[DB]

Efficiency because if you need 1,000 watts continuously and the wind only blows 35% of the time then you have to generate nearly 2,900 watts during the time it blows. So your 2,900 watt generator only generates 1,000 watts on average over the long term (or 35% of its capacity).

[biblewonk]

Efficiency because if you need 1,000 watts continuously and the wind only blows 35% of the time then you have to generate nearly 2,900 watts during the time it blows. So your 2,900 watt generator only generates 1,000 watts on average over the long term (or 35% of its capacity).

I don't think you know what the term means. Efficiency pertains to the percentage of power in vs the work out. A car is not less efficient because some times it is not running. But anyway wind does have the intermittance problem. To many it is still preferable to use affordable renewable energy when it is available and save the coal and gas for later. Meanwhile, each month that we develop wind power it becomes more and more cost effective. They are expecting offshore wind farms to produce power at 2.5 cents per kwhr in the next 15 years.

Intel would never have gone from the 5 mhz 16 bit processor to the 2 ghz 64 bit processors without money to develop them. We can't hope to see clean renewable energy from wind become cost effective if we use every excuse not to support their development. I'm very excited to see GE and SHELL investing heavily in wind power. They know it is the coming thing.