nah , kalau Amerika saja bisa bikin 900 miles jaringan listrik baru
berbasis angin , wind turbine ,
seharusnya sepanjang pantai jawa tiap 5 Km bisa kita pasang 2 Mw , wind
turbine ...
"free to speak my mind anywhere "
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:22:12 -0500
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [jaring] New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States
** Oil wells go dry and coal seams run out, but for the first time since the
industrial revolution we are investing in energy sources that can last forever.
This new energy economy can be our legacy to the next generation.
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update77.htm
October 15, 2008 - 9
New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States
Lester R. Brown
As fossil fuel prices rise, as oil insecurity deepens, and as concerns about
climate change cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new energy economy is
emerging in the United States. The old energy economy, fueled by oil, coal, and
natural gas, is being replaced by one powered by wind, solar, and geothermal
energy. The transition is moving at a pace and on a scale that we could not
have imagined even a year ago.
Consider Texas. Long the leading oil-producing state, it is now also the
leading generator of electricity from wind, having overtaken California two
years ago. Texas now has nearly 6,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity
online and a staggering 39,000 megawatts in the construction and planning
stages. When all this is completed, Texas will have 45,000 megawatts of
wind-generating capacity (think 45 coal-fired power plants). This will more
than satisfy the residential needs of the state’s 24 million people, enabling
Texas to feed electricity to nearby states such as Louisiana and Mississippi.
After Texas and California, the other leaders among the 30 states with
commercial-scale wind farms are Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Colorado. And
other states are emerging as wind superpowers. Clipper Windpower and BP are
teaming up to build the 5,050-megawatt Titan wind farm, the world’s largest,
in eastern South Dakota. Already under development, Titan will generate five
times as much electricity as the state’s 780,000 residents currently use.
This project includes building a transmission line along an abandoned rail line
across Iowa, feeding electricity into Illinois and the country’s industrial
heartland.
Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz is developing a 2,000-megawatt wind farm
in south central Wyoming. He already has secured the rights to build a 900-mile
high-voltage transmission line to California. With this investment, the door
will be opened to developing scores of huge wind farms in Wyoming, a wind-rich
state with few people. Another transmission line under development will run
north-south, linking eastern Wyoming’s wind resources with the fast-growing
Colorado cities of Fort Collins, Denver, and Colorado Springs. Wind-rich Kansas
and Oklahoma are looking to build a transmission line to the U.S. Southeast to
export their wealth of cheap wind energy.
California is developing a 4,500-megawatt wind farm complex in the Tehachapi
Mountains northwest of Los Angeles. In the east, Maine—a wind energy
newcomer—is planning to develop 3,000 megawatts of wind-generating capacity,
far more than the state’s 1.3 million residents need. Further south, Delaware
is planning an offshore wind farm of up to 600 megawatts, which could satisfy
half of the state’s residential electricity needs. New York State, which has
700 megawatts of wind-generating capacity, plans to add another 8,000
megawatts, with most of the power being generated by winds coming off Lake Erie
and Lake Ontario. And soon Oregon will nearly double its wind generating
capacity with a 900-megawatt wind farm in the wind-rich Columbia River Gorge.
Wind appears destined to become the centerpiece of the new U.S. energy economy,
eventually supplying several hundred thousand megawatts of electricity.
Solar power is also expanding at a breakneck pace. The nation’s wealth of
solar energy is being harnessed by using both photovoltaic cells and solar
thermal power plants to convert sunlight into electricity. For solar cell
installations, California, with its Million Solar Roofs plan, is far and away
the leader. New Jersey is also moving fast, followed by Nevada.
The largest U.S. solar cell installation today is a 14-megawatt array at Nellis
Air Force Base in Nevada, but photovoltaic electricity at the commercial level
is about to go big time. PG&E has entered into two solar cell power contracts
with a combined capacity of 800 megawatts. Together, these plants will cover 12
square miles of desert with solar cells and will have a peak output comparable
to that of a large coal-fired power plant. Solar power plants are appealing in
hot climates because their highest output coincides with the peak demand for
air conditioning.
Solar thermal plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a vessel
containing a fluid—heating it to 750 degrees Fahrenheit to generate steam and
produce power—have suddenly become an enormously attractive technology. The
United States has the world’s only large solar thermal complex, a
350-megawatt project completed in 1991. But as of September 2008 there are 10
large solar thermal power plants under construction or in development in the
United States, ranging in size from 180 megawatts to 550 megawatts. Eight of
the plants will be built in California, one in Arizona, and one in Florida.
Within the next three years, the United States will likely go from 420
megawatts of solar thermal generating capacity to close to 3,500 megawatts—an
eightfold jump.
Along with wind and solar, geothermal energy is also developing at an explosive
rate. As of 2008 the United States has nearly 3,000 megawatts of geothermal
generating capacity, 2,500 of which are in California. Suddenly this too is
changing. Some 96 geothermal power plants now under development in twelve
western states are expected to double U.S. geothermal generating capacity. With
California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah leading the way, the stage is set
for the massive future development of geothermal energy. (See data).
The new energy economy will be powered largely by electricity from renewable
sources. Electricity will light, heat, and cool buildings. As we shift to
plug-in hybrid cars, light rail transit systems in cities, and high-speed
electric intercity rail systems like those in Japan and Europe, our transport
system will also be powered largely by electricity.
It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in
one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources
in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy
security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or
geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and
natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant
is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to
renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward
climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate
change.
The shift also will staunch the outflow of dollars for oil, keeping that
capital at home to invest in the new energy economy, developing national
renewable energy resources and creating jobs here. At a time of economic
turmoil and rising joblessness, these new industries can generate thousands of
new jobs each week. Not only are the wind, solar, and geothermal industries
hiring new workers, they are also generating jobs in construction and in basic
supply industries such as steel, aluminum, and silicon manufacturing. To build
and operate the new energy economy will require huge numbers of electricians,
plumbers, and roofers. It will also employ countless numbers of high-tech
professionals such as wind meteorologists, geothermal geologists, and solar
engineers.
To ensure that this shift to renewables continues at a rapid rate, national
leadership is needed in one key area—building a strong national grid.
Although private investors are investing in long-distance high-voltage
transmission lines, these need to be incorporated into a carefully planned
national grid, the electrical equivalent of President Eisenhower’s interstate
highway system, in order to unleash the full potential of renewable energy
wealth.
And, finally, this energy transition is being driven by an intense excitement
from the realization that people are now tapping energy sources that can last
as long as the earth itself. Oil wells go dry and coal seams run out, but for
the first time since the industrial revolution we are investing in energy
sources that can last forever. This new energy economy can be our legacy to the
next generation.
Copyright © 2008 Earth Policy Institute
For more information on Earth Policy Institute’s plan to cut carbon emissions
80 percent by 2020, see Chapters 11-13 in Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save
Civilization, available at www.earthpolicy.org for free downloading.
Also see “Time for Plan B: Cutting Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2020,”
available in pdf at www.earthpolicy.org/Books/PB3/80by2020.htm.
----------------------------[JARING]----------------------------
milis terbatas [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Forum untuk Diskusi dan saluran pemikiran untuk perbaikan bangsa
Moderator: Abdul Rachim, Amwazi, Budi Permadi dan Djasli
File yang dapat diposting < 512 kB, lebih dari ini harus melalui
Administrator (di CC kan) ke: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
