Wind: Embracing America's Fastest-Growing Form of Renewable Energy

Using the wind to produce electricity has, for many decades, been little more than a footnote to energy production in the U.S. Wind turbines were something one dreamed about building while flipping through the back pages of Popular Mechanics. Even a few years back, wind was considered a minor power source, despite success stories in several European countries. But that's all changed.

In 2007, 35 percent of all the new electricity generation installed in the U.S. -- over 5,200 megawatts (MW) -- was wind. Its growth is second only to natural gas. Then in September 2008, the U.S. surpassed Germany to lead the world in wind energy production. With rising oil costs, improvements in turbine technology and a more stable public energy policy, U.S. wind energy production has doubled in just two years. It now provides more than 20,000 MW of generating capacity, enough to serve 5.3 million homes or to power one million plug-in hybrid vehicles. As 2008 comes to a close, industry will likely have added 7,000 to 7, 500 more megawatts. And now that industry incentives have been extended with the recent passage of a new energy bill, wind power is on track to reach the 30,000-MW milestone sometime in 2009.

Big Possibilities

Power production aside, wind is one of the most environmentally friendly energy sources. Estimates by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) show that wind currently generates as much electricity as nearly 30 million tons of coal or 90 million barrels of oil. In 2008, wind displaced about 34 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to taking 5.8 million vehicles off the road. In 20 years, if we reach the industry goal of supplying 20 percent of our national energy from wind, it will be the equivalent of taking 140 million vehicles off the road. Unlike oil, wind will not pollute our waterways or contaminate our national wildlife refuges. Unlike coal, it doesn't release mercury into the air or leave permanent, ugly scars across the landscape. And unlike nuclear, there is no spent fuel to bury or protect from terrorist threats.

In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, there are other compelling arguments for promoting wind power. First, the resource is huge. "There's something like 600 gigawatts of wind that can be developed in the U.S.," says Jim Walker of Enxco, a company that develops wind farms in North America. That's about 60 percent of our current electricity consumption, according to the Energy Information Administration.

And the cost is already competitive with gas. Says Walker, "Wind energy can be developed for under 10 cents per kilowatt hour, about the same as gas." This assumes the continuation of production tax credits that contribute about two cents for each kilowatt-hour produced. Perhaps most impressive is that wind is one of the few energy sources that can be brought online quickly. Says Walker, "You can build a 400-million-dollar, 200-MW wind plant in nine months. And you know exactly what it's going to cost." You can't say that for a nuclear plant or even one of the newer coal plants that are designed to capture pollutants.

The build-out of wind has some important economic fringe benefits, too, including a lot of new jobs. The U.S. Department of Energy says that achieving the goal of drawing 20 percent of our national energy needs from wind by 2030 will create about 500,000 jobs in the U.S. and contribute more than $1.5 billion to local communities annually.

"If you take your old manufacturing plant that used to sell gears to automakers and convert it to sell gears to wind turbine makers, you're going to have major job growth," says Greg Wetstone, senior director of governmental and public affairs for AWEA.

Those stories are happening right now. Since the beginning of 2007, 42 new or expanded wind energy manufacturing factories were announced in the U.S. "I don't think you can point to this kind of growth anywhere else in the American economy," says Wetstone. "Wind turbines are inherently very large devices with 300-foot towers and 125-foot blades. It's incredibly difficult and expensive to transport them, so there's a natural advantage to manufacturing them domestically. And when you have a turbine manufacturer, you also need about 400 component suppliers."