Issues: Energy

Wind power is an affordable, efficient and inexhaustible source of electricity. It is pollution-free, and thanks to technological breakthroughs, it's cost competitive with new coal- or gas-fired power plants. And business is booming.

How It Works

The wind's kinetic energy can be harnessed by a wind turbine, a device that looks like an extremely tall, skinny fan. When wind moves the blades of the fan, they spin a central hub. The spinning hub moves a series of gears connected to a generator, which converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy for distribution.

Where It's Used

In the United States, wind power is most commonly used in the West, home to some of the windiest areas in the nation, but wind power is expanding in all parts of the country.

• At "wind farms" across the United States, masses of wind turbines work together to provide centralized electric power for communities.
  
  
• California has the most wind power development in the nation, with a total of 2,042.6 megawatts of wind capacity at the end of 2003. That's enough energy to power more than 495,000 households annually. Texas ranks second, with about half of California's capacity; at least 16 other states have significant wind plants. (Can you buy energy from a wind farm in your state?)
  
  

• In areas with high wind, homes, farms, schools and businesses already connected to the power grid use on-site wind turbines to provide a supplementary source of energy. For instance, a turbine recently erected as a school project in Forest City, Iowa, is expected to save the school $1.6 million in electricity costs over its lifetime. (To learn about installing your own wind turbine system, click here.)

How Much It Costs

The cost of wind energy has come down 85 percent in the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In 2002, wind power cost 4 to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour, a price that is competitive with new coal- or gas-fired power plants.

Advantages

• Wind power is one of the most environmentally benign sources of energy, producing no polluting emissions, including those that cause global warming.
  
  
• Wind is free, inexhaustible and immune from inflation.
  
  
• Wind farms can be built in a fraction of the time it takes to construct coal or natural gas power plants: a 50 megawatt wind farm can be completed in 18 to 24 months.
  
  
• It takes only three to eight months for a wind energy farm to recoup its investment in building and installation -- that's one of the shortest returns of any energy technology on the market.
  
  
• Unlike the coal, oil and nuclear industries, wind power has no hidden costs -- environmental and public health costs subsidized by the government, such as the $35 billion the government paid out over the past 30 years to cover the medical expenses of coal miners who suffer from black lung disease.
  
  
• Land leases for wind turbine systems help support farmers and ranchers. On a 250-acre farm, wind leases would generate about $14,000 annual income with no more than three acres taken out of production.
  
  
• The growing use of wind energy creates manufacturing and technical jobs -- more jobs per dollar invested, in fact, than any other energy technology, according the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

What's Around the Corner

• New technologies are being developed for use in less windy areas and also offshore in the ocean. Engineers are creating super-aerodynamic blades, more efficient turbines and ocean mooring systems to produce economical energy in regions like the American heartland, stretching from central Texas to the Canadian border, as well as coastal areas from the Gulf of Mexico to San Francisco to Cape Cod.
  
  
• Costs will fall to compete with the cheapest traditional energy sources like natural gas, even in low-wind areas. Researchers aim to bring the cost of wind energy down to 3 cents per kilowatt hour by 2012.
  
  
• Wind power will expand to meet a much larger portion of U.S. energy demand. Researchers at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, a federal research lab, estimate that wind energy could ultimately supply 20 percent of the nation's electricity.
  
  
• A national renewable energy standard could fast-forward the development of more affordable wind capacity by requiring utilities to include a certain percentage of clean energy resources in their electricity mix. According to the Department of Energy, a renewable standard of 20 percent -- combined with efficiency programs -- could save consumers billions of dollars.
  
  
• Bird safety will be fully addressed. The wind industry has already learned the importance of carefully locating wind farms to improve bird safety. Project developers generally work with local bird experts to avoid migration routes and new technologies are being used to help birds steer clear of turbines. Future innovations will make this even easier.

Overview | Wind | Solar | Biomass

last revised 12/22/2005