Back in 2008, Christina Archer and Mark Z Jacobson published data (PDF)[1] showing worldwide commercial wind potential exceeded world energy use by many times. A new peer reviewed study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences now confirms (PDF)[2] this, and further shows that this potential is not limited to a lucky few. Most of the world’s continents and nations could provide all their energy from wind, including China, the UK, Russia and India. Nations (such as Korea) which lack wind resources have neighbors with spare potential. While wind is only one source of clean energy, this helps emphasize that we have the technical capacity to replace dirty power. The obstacles are political; we have the means if we choose to use them.
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[1] Cristina L. Archer and Mark Z. Jacobson, “Evaluation of Global Wind Power,”. Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres 110, no. D12 30-Jun 2005, American Geophysical Union, 20-Jan-2008
[2] Xi Lua, Michael B. McElroy, and Juha Kiviluomac; “Global potential for wind-generated electricity”; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; June 22, 2009
