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NASA Maps Reveal Wind Energy Sources

July 11, 2008 | 5 Comments

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Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Efforts to harness the energy potential of Earth's ocean winds could soon gain an important new tool, global satellite maps from NASA. Scientists have been creating maps using nearly a decade of data from NASA's QuikSCAT satellite that reveal ocean areas where the wind resources exist to produce wind energy.

"Wind energy is environmentally friendly. After the initial energy investment to build and install wind turbines, you don't burn fossil fuels that emit carbon. Like solar power, wind energy is green energy."

-- Tim Liu, QuikSCAT Science Team Leader, NASA

The new maps could help developers better plan the locations of offshore wind farms. The research was funded by NASA's Earth Science Division, which works to advance the frontiers of scientific discovery about Earth and its climate.

"Wind energy is environmentally friendly. After the initial energy investment to build and install wind turbines, you don't burn fossil fuels that emit carbon," said study lead author Tim Liu, a senior research scientist and QuikSCAT science team leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Like solar power, wind energy is green energy."

QuikSCAT, launched in 1999, tracks the speed, direction and power of winds near the ocean surface. Data from QuikSCAT, collected continuously by a specialized microwave radar instrument named SeaWinds, also are used to predict storms and enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts.

For more information about the maps, click here.

Other, Wind Power

5 Reader Comments

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1 of 5

mike-barz-76110

July 11, 2008

Reason number 500 why you should fully fund NASA.

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2 of 5

paul-driver-151170

July 16, 2008

All praise to forward thinking for Sources / locations, the more distributed reneweable energy production options the better.
The current issue facing global energy consumption is not the generation method, or even location, but the transmission to source of demand.
Current Infrastructure suffers from working at or above capacity, little redundancy and potential for major regional blackouts from minor failures.
More distributed and regional power systems must be the answer, but there is less financial impetus to follow this model unless a 'business case' stacks up .
Energy is seen as a Market, with Financial not social / environmetnal return being the key driver.

Comment
3 of 5

william-hughes-66196

July 16, 2008

One way to get the energy to shore is to pump fresh water from the mouth of a river up into a high reservoir, a system known as pumped storage. You loose a little energy but you now have a hydro energy source which can respond instantly to the ups and downs from other renewable sources. You don't pump sea water on land (bad idea) and you don't mix electricity and sea water (also problematic). The number of suitable sites will be limited (good winds at sea near high land suitable for a reservoir) but where they exist you have a winning system. Volcanic ocean islands come to mind.

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4 of 5

eugene-lucas-60935

July 16, 2008

So what if there are usable winds off shore? How do you get the power to shore? There are adequate wind resources right here in the U.S. to provide for ALL our energy needs - not even considering solar. We don't need more sources, we need action!

Comment
5 of 5

kwok-yin-chan-70605

July 16, 2008

Fund NASA but not its bureaucracy. Also make sure the Bush administration, and all future administrations for that matter to get their hands off accurate science.

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