America’s Wind Energy Potential Triples in New Estimate

The amount of wind power that theoretically could be generated in the United States tripled in the newest assessment of the nation’s wind resources.

Current wind technology deployed in nonenvironmentally protected areas could generate 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year

The last comprehensive estimate came out in 1993, when Pacific Northwest National Laboratory pegged the wind energy potential of the United States at 10,777,000 gigawatt-hours

Both numbers are greater than the 3,000,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity currently consumed by Americans each year. Wind turbines generated just 52,000 gigawatt-hours in 2008, the last year for which annual statistics are available.

Source

Hi Everyone, I find this interesting because I have heard that the efficiency of such techniques does not rival other methods such as solar. Which is still regarded as inefficient.

Also the estimates vary widely, I do think that other interests may have influenced the figures.

None the less the future seems a little more rosy, and this is a partial solution to energy needs.

That is assuming that the estimates are taken seriously enough to shift focus in this direction.