Thread by @Sci_or_Fic

To put green dream in perspective, it is interesting to estimate:
- land use
- material use
if global energy use from fossil fuels were to be replaced with onshore wind turbines.

Short thread with references and calculation sheets

In 2017, global energy consumption from fossil fuels was estimated to
133 853 TWh
Our World in Data - Fossil Fuels
ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels

This report provides a capacity density of 3.0 ± 1.7 MW/km2 for onshore wind turbines
Land-Use Requirements of Modern Wind Power Plants in the United States
Technical Report
NREL/TP-6A2-45834 August 2009
nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/…

This article reports an average efficiency of 26,3 % UK onshore wind farms.
How does wind farm performance decline with age?
IainStaffell RichardGreen
doi.org/10.1016/j.rene…
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The rest is simple math
- 20 million onshore wind turbines with an average capacity of 3MW would be required to replace world energy consumption from fossil fuels with onshore wind turbines
- These turbines would cover 10 percent of the total global land area including Antarctic

Regarding material use, Table 5 in this report from 2011 Provide data on material use in kg/MW of capacity:

Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5036
U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey
pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5036/…

Combining the data provided above with the material use in kg/MW of capacity, the total material use for building enough onshore wind turbines to replace the global energy consumption of fossil fuels can be estimated.
(everything else than the wind turbines themselves excluded)

To put the required material use in perspective, it is compared with the global production of these materials per year.

A gargantuan amount of stainless steel, concrete, fiberglass, copper, neodymium, and cast iron would be required to build enough onshore wind turbines to replace global energy consumptions from fossil fuels.

Here is the reference list for the data used in that estimate.

Replacing fossil fuels with onshore wind turbines would require the full global production for:
Stainless steel: 131 years
Concrete: 1 year
Fiber glass: 92 years
Copper: 9 years
Neodymium: 20 years
Cast iron: 1 year
If the production of these materials were used for nothing else

The calculations are straight forward but errors might have sneeked in.
Please check.

If onshore wind turbines are supposed to be a part of the dreamed up solution, it seems that the new green dream is nothing but a dream with no consideration of land use and material use.