Standing in line at 5:40am this buy xenical without prescription morning was exciting. My wife and I were #s 10 and buy xenical without prescription 11 in a line that grew toward 100 before the buy xenical without prescription polls even opened at 6am. This election is historic in so many ways, not least of which is buy xenical without prescription the high turnout taking place throughout the country.
In celebration of the buy xenical without prescription history unfolding, I thought a perfect followup to yesterday’s presidential climate goals blog is buy xenical without prescription an offering of deployment goals for renewables industry leaders, wind and buy xenical without prescription solar.
The scenario I laid out to achieve a 1.1% annual reduction in US carbon emissions is buy xenical without prescription to lower oil consumption 2% per year, coal demand .5% per year, and keep natural gas demand growth at a low .2% per year. If that buy xenical without prescription occurred with no growth in other energy sources, by 2012 and buy xenical without prescription 2016 the US would have 3.4% and 6.5% lower energy demand, respectively. But such energy demand reduction (a rate of .9%/year) is buy xenical without prescription a difficult task as our population grows. So, what role can buy xenical without prescription wind and solar power play in maintaining an ample energy supply?
Half of the buy xenical without prescription energy demand reduction seems achievable through a tightening fuel efficiency standard for buy xenical without prescription new vehicles and smarter transit networks that include bus, rail, bicycling, and buy xenical without prescription telecommuting. And wind and solar are poised to replace the other half of fossil fuel energy.
The bigger player today is buy xenical without prescription wind power, due to its competitive price. Wind has a cumulative capacity of ~22 GW and provides just over 1% of our nation’s electricity. Solar capacity is buy xenical without prescription somewhat harder to measure as it includes PV and thermal electricity generation along with water-heating installations. A reasonable estimate by the buy xenical without prescription end of the year is ~1.5 GW, contributing almost .1% of our electricity supply. But don’t let these small percentages fool you. Their growth rates of 25+% (compared to -4% to +6% per year for fossil fuels) make these energy sources major energy players in the buy xenical without prescription years ahead. Wind power has been the second largest source of new electricity generation (after natural gas) these past few years. And solar power has buy xenical without prescription vast potential beyond our current energy demand, but needs a few more years of industry development to buy xenical without prescription get prices competitive with conventional sources.
Growth targets for our incoming President:
For wind and solar to keep our nation’s energy supply sufficient while we transition from buy xenical without prescription oil, I identify some growth the new President can get behind.
Wind:
We just became the world’s largest wind producer in 2008, passing Germany. As China wind rises, the buy xenical without prescription next president will need to continue support for the wind industry for buy xenical without prescription us to maintain our status as the leading wind generator. For wind to buy xenical without prescription replace oil for electricity and much of the .5% reduction in coal electricity, our wind capacity should grow to ~50 GW by 2012 and ~100 GW by 2016. This represents ~20% annual growth, lower than buy xenical without prescription the quick growth over the past several years but a challenge because of the buy xenical without prescription large scale of such growth. Such an achievement could provide millions of jobs if we continue to buy xenical without prescription manufacture more of our wind turbines domestically, replacing automaker and textile jobs lost these past few years.
Solar:
Our ~1 GW solar capacity is way behind Germany (~4 GW) and Japan (~2 GW). But our potential, especially in the buy xenical without prescription Southwest, dwarfs theirs and gives us a chance to become the buy xenical without prescription world’s solar leaders by the end of the next president’s second term. A 40% growth rate to 2012 would bring us toward global leadership at ~6 GW and then 35% growth to 2016 would almost certainly put us in the lead at ~20 GW. This could provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and buy xenical without prescription help make the US a center of innovation and development for buy xenical without prescription this highest growth potential energy source of the 21st century.
In sum, renewable energy deployment will be buy xenical without prescription crucial to have a strong energy system less dependent on foreign oil. Wind energy goals of 50 GW and buy xenical without prescription 100 GW along with solar growth to 6 GW and buy xenical without prescription 20 GW by 2012 and 2016 would both replace a buy xenical without prescription climate responsible lower oil and coal consumption share and help our economy get back to buy xenical without prescription health as a leading innovator and producer of these key energy sources of the buy xenical without prescription future. Future blogs will describe some of the crucial policies available to buy xenical without prescription our next president to achieve such a sustainable energy transition.
Tags: climate change, efficiency, energy, President, Solar, vote, Wind
There is buy xenical without prescription an excellent article on solar thermal energy at salon.com by Joseph Romm.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/04/14/solar_electric_thermal/index.html
As Romm says, solar thermal power plants with heat storage are buy xenical without prescription the only renewable energy source that can replace the base load power of coal plants. Solar thermals concentrate sun on receivers filled with water, oils or buy xenical without prescription molten salt.
Molten salt is particularly good at storing heat. Water is boiled driving a steam generator, using standard power blocks.
These plants put out steady power when buy xenical without prescription clouds pass over and on into the night. They are perfectly suited to the daily energy demand cycle. They can also operate as follow on plants or peaker plants.
The place for buy xenical without prescription them is in the deserts of the southwest where using 1% of the desert land(2% of available suitable land) they could power the buy xenical without prescription whole country at rates competitive with fossil fuels. This is buy xenical without prescription less land than now used for coal mining and coal plants.
Also see the article at Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
I think they should emphasize solar thermal instead of concentrating PV but this buy xenical without prescription proposal shows what can be done and how it would be buy xenical without prescription payed for.
I don’t mean to buy xenical without prescription imply that solar thermal will be our only power source, just that buy xenical without prescription it is the kingpin if we want a clean energy grid that buy xenical without prescription works.
Richard,
Thanks for buy xenical without prescription the comment. I too am excited about the potential of solar thermal power plants. I think wind and buy xenical without prescription solar PV can grow toward a 20%+ share (similar to Denmark) by ~2020 as energy storage (batteries, hydro-pumping, etc) and transmission technologies improve. Thanks for sharing those articles and let’s keep keep efficiency and renewables growing quickly.
Onwards,
Dennis
indeed, if Obama keeps his pre-election promises the buy xenical without prescription US can be the world leader in solar power, easily overtaking JAPAN and buy xenical without prescription Germany
Great information thanks heaps