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Gold/Mining/Energy : Alt-energy: wind and solar
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To: veritas501 who wrote (30)4/8/2011 5:04:57 PM
From: veritas5011 Recommendation  Read Replies (1) of 40
 
There is another benefit of Wind Power not much discussed but of great importance to the Southwest and the West: Reduction of water consumption. From the 20% Wind Energy by 2030 report by the DOE [bolding is mine]:

"The 20% scenario would potentially reduce cumulative water consumption in the electric sector by 8% (or 4 trillion gallons) from 2007 through 2030 — significantly reducing water consumption in the arid states of the interior West. In 2030, annual water consumption in the electric sector would be reduced by 17%.

Water scarcity is a significant problem in many parts of the
United States. Even so, few U.S. citizens realize that electricity generation accounts for nearly 50% of all water withdrawals in the nation, with irrigation withdrawals coming in second at 34% (USGS 2005).... approximately 2% to 3% of the water withdrawn is consumed through evaporative losses. Even this small fraction adds up to approximately 1.6 to 1.7 trillion gallons of water consumed for power generation each year. As additional wind generation displaces fossil fuel generation, each megawatt-hour generated by wind could save as much as 600 gallons of water that would otherwise be lost to fossil plant cooling. Because wind energy generation uses a negligible amount of water, the 20% Wind Scenario would avoid the consumption of 4 trillion gallons of water through 2030, a cumulative reduction of 8%."
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