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Old 03-13-12, 02:17 AM   #17
Piwoslaw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer View Post
It's a bit surprising to hear they are doing so much..
Maybe they aren't having a Great Depression over there.?.
The Crisis (or whatever else the media and politicians want to call it) is still in the headlines, but the EU has pledged to produce 20% of its power from renewables, and reduce pollution by 20%, by the year 2020. Wind is only part of that program, as is solar (hot water), biomass (most power plants have at least one of their furnaces converted to biomass), etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlanE View Post
To the nearest whole number, the percentage of the world’s energy that comes from wind turbines today is: zero.
On a global scale this is true. But locally, there are regions and countries which would be in trouble if the wind suddenly stopped blowing. The precent of wind in the power grid of countries like Spain and Denmark, for example, is in the teens or higher, while their neighbors still get power from other sources (France has ~70% nuclear, Poland and Romania get ~90% from coal).
How much is wind worth in China, Russia, Vietnam, Congo, Brazil? I don't know, but those probably aren't countries which raise the global wind average.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlanE View Post
... is akin to wishing unicorn farts could power the world.
But they can, we just don't know how to harness that power yet
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