Trying to decide the best energy course for the planet is not an easy task. There is so much information out there and so many competing technologies making so many claims that it gets more than a little mind boggling. I like the fact that The Pickens Plan is keeping it simple. It consists of developing and promoting two technologies which are already in place to some extent. Even so, these technologies can and probably will lead to the further implementation of other beneficial systems. Wind can provide the energy for transportation systems or personal vehicles for example and tie in very nicely with electric cars.
Wind energy is often criticized because it is only there "when the wind blows". This is of course true in a very basic sense but with an entire grid of wind towers that problem is less apparent because the wind is always blowing somewhere and the load can be shifted according to demand and availability. In addition, energy that is generated by the wind can be stored and many ways. Batteries are the first one that you think of and the most readily available. But batteries are bulky, heavy, expensive and contain chemicals which are usually dangerous.
Other ways to store wind energy range from the practical to the fantastic. Practical ways would include using wind energy to pump water up into a damed lake during off peak hours and then releasing that stored water through hydroelectric turbines during peak hours when electricity is more in demand and significantly more expensive. This is actually being done already with normally produced electricity. Other ways would be to use the wind energy to produce hydrogen from water and store the hydrogen in carbon nanotubes or to store the electrical energy produced by the wind turbines on the plates of Ultracapacitors (these show a lot of promise).
Image from greentechmedia.com
One of the more fantastic ways that is actually being proposed to store wind energy is to use the energy produced by wind turbines to compress air and then store that compressed air underground. Of course there are limited places where you can get airtight geologic formations which would let you do that. On the surface though it is very much like pumping water up to fill a dam. It is just a matter of storing the energy until it is needed more and can be sold at a higher price. If you couple that with the compressed air cars that are being developed you get an interesting picture of the future.
As I write this, somewhere in the back of my mind, Bob Dylan is singing; "The answer my friend, is blowin' in the wind...".
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