Solar and wind energy resources and prediction

Abstract

Energy and environmental issues are among the most important problems of public concern. There are increasing debates about whether to resort to drilling more oil and mining more coal or to using renewable, sustainable, and clean resources such as solar and wind energies. Through our analyses and modeling on the basis of the National Center for Environment Prediction data, we confirm that the amount of usable solar and wind energies far exceeds the world’s total energy demand, with technology feasibility being considered. We also investigated the accuracy of forecasting solar and wind energies. Forecasting is important for scheduling applications and storage of solar and wind energies. A realistic approach to maintaining uninterrupted solar-generated electricity at night and during cloudy days would be to store solar energy as heat for use on demand. It is also interesting for people to know how much solar and wind energies are available from their own house roofs and backyards. Using the advanced Google map technique, we have developed a web-based tool with which anyone can find solar and wind energy amounts at any location in the world. The tool is available at www.renewableenergyst.org. The website also provides much additional renewable energy information which is useful to a wide range of audiences, including students, educators, and the general public.