Wind power is a variable resource - meaning, it ebbs and flows over time. There has been a lot of discussion about how to “firm up” the resource, which would make it easier for utilities to depend more and more on wind (instead of having to fill in the gaps with other fuels). One possibility for doing this is compressed air storage (NYTimes). Quotable:
But a New Jersey company plans to announce on Tuesday that it is working on a solution to this perennial problem with wind power: using wind turbines to produce compressed air that can be stored underground or in tanks and released later to power generators during peak hours….
… But the new venture hopes to put wind power generated during off-peak hours to use during peak hours — typically 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and especially on hot days.
One of the main challenges to using wind power is that the wind, in general, is unpredictable, which makes it harder for utilities to rely exclusively on it since they prefer to buy energy a day or more in advance.
Abandoned salt mines, BTW, are a great geologic formation for compressed air storage. (Hello, Reno County.)
Horizon Wind Energy opens office in Kansas (MarketWatch). Quotable:
“Today clean energy is at the center of our attention; new technologies and improvements in existing technologies are key to addressing our energy needs and climate change,” said Ken Ripper, Chief Technical Officer, Horizon Wind Energy. “Horizon is proud to do business in the great State of Kansas and applauds the efforts taking place at Cloud County Community College to educate and train the next generation of wind technicians. The school currently has 50 students enrolled and is beginning a web-based program. Horizon has hired some of these students as interns and full-time employees at our Meridian Way Wind Farm and is very pleased with the results.”
New study finds a lot more carbon sequestered in Artic soils - which means a new feedback loop for climate scientists to consider (AP). If the soils defrost, there goes the carbon into the atmosphere, thus creating an exponential warming effect. Quotable:
And according to one commentary on the research, current models of climate change have not taken this extra source of greenhouse gas into account.
Scientists have long known that organic carbon trapped inside a blanket of frozen permafrost covering one fifth of the world’s land mass would, if thawed, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
But until now they simply did not have a good idea of how much carbon is actually locked inside this Arctic freezer.
FYI - relationship between hurricane forecasts and oil and gas prices (Climateer).
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
Leave a Reply