Wind + Hydro Power: Ask The Split Birds + Fish How FriendlyMore to come... Here's the skinny on what NASA is working on, as it relates... *meh*
July 9, 2008
Steve Cole
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov
Alan Buis/Diya Chacko
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0474/393-5464
alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov, diya.s.chacko@jpl.nasa.gov
RELEASE: 08-170
OCEAN WIND POWER MAPS REVEAL POSSIBLE WIND ENERGY SOURCES
WASHINGTON -- Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's ocean
winds could soon gain an important new tool: global satellite maps
from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade
of data from NASA's QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where
winds could produce wind energy.
The new maps have many potential uses including planning the location
of offshore wind farms to convert wind energy into electric energy.
The research, published this week in Geophysical Research Letters,
was funded by NASA's Earth Science Division, which works to advance
the frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth, its climate and
its future.
"Wind energy is environmentally friendly. After the initial energy
investment to build and install wind turbines, you don't burn fossil
fuels that emit carbon," said study lead author Tim Liu, a senior
research scientist and QuikSCAT science team leader at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Like solar power, wind
energy is green energy."
QuikSCAT, launched in 1999, tracks the speed, direction and power of
winds near the ocean surface. Data from QuikSCAT, collected
continuously by a specialized microwave radar instrument named
SeaWinds, also are used to predict storms and enhance the accuracy of
weather forecasts.
Wind energy has the potential to provide 10 to 15 percent of future
world energy requirements, according to Paul Dimotakis, chief
technologist at JPL. If ocean areas with high winds were tapped for
wind energy, they could potentially generate 500 to 800 watts of
energy per square meter, according to Liu's research. Dimotakis notes
that while this is slightly less than solar energy (which generates
about one kilowatt of energy per square meter), wind power can be
converted to electricity more efficiently than solar energy and at a
lower cost per watt of electricity produced.
According to Liu, new technology has made floating wind farms in the
open ocean possible. A number of wind farms are already in operation
worldwide. Ocean wind farms have less environmental impact than
onshore wind farms, whose noise tends to disturb sensitive wildlife
in their immediate area. Also, winds are generally stronger over the
ocean than on land because there is less friction over water to slow
the winds down - there are no hills or mountains to block the wind's
path.
Ideally, offshore wind farms should be located in areas where winds
blow continuously at high speeds. The new research identifies such
areas and offers explanations for the physical mechanisms that
produce the high winds.
An example of one such high-wind mechanism is located off the coast of
Northern California near Cape Mendocino. The protruding land mass of
the cape deflects northerly winds along the California coast,
creating a local wind jet that blows year-round. Similar jets are
formed from westerly winds blowing around Tasmania, New Zealand, and
Tierra del Fuego in South America, among other locations. Areas with
large-scale, high wind power potential also can be found in regions
of the mid-latitudes of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, where winter
storms normally track.
The new QuikSCAT maps, which add to previous generations of QuikSCAT
wind atlases, also will be beneficial to the shipping industry by
highlighting areas of the ocean where high winds could be hazardous
to ships, allowing them to steer clear of these areas.
Scientists use the QuikSCAT data to examine how ocean winds affect
weather and climate, by driving ocean currents, mixing ocean waters,
and affecting the carbon, heat and water interaction between the
ocean and the atmosphere.
JPL manages QuikSCAT for NASA. For more information about QuikSCAT,
visit:
http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
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