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Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

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Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#11

Post by klenwell »

jandrese wrote: post #4
account73466 wrote: post #2

Will wind turbines accelerate climate change? edit: during its exploitation I was involved in design of Wind Farms and they affect wind directions at least locally. Naturally, they change climate locally. The question is how local is not global enough.

In terms of pulling out excess energy from the atmosphere then yes. But the effect will likely be too small to measure on a global scale. Note that the acceleration in here will be in the reverse direction. Plus the heat will eventually be re-released back into the atmosphere thanks to thermodynamics. The majority of the savings will come from offsetting carbon emitting sources of power.

I'm curious about the environmental or ecological impact.

This is a pretty naive question but: will capturing that energy for human use divert it from other parts of the current ("natural") system where it's being used?

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#12

Post by cagenut »

peteradio wrote: post #7

How easy to maintain are these? Have they gotten better in the last decade? I see these things failing all the time around me but perhaps they are just shitty and better manufacturing saves the day?

remember how there used to be articles about how google wouldn't bother to replace failed hardware in racks because it was easier to just map around it?

thats what wind and solar are like for the grid. its pets vs. cattle gone terrawatt.

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#14

Post by mac01021 »

hnburnsy wrote: post #13

To me at least one trillion in culumative investment does not equal a one trillion dollar industry.

What does, then?

Isn't the "value" of an industry normally taken to be the sum of the market caps of all the companies in the industry?

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#15

Post by tda »

By far the most wind turbines have been built on land and for good reason: it's much cheaper. As long as there is space/not too many people complaining it makes more sense to build on land. Not sure exactly but on land installed wind is probably ~10x the installed capacity offshore. However on land turbines are pretty much maxed out at about 7,5MW, due to logistical difficulties of getting larger blades, towers and nacelles transported over the road. These limitations don't apply to offshore sites, so the up-scaling continues. In the last few years typical offshore turbines have grown to about 9MW, but that is not the limit. Within a few years we should see 12-15MW turbines being installed, which should bring the cost down. Combined with the better wind conditions offshore (at least around the North Sea) offshore wind may become cheaper than expanding on land.

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#16

Post by krastanov »

klenwell wrote: post #11
jandrese wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of pulling out excess energy from the atmosphere then yes. But the effect will likely be too small to measure on a global scale. Note that the acceleration in here will be in the reverse direction. Plus the heat will eventually be re-released back into the atmosphere thanks to thermodynamics. The majority of the savings will come from offsetting carbon emitting sources of power.

I'm curious about the environmental or ecological impact. This is a pretty naive question but: will capturing that energy for human use divert it from other parts of the current ("natural") system where it's being used?

Energy wise, the orders of magnitude are quite different so I would not worry. After all, we are not worried about the direct heating from the much more prevalent source of electricity (waste heat from oil or nuclear), rather we are worried about the heating from the sun that is exacerbated by the accidental byproduct of burning oil.

Habitat destruction from these new technologies: no idea...

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#18

Post by jtokoph »

mac01021 wrote: post #14
hnburnsy wrote: post #13

To me at least one trillion in culumative investment does not equal a one trillion dollar industry.

What does, then? Isn't the "value" of an industry normally taken to be the sum of the market caps of all the companies in the industry?

Much of the time it will refer to revenue generated on an annual basis.

For example, all wind energy companies might spend $1T this year as an investment, but only bring in $10B in revenue. That would be a $10B market.

Re: Offshore wind will be a $1T industry by 2040, but it's needed now

#19

Post by sandermvanvliet »

wil421 wrote: post #6
account73466 wrote: post #2

Will wind turbines accelerate climate change? edit: during its exploitation I was involved in design of Wind Farms and they affect wind directions at least locally. Naturally, they change climate locally. The question is how local is not global enough.

Why would a wind turbine emit greenhouse gasses? During manufacturing? During use? Compared to natural gas, coal, or hydro power?

Don’t have a link handy but I’ve read somewhere that the gearboxes leak oil that then evaporates. Most likely not the cleanest stuff in there.

Edit: Link 1: https://www.windpowerengineering.com/two-reasons-why-gearbox... Link 2: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/investigation-launched-hy... Link 3: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-12/wind-powe...

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