Earth Equity News

Study Claims that Offshore Wind Turbines Could Produce Nearly Half of East Coast Energy Demand. By Matthew L. Wald, NYTimes, 9/28/10. "The Atlantic coast has more energy to give via wind than it does from oil or gas, according to a study [Untapped Wealth, PDF, 48 pp] sponsored by Oceana, an environmental group. The group contends that using wind turbines to make electricity instead of drilling rigs to produce hydrocarbons would not only cut the chance of accidents like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the gulf but would also reduce the use of coal on land, the group said. This is important to Oceana because air pollution from coal eventually ends up in the ocean, making the water acidic and raising the water temperature, which causes other problems for ocean life… The study considered wind from waters 30 meters deep or less, easily shallow enough for wind turbines, and between 3 and 24 miles from the coast, ignoring shipping channels and other competing uses. That production would allow 127 gigawatts of power, the report said. This is vast, since the total of all generators of all types in the United States is only about 1,048 gigawatts." See chart.