossil fuel interests to capitalize on that "nimby" effect and encourage/exaggerate the degree of public opposition. They first fought through denial of the existence of global warming; when that position was no longer possible to hold they fell back to casting doubt on the anthropogenic causes of climate change. Now we are at a point where that position is no longer tenable, and to make matters worse for them, they have lost the political upper hand that allowed them to stymie the phase out of fossil fuels at the level of central authority. Now their battle lines are refocusing on stoppiing development of fossil alternatives at the local level.

The websites you are promoting are an outgrowth of an effort started in the coal mining regions of England around 2003 by a Brit MP in response to the withdrawal of government subsidies from their domestic coal industry and rechanneling it into the development of wind. It spread to the US via the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound; a group known mainly for the support it receives from Ted and Robert Kennedy. Less known is that it was founded and primarily funded by Republicans with strong ties to fossil fuel and minerals mining interests.

An interesting book about the way nimby manifests itself when tied to political power and encouraged by dark interests is the case study of Cape Wind opposition written by Wendy Williams.
http://capewindbook.typepad.com/blog/

The primary characteristic that ties these groups together is the false, misleading, and totally debunked arguments that are repeated nearly verbatim from website to website and their lack of transparency regarding who is actually involved in the "opposition". So, you might think you are acting locally in good faith, but in fact, you are a tool of the exact same forces that brought us the Tobacco Institute, the environmental skepticism movement, and the global warming denial industry.

[Nihil]

8. Don't know but ...

... I bet their lawyer is based in Georgia ...

[madokie]

9. getting hungry too

is my bet :-)

[Laelth]

11. Absolutely true. n/t

:)

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Laelth]

10. LOL.

No, they're not my clients. I am not licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania. And I am a solo practitioner, not part of a firm. Besides which, I don't practice environmental law. Half my practice is domestic relations, and the other half is employment and civil rights (always representing the employee and never the employer).

Nice of you to inquire, though. ;)

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth


Edit:Laelth--videos are from PA not NC.