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Wind Energy and Our Nation's Energy Mix
What sources of energy do we use to make electricity ?
Many forms of energy are used to make electricity - fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas; nuclear power; and renewable resources like solar, hydro, biomass, and wind. Each of these resources has a role to play in the energy mix, and no energy source is completely impact-free, but some of our energy choices have greater consequences for our environment, our health, and our energy security.
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What are some of the reasons why we should use more wind energy?
Wind energy is clean, plentiful, and affordable. Wind energy produces no toxins to pollute our air or water, no radioactive waste, and wind energy doesn't use vast quantities of water for cooling like nuclear energy does. Windparks harness an abundant, renewable resource and turn it into electricity to meet our ever-growing energy needs. Wind energy is also great for the economy. Windparks create a tremendous amount of local economic development for the communities in which they are located. Wind energy is also unaffected by fluctuations in fuel prices, which means that using more wind in the energy mix can help to stabilize electricity prices, which helps the economy at all levels.
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Can wind energy make a difference in the energy mix?
Yes! Although the U.S. currently gets less than 1% of its electricity from wind energy, industry experts would like to see that number reach 20% by 2030. Many states have passed policies called Renewable Portfolio Standards that require that 10%, 15%, or even 20% of the electricity used in the state come from renewable energy sources. Click on the link to read the Renewable Energy Policy Project's 2003 report "Wind for Electric Power."
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Will using more wind energy make electricity more expensive?
No. Building new windparks costs the same or less than building other new generation sources. And because windparks don't rely on fuel purchases to keep producing electricity, wind energy can be sold into the market at a fixed price, which helps to stabilize wholesale energy costs. And because wind energy is pollution-free, wind doesn't have hidden environmental or health costs.
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Yes. Wind energy may be intermittent, but that doesn't mean it's unreliable. Wind developers seek out locations with strong, reliable winds. Although the amount of wind may vary from hour to hour or day to day, the variations occur over time, and over a wide geographic area. As a result, the total electric output of a well-designed windpark is actually quite predictable and highly reliable. To consider it from another perspective: commercial-scale windparks cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build, and they only earn income when they are producing electricity. It just wouldn't make sense for developers and investors to put windparks in places that can't reliably produce a large amount of electricity. Click on the link to read AWEA's fact sheet, "Wind Power - Clean AND Reliable."
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Will adding a lot of wind energy to the generation mix destabilize the electricity grid?
No. Several studies have shown that modern electricity grids can easily accept 10% or more of their electricity from wind energy without any negative effect on grid stability. Click on the link to read the Utility Wind Integration Group's 2006 report, "Utillity Wind Integration State of the Art."
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Can we get 100% of our energy from the wind?
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Although there is more than enough wind energy available across the U.S. to meet our electricity needs several times over, we will still need to continue using other sources of energy like fossil fuels and nuclear power for the foreseeable future. Different generation sources each have an important role to play in the energy mix -- the goal shouldn't be to eliminate any one source of electricity, but rather to make the best use of limited resources, and to meet our electricity needs with as little impact on the environment as possible. Going "100% renewable" on a nationwide basis may not be a realistic goal, but getting to 10%, 15%, or even 20% wind is an achievable target, and reaching that target will have tremendous benefits for our environment and our local, state, and national economies.
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