February 18, 2009

SC loves cool breezes – without coal’s black soot

Well I’m back after a week off, but it was good to read last week’s “SC must kick costly coal habit” from the Post & Courier.

My take away from the article was this piece I feel we are really missing out on here in SC – offshore wind power:

Now is not the time for South Carolina to beg off from meeting expected federal renewable energy standards. Wind alone has the potential to bring ten to twenty thousand manufacturing jobs to South Carolina, according to a study conducted by former Clemson professor, Dr. Nick Regas. He estimated that offshore wind could supply 20 percent of the state’s energy at a cost of $3 million to $5 million per megawatt of installed capacity. That figure compares favorably against a new coal plant — $1.8 billion for 600 megawatts of wind versus $1.3 billion for 600 megawatts of dirty coal for a new plant.

It was mentioned in an earlier post how wind power in SC would be a great source of energy for all of us – especially after reading that other places have already started using it.

I’ll be attending the Common Agenda meeting Upstate tomorrow to learn more.



What do you think about that?






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