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Oldtimer
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 24734
Location: Northeast Montana
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 Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 2:28 pm Post subject: Texas is Windiest State |
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Hey Haymaker- why does this not surprise me ?   
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U.S. Wind Resource Even Larger Than Previously Estimated: Government Assessment
Friday, February 19th 2010
Montana Wind Potential Three Times Larger
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today issued the following statement from AWEA CEO Denise Bode on a new assessment from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory showing that U.S. wind resources are larger than previously estimated:
“This new analysis confirms that America is blessed with vast wind resources that can energize our economy, create jobs, and avoid carbon for years to come---if we give ourselves the policy tools to do so, including a strong national Renewable Electricity Standard with aggressive, binding near- and long-term targets. A national Renewable Electricity Standard would not only ensure that we tap our nation’s vast wind resources, but create thousands of new American jobs today, manufacturing the 8,000 component parts that go into a modern wind turbine. The wind resource is there, vast and inexhaustible, waiting for us. Meanwhile, the economy can’t wait, job creation can’t wait, and America can’t wait. We need Congress to act now and pass a comprehensive climate and energy bill that includes a strong national Renewable Electricity Standard.”
Highlights of the new analysis include:
· Onshore U.S. wind resources could generate nearly 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually, more than nine times current total U.S. electricity consumption.
· Put another way, the potential capacity of America’s onshore wind resource is over 10,000 gigawatts (GW). The U.S. is barely tapping this vast resource: current wind installed capacity is 35 GW in the U.S. and 158 GW world-wide.
· Montana’s generation potential is now estimated at 3,228,620 GWh, up from 1,020,000 GWh.
· These larger estimates are due to improved wind turbine technology, as today’s taller turbines tap better winds at higher elevations (this study measured winds at 80 meters), and to more refined wind measurements. The previous national government survey of U.S. wind resources, carried out by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, estimated U.S. wind potential at 10,777,000 GWh.
· Within this bigger “pie” of wind resources, the top 10 windiest states are:
§ #1 Texas
§ #2 Kansas
§ #3 Montana
§ #4 Nebraska
§ #5 South Dakota
§ #6 North Dakota
§ #7 Iowa
§ #8 Wyoming
§ #9 Oklahoma
§ #10 New Mexico
o Indiana, Ohio and Oregon move into the top 20 windiest states list for the first time.
· In a single year, the U.S. wind resource potential could produce 364.9 quadrillion btus, the energy equivalent of all proven oil and natural gas reserves in the U.S. as estimated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). A renewable resource, wind resource will not be depleted and will continue to provide energy year after year.
The new wind resource potential numbers are available at http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/filter_detail.asp?itemid=2542
In 2009, the U.S. wind industry added nearly 10,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity, enough to power the equivalent of 2.4 million homes or generate as much electricity as three large nuclear power plants. The wind turbine fleet in place at year’s end—over 35,000 MW—is enough to power the equivalent of some 9.7 million homes, and that number is increasing at the rate of a million homes every five months. |
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the_jersey_lilly_2000
Rancher
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 11266
Location: South East Texas
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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And we are taking advantage of that wind. Should see them big things they got all over the place. Seen a deal on them in the Sweetwater area.....and they have taken a dead lil town and it's boomin again all because of the windmills.
I'll admit tho, that since moving from West Texas that's one thing I don't miss at all. Wind blowin for 6 to 7 months outta the year at 70mph clip. Brings with it lots of sand......nope don't miss it.
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jcummins
Member
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 277
Location: Creal Springs, Illinois
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:02 am Post subject: |
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Kansas at #2 doesn't surprise me. Oklahoma at #9 does. I've seen some wind in Oklahoma.
Notice, all the states are west of the Mississippi.
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loomixguy
Rancher
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 2280
Location: The Dark Side
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:52 am Post subject: |
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Having driven for years all over 7 of the 10 states, and living in #4 all my life, my vote for #1 would go to Wyoming.
I'd like to know just how they arrived at their conclusions, as Montana and Tejas have more square miles than the others, hence being able to skew the results.
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the_jersey_lilly_2000
Rancher
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 11266
Location: South East Texas
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the_jersey_lilly_2000
Rancher
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 11266
Location: South East Texas
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Only about half the state has usable wind. Here's a map that shows the areas that have the most wind.
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/images/windmaps/tx_80m.jpg
I'm tellin ya'll...I grew up out there. And I ain't kiddin when I say the wind blows 60 and 70 mph day in and day out for months at a time. It's not just when a storms comin thru. It just blows...cuz it can, and their aint nothin out there to stop it.
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MsSage
Rancher
Joined: 27 Oct 2005
Posts: 4594
Location: NW Panhandle Texas
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the_jersey_lilly_2000
Rancher
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 11266
Location: South East Texas
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| Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:31 am Post subject: |
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Sand in your eyes, sand in your teeth (crunch crunch), legs sandblasted if you are dumb enough to think you should wear shorts. When it rains it rains mud for the first 30 minutes, if it rains that long. Usually it just spits mud and then everything is nasty with it. Blows the sand into your house..thru any crack and crevice there is. Don't know how many times a year we vaccuumed out the window sills, even tho the windows were NEVER opened, there was sand inside.
Wind blowin so hard you can't get out your front door...and if you do manage to get it open...it's yanked outta your hands, then slaps you in the face if you don't get outta the way in time. Can't get into or out of your car because the wind is so strong. Straight skirts were invented for women in west texas.....so that they didn't hafta wear their skirts up around their ears.
There's always a chance you may wake up to find your front door blocked by tumble weeds. Haha unlike snow..you can't shovel them outta the way, and they got stickers on em.
THANK GOD I LIVE IN EAST TEXAS NOW~!!!!!!!!!
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Jassy
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Joined: 23 Aug 2006
Posts: 2733
Location: S. of Valentine, NE
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| Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Is it me or does anyone else see that Lilly doens't miss West Texas...lol
I was surprised too that Nebraska was #4...course the winds probably got measured on a calm breezy day of only 20mph..lol instead of the 50mph we usually get..lol
Thanks this was intersting.
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the_jersey_lilly_2000
Rancher
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
Posts: 11266
Location: South East Texas
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Faster horses
Rancher
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 19605
Location: SE MT
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Ranchy
Rancher
Joined: 14 Apr 2006
Posts: 1719
Location: scenic mountains of western New Mexico
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| Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Kinda surprised to see NM on the list at #10........of course, never lived on the other side of the state since I was knee-high to a short grasshopper, either. We get some wind here in the spring, summer it's nice to find a little breeze.
When we lived in central NM back at the turn of the century (or just after, I should say) there was some serious wind there. Got outta the pickup to chop ice one day in January, and the wind about took the door off the hinges. Never did shut right after that.
I'm with Lilly, though, and don't care for wind at all.
Have a saying here in NM, though............our wind blows from west to east, cause AZ blows and TX sucks. Didn't come up with that one, so don't shoot the messenger.   
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