New Study Assesses Offshore Wind Energy Capacity in the US

According to a new study carried out by researchers working with the Standford University, US's current offshore wind energy capacity is more than enough to provide for one third of the country's total electricity demand.

The scientists who investigated this issue wished to emphasize that the findings published in this report were meant to provide several entrepreneurs with the background information they needed in order to select appropriate locations for offshore wind turbines.

As part of this study, the scientists carried out computer simulations involving the virtual insertion of roughly 140,000 wind turbines between Florida and Maine, with all of these devices distributed at various ocean depths and distances from shore.

These simulations indicated that the wind energy that could potentially be harvested on the US East Coast alone would be fully capable of making sure one-third of America's total energy demands were dealt with, all the while keeping the strain placed on the environment at a minimum.

Mark Z. Jacobson, presently working as a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Standford University, commented on these computer simulations and their findings as follows: “We knew there was a lot of wind out there, but this is the first actual quantification of the total resource and the time of day that the resource peaks.”

Mike Dvorak, one other specialist who took part in this research, went on to elaborate on Mark Z. Jacobson's observation, stating that, “People mistakenly think that wind energy is not useful because output from most land-based turbines peaks in the late evening/early morning, when electricity demand is low."

Thus, "The real value of offshore wind energy is that it often peaks when we need the most electricity – during the middle of the day.”

Although it may take quite a few years before the US begins to seriously look into the possibility of harvesting offshore wind energy in these coastal areas, the fact remains that small-scale entrepreneurs can now take advantage of this information provided by the Stanford University researchers and perhaps begin harvesting this green power source on their own.