Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, conducted a study on alternative energy and in his findings he discovered that Wind technology would be the best long term energy solution for the United States. The study also pointed out that biofuels (particularly ethanol) causes more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply and land use than current fossil fuels.
Wind was by far the most promising, Jacobson said, owing to a better-than 99 percent reduction in carbon and air pollution emissions; the consumption of less than 3 square kilometers of land for the turbine footprints to run the entire U.S. vehicle fleet (given the fleet is composed of battery-electric vehicles); the saving of about 15,000 lives per year from premature air-pollution-related deaths from vehicle exhaust in the United States; and virtually no water consumption. By contrast, corn and cellulosic ethanol will continue to cause more than 15,000 air pollution-related deaths in the country per year.
His research is a quantitative and scientific evaluation of proposed, energy-related solutions for the United States. He assessed each’s potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, as well as their impact on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability.
Energy and vehicle options, from best to worst, according to Jacobson’s calculations:
Best to worst electric power sources:
- Wind power
- Concentrated solar power (CSP)
- Geothermal power
- Tidal power
- Solar photovoltaics (PV)
- Wave power
- Hydroelectric power
- A tie between nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).
Best to worst vehicle options:
- Wind-BEVs (battery electric vehicles)
- Wind-HFCVs (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)
- CSP-BEVs
- Geothermal-BEVs
- Tidal-BEVs
- Solar PV-BEVs
- Wave-BEVs
- Hydroelectric-BEVs
- A tie between nuclear-BEVs and coal-CCS-BEVs
- Corn-E85
- Cellulosic-E85.
Jacobson’s study received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency.
[source]
Category: Bioethanol, Automotive, Clean Energy
