Monday, March 25, 2013

Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050?

from https://dotearth.blogs.nytime.com/
A group of scientists and energy analysts has laid out a path under which New York State could, in theory, eliminate its use of fossil fuels and nuclear power — including for transportation — by 2050. The graph above charts the contributions played by improved efficiency and adoption of renewable electricity sources as well as hydrogen fuel cells (with the hydrogen generated with renewable energy).


According to the researchers’ calculations, New York’s 2030 power demand for all sectors (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling, industry) could be met by:
4,020 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
12,770 offshore 5-megawatt wind turbines
387 100-megawatt concentrated solar plants
828 50-megawatt photovoltaic power plants
5 million 5-kilowatt residential rooftop photovoltaic systems
500,000 100-kilowatt commercial/government rooftop photovoltaic systems
36 100-megawatt geothermal plants
1,910 0.75-megawatt wave devices
2,600 1-megawatt tidal turbines
7 1,300-megawatt hydroelectric power plants, of which most exist
 If would like to watch a long video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRXDYC3TnG4
 Can Wind, Water and Sunlight Power New York by 2050?

5 comments:

  1. It is amazing that we can already almost eliminate all use of fossil fuels, but the real question is why haven't we already done it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is impressive that New York could be completely reliant only on renewable energy but my question is how much would it cost and how many people would be needed to operate all of this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Doing all of this sound great but one of the real reason i found why we cant do this is because its all about money! The cost for all of this equipment is crazy and who's going to pay for it? I think the way we get are energy will change but i don't think this is the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. No doubt we need to become more efficient immediately. I know one day we will bite the bullet for not being more prepared.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This sounds great in theory, but in reality it would cost a lot to get started and the oil companies have a major influence in politics whether we want to admit it or not.

    ReplyDelete