Commentaries
July 23, 2008Commentaries is where Minnesota Public Radio welcomes your thoughtful opinion about current events and issues. Commentaries are like letters to the editor. To be considered for publication, your commentary should be issue-related, clearly written, and follow our Terms of Use. New insights into ongoing topics are especially welcome. Not all commentaries received are published. For topical interaction with others, visit the discussion groups.
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Crunching the numbers on wind energy
Question: How much would it cost to take Minnesota off coal forever, and substitute clean wind power?
Answer: 0.00 dollars. Based on the facts outlined by the federal government's Energy Information Administration, Minnesota spends about 1/2 billion dollars annually on coal to pay for electrical generation. Back of the napkin calculations show that generating electricity by wind instead of coal would cost 10 billion dollars. (This is the amount needed to build roughly 7,000 turbines.)
This is similar to the price of a huge mountain of coal-- a mountain that Minnesota would consume in 20 years, which is the lifespan of a wind generator. Because turbines could be located closer to sources of consumption, it's likely that less power would be lost due to resistance. Currently about half of the power generated by coal is lost to resistance. About 12 plants service the entire state.
My calculations do not take into account this aspect of wind generation, but it could provide an additional boon.
Christopher Thompson
Minneapolis, Minn.
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