Connecticut-sized Wind Farm needed for NYC
Via Rand E Oertle on Helium.com:
"A startling statistic was reported by Rockefeller University's Jesse Ausubel , who calculated that "To power a toaster [by wind power], you need about 100 square metres of windy land. And to power the city of New York," he added, "you'd need a wind farm the size of Connecticut."
The reason for the immense amount of land necessary is that each wind powered turbine gets a maximum of thirty per cent efficiency over a twenty-four hour period. The problem is that the wind does not blow consistently and turbine efficiency ratings drop to six to ten per cent as a general average for all wind turbines.
Wind power efficiency also suffers another decline when the time at which the wind blows does not coincide with the peak usage periods. Power utilities have no way to store the energy developed, further reducing the effectiveness of wind power.
A little known problem comes from environmentalists themselves. Since wind power geography is of a specific kind, meaning open spaces in specific locations, the power must use new transmission lines. Unfortunately, environmentalists have filed law suits stopping the construction of these transmission lines, even though it is from what enviros consider an absolutely necessary power source. Without the transmission lines, wind power is useless.
Another of the lesser known problems of wind power is it's propensity to kill bats and migratory birds that use the same wind currents where turbines are placed to take advantage of the more consistent wind patterns."