But the intermittent nature of wind power can cause just that sort of variability.
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Also, since the necessarily erratic nature of wind power necessitates the development of energy-storage technologies to guarantee continuous supply, wind power can also act as a spur to the development of a hydrogen economy in which cars no longer require petroleum fuel.
The leaders of countries that have spent heavily on solar and wind assumed that the erratic nature of these sources, and that the lack of storage, can be compensated by installing the facilities over a broad geographical area.
Not everyone is convinced that wind-power is the most reliant route to clean, renewable carbon-free energy, and it is concerning that Britain is relying on a power source that must be backed up by more constant technologies such as nuclear, coal, or gas, because the wind blows inconsistently, as is its nature.
While presently only 0.03 TW of energy was extracted from wind in 2008, and there is room for a considerable expansion of this technology with relatively insignificant effects on the climate, any future expansion on a global scale must take account that the potential for extraction of wind energy is finite according to the nature of the Earth system.
FORBES: Researchers Warn Of Climatic Consequences To Harvesting Wind Energy On Mass Scale
The group notes that old and new energy sources have both promise and risk for society and nature, since natural gas and wind energy produce less pollution than coal.
The ship's power is set to come from solar, wind and wave power with biofuel in case nature doesn't cooperate -- when the vessel isn't adrift via ocean currents.
Nature has a more restorative presence in "The Wind Will Carry Us" ("Bad ma ra khahad bord, " 1999), also about the beauty of life in the shadow of death.
The Nature Conservancy is examining potential effects from gas drilling and wind turbines on an eight-state region from New York to Tennessee.
Zhengrong Shi, chairman of China's solar energy giant Suntech Power and Tulsi Tanti of India's wind company Suzlon Energy have both netted billions in recent years by harvesting nature's own power sources.
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