FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DO NOT WISH TO SLOG THROUGH THE MATHEMATICS BELOW, THE BOTTOM LINE OF THE CALCULATION IS:

IT TAKES OVER 150 WIND TURBINES (1.5 MW models) TO PROVIDE THE MINIMAL POWER NECESSARY FOR 1 SHOPPING MALL…

ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SHOPPING MALLS

The Mall of America has an area of about 2.8 million square feet

Lighting requirements are generally in the range of 3 W/sq. ft.

(Cf. ASHRAE standards: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Condtioning Engineers, Section 90.1)

A/C requirements are generally in the range of about 3 W/sq. ft.

This is based on the commonly used requirement of 1200 sq. ft./ton of cooling capacity. 12,000BTU/hr. = 1 ton, and 1 Watt = 3.41 BTU/hr. Thus,

1200 sq. ft. requires about 3500 W. (12,000 BTU/hr/3.41BTU /hr./Watt).

Thus, 3 W. will cool about one square foot of building space.

(Note: I have seen values as low as 1.6 W and as high as 9 W. This obviously

depends on efficiency of the units and other factors such as insulation. It is probable that with the “open air” idea of malls, surrounding yourself with much glass that absorbs a tremendous amount of heat, the requirements will exceed the 3 W/sq. ft. that is used here.)

Heating requirements are generally in the range of about 10 W/ sq. ft.

Since heating and A/C are probably needed more or less equally throughout the year, a good working average for both together would be about 6 W/sq. ft.

Thus, just for heating, A/C, and lighting, a building would require about 9 W/sq. ft.

Naturally, individual businesses would require additional amounts of power. For instance, an electronics store displaying 50 TVs would require about 15,000W additionally just to power these sets.

Nonetheless, just taking 9 W/ sq. ft. as the basic consumption, our Mall of America would require about 25,000,000 W. of power, or 25 MW.

Thus, if we have 1.5 MW turbines, operating at 33% efficiency (which we now know to be ridiculously optimistic), each would produce about .5 MW.

Although the wind companies would like you to believe that their turbines are the best thing since sliced bread, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), in their March 4, 2005 report, states: "Their effective capacities, however, are about 10%, due to both the seasonal and daily patterns of the wind generation being largley "out of phase" with the NYISO load patterns."

Thus, if we now adopt this 10% effective capacity, each turbine provides 0.15 MW, and we need over 150 turbines just to provide the basic needs of ONE SHOPPING MALL!!

(This calculation has been prepared by Terry Matilsky, Prattsburg resident, and Professor of physics and astronomy at Rutgers University, N. J. He has served as an expert witness in several venues, including U. S. Federal Court, testifying about matters concerning heat transfer requirements in large buildings. He has also testified in front of various state agencies concerning technical problems with wind turbine design, including issues of ice throw, blade throw, and other safety concerns. )