SEP 16

It's clear that China is taking on renewable energy projects at a fast pace.  The country has doubled its installed wind power every year for the past five years and a new study shows the country should keep it up.  Researchers from Harvard and Beijing Tsinghua University have found that China could meet all of their electricity demands from wind power through 2030.

The scientists came up with meteorological and financial forecasts that show that China can run on wind alone.  They mapped the wind potential for different regions and then assumed that each had a smattering of 1.5 MW turbines.  They excluded metro areas or unusable terrain.  Once they calculated how much energy each area could generate, they then came up with the cost of the energy.

They discovered that many areas, especially northern and western parts of the country, could generate energy at about 6 - 8 cents/kWh.  This meant 6.96 trillion kWh could be generated annually at a profit, which is twice the current energy demand and close to what the demand is expected to be in 2030.

If China chose this route instead of adding more coal, it could prevent 3.5 billion tons of CO2 from being emitted.

Since China is already installing wind at a rapid pace, the researchers think it's entirely possible that they could make these projections a reality.  The major hurdle for the country would be upgrading and expanding their transmission system to handle new wind farms.

While a world powered by renewable energy is still a long ways off, it's really promising to hear of studies like these that show that it's definitely accomplishable.

via MIT Technology Review

Comments (8)

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written by Minnie Egg, September 17, 2009

That's excellent. Stop using all that nasty coal, China.

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Coal as food
written by Lilah, September 17, 2009

Did you know that coal can be transformed into wholesome food? One tonne of coal can make up to 600Kg of food.

Coal can be transformed into flour, cakes, sauces, pasta, meats and other delicious foods. The coal is cracked into various hydrocarbon fractions and then recombined to produce the desired foodstuff. Left overs from the food synthesis can be used for fuel, plastic manufacture etc.

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Has anyone been in China?
written by hyperspaced, September 17, 2009

I don't think that Chinese care about the environment at this point of their development. They only care how to accumulate money, just like the american companies did in the 80's and 90's.
Sorry, but that's how it is. A trip to Beijing to see the smog will convince you.

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if China wny not America?
written by Mark, September 17, 2009

China can take decisions without political wrangling meaning that if they see that Wind is cheaper they will go with it, there are little financial interests blocking progress, this is something that we in the west suffer from, we could fill Europe with Solar and the US with Wind and Solar and it could power both continents without problem the only problem is a political one.

You see the communist regime in China doesn't look at things in 4-5 year periods they look at things in 40-50 year periods, so investing billions in something makes sense.

China with it's lack of democracy means that they will supersede the US and Europe pretty soon.

I don't know who said it but democracy makes for good politics but not for good government.

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Skepticism anyone?
written by Robb, September 17, 2009

Maybe this is just me, but I'm always skeptical of the news I hear about progress in the East. Certainly there's a lot of credibility associated with this study's attachment to Harvard, but am I fair in assuming we need to take this with a grain of salt?

Robb Hughes
Head of Sales & Marketing
Green Meetup
Robb Hughes
Find Green Eco-Friendly and Organic Products Here

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written by jks, September 18, 2009

completely misleading because projections are based on capacity modules and not output modules. Even at its best wind never bypasses 40% of its capacity. Another quick greenwash for the wind industy

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written by Residential Wind Power, September 18, 2009

As you mentioned in the article the ability for the entire world to run on renewable energy is still a long way away however when the county with the largest population in the world looks at a project such as this it can really change the game.

China has 1/6 of the population of the world and are growing at such a great rate that moving them to renewable energy will dramatically reduce the amount of CO2 being released worldwide - this is fantastic news for everybody.

To accelerate things a little faster i beleive that the Chinese government should look at funding people to have their own vertical wind turbine which could power their home and put excess energy back onto the grid.

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WINDPOWERED CHINA
written by Daniel D Martin, February 11, 2010

We all can only hope for China to follow Windpower road
It will benefit their energy independence ,free up millions of oil barrels and free our planet from millions of tons of co2,besides giving Wind power industries a great push

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