Elect Chris Booth to U.S. Senate

Today, after a nine year wait, Cape Wind received final approval, and construction is expected to be completed within approximately one year.

This map, using 50 meter (m) wind turbine data, shows areas with excellent and outstanding wind opportunities off the coast of Massachusetts. Today's turbines, though, are three to four times higher, and open up much more areas to commercial viability for wind power. For example, Indiana, using 50 m data, is rated for a total of 30 megawatts (MW) of wind power, but at 70 m, 40,000 MW, and at 80 m, 148,000 MW. Modern wind turbines today are typically over 100 meters tall, and most offshore ones over 150 meters. The ones in the photo above are 157 meters above waterline, although from the shore, the Cape Wind turbines will barely be visible, and look about like a row of match sticks along the horizon.

Unfortunately the NREL data has been lagging behind industry state of the art. Excluding any offshore wind power, the 2010 study of 80 meter data rates the U.S. as having the capacity of generating over 9 times the total amount of energy used in 2005. While the energy used in the United States has tripled since 1950, even with population increases, total use is expected to drop by 50% by 2050 due to efficiency increases - for example, LED light bulbs use about one tenth the energy for the same light output as incandescents, and electric cars almost one tenth the energy of gasoline powered cars.

So in summary, I would say to Cape Wind, congratulations on receiving approval, and on not giving up in the face of opposition. We can anticipate getting about 25% of our energy from wind in the near future, 65% from solar, and the remaining 10% from a mix of geothermal and hydroelectricity. However, this will also mean the need for doubling our transmission capacity, and adding storage capacity, in the form of pumped hydro-storage, so that energy can be used where it is needed, and when it is needed.