News
January 28th, 2009
CNN: Record Year for Wind Power
The industry's new figures for 2008, showed wind power's position as a leading, mainstream energy source for the country today, the need for quick action in the stimulus bill to sustain this momentum and wind's role as a job creation dynamo.
WIND ENERGY FAST FACTS
Wind energy generating capacity installed, U.S.: 16,818 MW (end of 2007).
Wind energy generating capacity, worldwide: 94,112 MW
(end of 2007, Global Wind Energy Council).
Electricity generated from wind, U.S: An estimated 48 billion kWh in 2008
(just over 1% of U.S. electricity supply), enough to serve the equivalent of 4.5 million average U.S. households.
Amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted if that amount of power were generated from the average U.S. electricity fuel mix: 29 million tons, according to the U.S. Energy Info-Agency.
Over 17,000 square miles of forest would be needed to absorb that much CO2.
Carbon dioxide is the leading gas associated with global warming.
U.S. wind energy potential: Estimated at 10,777 billion kWh annually? more than twice the electricity generated in the U.S. today (Source: Pacific Northwest Laboratory).
Industry growth rate, U.S.: 29% average over last five years (year-end 2002 ? 2007).
Average American homes served by one megawatt of wind capacity: 250-300. "Double cropping" benefit for rural communities: A single, utility-scale wind turbine provides $3,000/year per megawatt or more in income to a landowner leasing his wind rights. Farmers continue to grow crops up to the base of the turbines located on their land.
Operating characteristics of a wind turbine: A wind turbine runs 60% to 80% of the time, and operates at its full rated power output level 10% of the time. On an average day, it generates 30% to 35% of what it would generate if it ran at full power all the time.
Efficiency characteristics of a wind turbine: Wind has one of the highest energy payback ratios of any power technology.
Energy Payback Ratios (EPR) compare the amount of energy produced by a power plant to the amount of energy it takes to build, run, and eventually decommission that plant. ĘThe more efficient the technology, the higher the EPR.
Leading states in capacity installed, U.S.:
# 1 - Texas 4.356 MW
# 2 - California 2,439 MW
# 3 - Minnesota 1,299 MW
# 4 - Iowa 1,273 MW
# 5 - Washington 1,163 MW
(as of 12/31/2007)
Largest wind farms, operating, U.S.:
# 1 - Horse Hollow, Texas 736 MW
# 2 - Sweetwater. Texas 585 MW
# 3 - Peetz Table, Colorado 401 MW
# 4 - Capricorn Ridge, Texas 364 MW
# 5 - Buffalo Gap, Texas 351 MW
(as of 12/31/2007)
March 11, 2009
Press Release: Secretary Salazar Issues Order to Spur Renewable Energy Development on U.S. Public Lands
Citing the critical need to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, build a clean energy economy and create new jobs, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has issued a Secretarial Order making the production, development, and delivery of renewable energy top priorities for the Department of the Interior (DOI).
In addition to making renewable energy production a top priority for the Department, Salazar's Secretarial Order establishes an energy and climate change task force that will spur this agenda and identify specific zones on U.S. public lands where the Department of the Interior can facilitate a rapid and responsible move to large-scale production of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass energy. The Secretarial Order also instructs the task force to establish clear policy direction for authorizing the development of solar energy on public lands.
