Wind Power Falls Under $0.01/kwh

js7a writes "Colorado State University's Rocky Mountain Collegian reports that, "as of June [the price of wind power] dropped to 1 cent per kWh." Even without further expected improvements in turbine technology, the U.S. would now need to use less than 3% of its farmland to get 95% of its electricity demand satisfied by wind power. Plus, wind power is the only mitigation of global warming, because if the whole world converted to wind power in 15 years, the amount of power being extracted from the atmosphere would be more than the increase in greenhouse gas atmospheric energy forcing since 1600. Don't say goodbye to coal and oil, yet, though; unless cell technology increases substantially, when we run out of oil we will convert coal to synthetic fuel." Update: 09/15 13:40 GMT by T : Note: the "1 cent" figure refers to the premium paid for the power over conventionally supplied electricity, rather than the final per-kWh price.

The drag could slow the Earths Rotation!!!

[sloscheider]

We must fight this evil invention!

Global Warming...

[javaman83]

is a myth.

There's a downside to everything....

[hugesmile]

Boy, I don't know...

Imagine 3% of U.S. farmlands with windmills on them. All of the sudden, the wind is slowed down because it has to turn numerous giant windmills. This could cause global weather changes that we cannot even predict. All of the sudden, the East Coast of the US has no wind, and smog and heat becomes unbearable.

Of course, I am making this up, but I contend that there are sides of this issue that will appear later that we cannot imagine. Yes, worthy of further exploration, but possibly a panacea...

hot air?

[loid_void]

And think of all the hot air in Washington that could be put to use just trying to legislate the whole thing.

3%?

[NMSpaz]

The U.S. would now need to use less than 3% of its farmland to get 95% of its electricity demand satisfied by wind power.

Even less if we put them in Florida...

Re:Just put them around

[antispam_ben]

Washington, DC.

Not economically feasible. That's the Most Expensive hot air known on Earth.

Wrong.

[DAldredge]

The earth is slowing because we are pumping out all the oil! Can't you hear the squeaking? Soon, the earth will just grind to a halt.

Re:Like he said

[willy134]

And what happens when we run out of wind...
There will be demostrations to stop harvesting wind.

Re:Not right now...

[NewtonsLaw]

currently, our storage capacity for electricity is zero

God damn it man -- we can store electricity. All we need are a goodly number of these devices [alaska.net] :-)

And why not resurect the dinosaurs using reminents of their DNA (just like jurasic park) -- then oil would become a renewable resource!

----
When your an idiot, anything is possible!

Re:Wind energy will never work

[Frennzy]

Hello.

Wow, I hadn't thought of that. Forget wind, then. While we're at it, forget solar, because the sun doesn't shine all the time.

I'd better go ahead and tear down my solar-power station I have setup at camp...there's obviously no way it can be working...although I do wonder what those darn heavy batteries are for....

This just in...

[Deal-a-Neil]

.. in other news tonight, fan blade manufacturer Oster has been bombed by the United States military. Oster, a subsidary of SunBeam, was not immediately available for comments; however, Donald Rumsfeld says that a special Halliburton deployment team will be sent to Boca Raton, FL to reconstruct the area, and get fan blade production back to peak efficiency.

Re:The Problem Is...

[bryan1945]

Nothing really. The real problem is that with a lot of wind turbines we will slow down the earth. Slow it down to much and we will lose the moon. I'm pretty sure that if we put up too many wind turbines that we would eventually stop the earth and make it spin backwards (with respect to the current rotation).

My suggestion is...

[fyngyrz]

...instead of taking 3% of the farmland, we take 100% of the politician's land and leave the flipping farmers alone. I like corn and bread and stuff, but I can't recall a politician ever doing something I liked (well... other than retiring.)

Re:Misleading title

[allanj]

Du-uh. You do realize that the DoD is the sub-department of the DoE that handles teaching geography, don't you? Until the USA invades some small nation, no one has a clue about its existance, let alone its location. So in fact this puts the budget for the DoE at $458 Billion, possibly adding the appropriations for the War in Iraq. Whether this is a cost-efficient way of teaching geography is still open for debate, though...

Re:Like he said

[Ohreally_factor]

Think of the benefits to the bean growing industry.

I predict there will be a Terence and Phillip public service announcement for wind power.

Re:Like he said

[eam]

...the amount of power being extracted from the atmosphere would be more than the increase in greenhouse gas atmospheric energy forcing since 1600.

Now we can look forward to a day when our arrogant dependence on wind for our power leads to a catastrophic global cooling. Children coming home from school and reminding their parents to burn some coal for the environment.

Re:Not right now...Storing Electricity

[Ignignot]

Are you suggesting that wind turbines should be run in reverse to store up wind power in our atmosphere???

Cost drop in June

[MacGod]

So the cost dropped in June, eh? I guess those hurricaines aren't all evil then!

Re:Like he said

[Eccles]

And what happens when we run out of wind...

Set up the equipment in Washington, D.C. They'll never run out of wind there...