Windpower has received another endorsement from a civil engineering professor and director of the Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University in California, Mark Z. Jacobson.
The endorsement is compelling for anyone connected to the hydro grid because people ultimately must take responsibility for the effects of the emissions produced from energy consumed.
As Jacobson noted in his study, pollution causes over 2.4 million premature deaths worldwide as well as increasing asthma, respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, cancer, hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and work days lost.
Nations require bold action to combat the epidemic and must "act" to save lives. His report states:
– Wind power is by far the most promising source of energy for electricity and vehicles, performing the best in 7 out of 10 criteria.
– he evaluated nine electric power sources and two liquid and fuel options, based on ten weighted criteria including carbondioxide emissions, human mortality, environmental footprint, resource abundance, water consumption, operating reliability, effects on wildlife, and four other measurements.
– Wind has the lowest lifecycle CO2e among the technologies considered.
– He describes in detail the advantages and disadvantages, and huge indirect costs, of each technology.
– He describes at length five methods and solutions for dealing with the intermittency of renewable energy sources.
It is a long, technical and analytical read, but the work is summarized by Renewable Energy World at http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/News/print?id=54292.
