US Review Of Outer Continental Shelf Highlights Renewables

[steven johnson]

We have significant energy resources on the continental shelf, according to the The U.S. Department of Interior.

The U.S. Department of Interior Thursday published a summary review of energy resources on the U.S.'s Outer Continental Shelf that highlights the potential for renewable development but downplays development of recoverable oil and natural gas assets.
In an effort to transform the country away from a fossil fuels-based economy to a low-carbon, alternative energy future, President Barack Obama has directed his administration to review the country's oil and gas development.

According to the executive summary of the report, around 20% of the Atlantic coastal states' electricity needs could be met through wind power, and it highlighted environmental concerns of oil development.

The report contains no new renewable, oil or gas resource assessment data ... But energy experts say those resource estimates are likely to be much higher in the next USGS assessment.

[kristopher]

1. 20% seems low...

Do you have a link?

Consider this analysis of just the wind resource:

Researchers find substantial wind resource off Mid-Atlantic coast

3:49 p.m., Feb. 1, 2007--The wind resource off the Mid-Atlantic coast could supply the energy needs of nine states from Massachusetts to North Carolina, plus the District of Columbia--with enough left over to support a 50 percent increase in future energy demand--according to a study by researchers at the University of Delaware and Stanford University.

Willett Kempton, Richard Garvine and Amardeep Dhanju at the University of Delaware and Mark Jacobson and Cristina Archer at Stanford, found that the wind over the Middle Atlantic Bight, the aquatic region from Cape Cod, Mass., to Cape Hatteras, N.C., could produce 330 gigawatts (GW) of average electrical power if thousands of wind turbines were installed off the coast.

The estimated power supply from offshore wind substantially exceeds the region's current energy use, which the scientists estimate at 185 gigawatts, from electricity, gasoline, fuel oil and natural gas sources.

Supplying the region's energy needs with offshore wind power would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 68 percent and reduce greenhouse gases by 57 percent, according to the study.

The study marks the first empirical analysis in the United States of a large-scale region's potential offshore wind-energy supply using a model that links geophysics with wind-electric technology--and that defines where wind turbines at sea may be located in relation to water depth, geology and “exclusion zones” for bird flyways, shipping lanes and other uses.

The results are published in the Jan. 24 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a peer-reviewed scientific journal produced by the American Geophysical Union, a nonprofit organization of geophysicists with more than 49,000 members in 140 countries.

<snip>

Estimating the wind power resource

The scientists began by developing a model of the lowest atmospheric layer over the ocean. Known as the “planetary boundary layer,” it extends vertically from the ocean surface to 3,000 meters (up to 9,842 feet) and is where strong, gusty winds occur due to friction between the atmosphere and the sea surface, solar heating and other factors. It provides the “fuel” for offshore wind turbines, which may stand up to 80 meters (262 feet) tall, with blades as long as 55 meters (180 feet).

The scientists examined current wind-turbine technologies to determine the depth of the water and the distance from shore the wind turbines could be located. They also defined “exclusion zones” where wind turbines could not be installed, such as major bird flyways, shipping lanes, chemical disposal sites, military restricted areas, borrow sites where sediments are removed for beach renourishment projects, and “visual space” from major tourist beaches.
Click on image for higher resolution. This map shows the researchers' study area of the Middle Atlantic Bight with water depths indicated. Only wind turbines mounted to the seafloor were considered, to depths up to 100 meters (328 feet), as floating structures have not been developed or prototyped. The nine meteorological stations on buoys in the water provided data for the wind speed analysis.

To estimate the size of the wind power resource, the researchers needed to figure out the maximum number of wind turbines that could be erected and the region's average wind power. The spacing used between the hypothetical wind turbines was about one-half mile apart. At a closer spacing, Kempton said, upwind turbines will “steal” wind energy from downstream ones...


more details at http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2007/feb/wind020107.html

[steven johnson]

2. Sorry, Here is the URL

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090402-713236.html

[steven johnson]

3. Here's someone who agrees with you

Wind turbines could more than meet U.S. electricity needs, report says

The Interior Department report, which looks at the potential of wind turbines off the U.S. coast, is part of the government's process to chart a course for future offshore energy development.
By Jim Tankersley reporting from arlington, va.

April 3, 2009

Wind turbines off U.S. coastlines could potentially supply more than enough electricity to meet the nation's current demand, the Interior Department reported today.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-energy3-2009apr03,0,7532220.story?track=rss