Wind energy can meet world energy requirement, say studies

Two independent studies published in various US journals have underscored the capacity of wind power to meet the entire energy consumption requirement in the world.

The studies were published in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature Climate Change.

According to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, wind energy can produce 250 terawatts (TW) of power, if there were 100 wind turbines for every turbine currently functioning.

It predicts an annual capacity of 7.5TW from wind energy with the installation of four million turbines. This meets more than 50% of the 11.5TW power estimated to be required by 2030.

The study was conducted by professors Cristina Archer of Delaware University and Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, California.

According to the Nature Climate Change journal study, the wind power has a scope to be developed 20 times the current capacity. Co-author of the study Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science said that there are enough wind resources available to achieve the potential but the economic and the engineering aspects are to be looked into.