Comment & Debate
A study by the Irish national grid stated that “Producing electricity from wind reduces the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore leads to emissions savings”, and found reductions in CO2 emissions ranging from 0.33 to 0.59 tonnes of CO2 per MWh.[1]
“Wind Power Fastest Growing Energy Source Ready to Displace Coal, Slow Climate Change”. Worldwatch Institute. 14 Aug. 1996 – Wind power is now the world’s fastest growing energy source. Global wind power generating capacity rose to 4,900 megawatts at the end of 1995, up from 3,700 megawatts a year earlier, an increase of 32 percent.
Since 1990, wind power has risen 150 percent, representing an annual growth rate of 20 percent, says the Worldwatch Institute, in an article that will appear in the September/October 1996 issue of World Watch magazine. By contrast, nuclear power is growing at a rate of less than 1 percent per year, while coal combustion has not grown at all since 1990.
American Wind Energy Association. “Wind Web Tutorial” – Will using more wind energy help to prevent global warming?
Yes! Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important of the global warming pollutants which are changing our climate. According to experts, if we are to avoid dangerous levels of warming, we must cut our CO2 emissions by 80-90 per cent by 2050. That means switching to forms of energy generation that do not produce CO2.
Wind power is a clean, renewable form of energy, which during operation produces no carbon dioxide. While some emissions of these gases will take place during the design, manufacture, transport and erection of wind turbines, enough electricity is generated from a wind farm within a few months to totally compensate for these emissions. When wind farms are dismantled (usually after 20-25 years of operation) they leave no legacy of pollution for future generation.
Given the scale of the CO2 cuts needed, wind power–as the least expensive, most developed renewable energy technology and the fastest to build–is the best placed renewable technology to deliver carbon emissions reductions on a large scale, quickly.
“Wind farms energy ‘powerhouses'”. BBC. 26 July, 2002 – Forty wind farms off East Anglia’s coast could provide a quarter of the UK’s electricity, according to a report.
The feasibility study, commissioned by Greenpeace, says the massive expansion of wind power would bring 60,000 jobs to the region.
The farms – stretching from Essex to the The Wash – would house 15,000 turbines covering 4,000 square kilometres.
All would be sited away from shipping lanes and important wildlife sites.
‘Energy powerhouse’
The research by AEA technology, the former research arm of the Atomic Energy Authority, says the offshore turbines would create the same level of electricity as 30 conventional power stations.
The study’s findings have won support from American power firm TXU and National Wind Power.
Jim Roth. “Oklahoma wind power has vast potential”. Tulsa World. 8 Oct. 2008 – There’s a new kind of energy literally sweeping down the plains of Oklahoma, and it’s truly our most abundant resource. Wind power has become the fastest-growing sector of the energy industry in Oklahoma, so fast that we can’t keep up with construction of the infrastructure.