What are the other costs for these types of transitions?

When you move the wind power, notice the small green earth icon that appears in the top left hand corner. When you click on it, a panel indicates the area necessary to generate this amount of electricity from wind turbines. To remove a single wedge from the projected greenhouse gas emissions graph, an area approximately the size of Saudi Arabia must be covered in wind turbines. However, this land can have multiple purposes, and land occupied by wind turbines can be used for other purposes along with wind farming, such as cattle ranching. Wind turbines can also be installed in shallow coastal water.

Now look at the Reality Check indicator underneath the graph. Is using wind power to remove a wedge from projected emissions realistic? This indicator takes into account all of the mitigation strategies in the learning tool to provide us with an idea of whether or not the combination of strategies you choose in the simulation is realistic. This does not take into account technological advances or other unforeseen changes to the viability of strategies considered in the learning tool. As other strategies are introduced, these will also affect the position of the Reality Check indicator.

When evaluating the effectiveness of an alternative energy source, the energy and material costs of production must be carefully balanced with the energy benefits. The manufacture and installation of wind turbines is not carbon neutral; it requires energy that tends to come from the combustion of fossil fuels. However, the energy that a wind turbine will produce over its lifetime well exceeds the energy required to build and maintain the turbine. The lifecycle carbon emissions for each unit of electricity is indicated on the slider as black circles. As well, wind power can only be generated when the wind is blowing. Wind turbines can only be installed in places with strong steady wind, or else wind farms need some method of storing energy for when the wind is not blowing.

Increasing wind power capacity on the scale necessary to remove a wedge from the greenhouse gas reduction area in the graph will require significant financial resources and careful planning. Though it may not be easy, scaling up wind power is a realistic goal and will likely play a vital role in our effective response to the challenge of climate change.

Navigate to the 'Electricity' → 'Wind Electricity' strategy. Adjust the slider bar to remove the maximum amount of projected greenhouse gas emissions from the graph, within what DOCs assumes as currently feasible. Ensure that the Reality Check indicator is entirely green. How many wedges can be removed by global implementation of wind power?