Just how intermittent is wind power? We know for example solar can usually be smoothed out with a day(...)( {{{1}}} )'s worth of energy storage, but what about for wind power - is a day enough? Or is it common to have no wind for weeks/months and then have strong wind later? If so, is wind really that useful in a non-fossil-fuel world? (...)( Biomass waste is perhaps the only renewable energy source that could ondemand fill in seasonal gaps of energy supply. But the global supply of biomass waste might be too limited to really help. Also, nuclear could help in the short run but uranium would run out quickly unless there are breeder reactors. )
Life cycle analysis: What's the environmental impact(...)( materials, energy, pollution ) of building a wind turbine, compared to the fossil fuels avoided by the power it generates? What happens to wind turbines/blades at their end of life?
Could other(...)( meaning, different from the standard designs most commonly used today ) wind turbine designs be less resource-intensive?
- more blades, so you can capture the same wind energy with fewer turbines?
- compare rare-earth-magnet-dependent designs vs ordinary-magnet-with-gearbox designs
- how much actual rare earth metal is in each turbine, per megawatt(...)( consider calculating this from average power, not peak power )?
If I understand correctly, if you want a turbine without(...)( or containing only a negligible amount of (compared to today's average turbine) ) rare-earth magnets, you need it to have a more complex gearbox, which needs more maintenance[QUANTIFICATION needed - labor?] and this isn't suited for offshore wind?
Also is it true that offshore wind is less intermittent in general?
How far can electricity be viably transmitted, in general? Knowing this distance, look at how much of the world population could really have access to offshore wind power. (...)( Also, if we know the approximate total-land requirement per megawatt of offshore wind, we can estimate how far off the coast it would need to be to serve that many people. )
Land requirements of wind power: total land disturbed (turbine footing etc) and total land needed for spacing (could be done on top of existing agricultural land) (...)( could also be estimated from the fact that "about 2% of solar energy becomes wind on earth" )
How bad is the noise from the turbines? How much does it affect humans/animals?
Are bird deaths (from wind turbines) still an issue? Can they be prevented with novel techniques like painting one blade a different color?