Why Wind?
Wind is an indigenous energy source that contributes to national security, economic security and energy independence
The United States is the world’s largest importer of oil and natural gas, resources which often originate in troubled areas of the world. Wind turbines reduce our dependence on foreign fossil fuel and reduce the balance of payments deficit that threatens our national economic security. Distributed generation facilities, like many community wind projects, help make us energy independent. They also provide a safeguard against potential terrorist threats to traditional power plants.
Wind is inexhaustible and infinitely renewable
Unlike conventional fossil fuels, wind energy is a renewable, abundant energy that will be available for future generations.
Wind reduces our need to mine and transport fuel
Harvesting the wind preserves our resources because there no need for destructive resource mining or fuel transportation to a processing facility. Wind power plants “mine megawatts” from the wind. Wind energy can meet Nevada’s needs and has the potential to become it’s new energy export commodity.
Unlike most other electricity generation sources, wind turbines don’t consume large amounts of water
Irrigation and thermal electric generation account for approximately 77% of U.S. fresh water use. Conventional plants generating power from fossil and nuclear fuels use large amounts of water for cooling; wind turbines do not use much water. 1000 megawatts of wind power generation saves 944 million gallons of water compared to a similar capacity of coal fired power generation. That makes wind energy a great choice for high desert environments like Nevada.
Wind turbines also help keep our water clean. During operation, they produce no particulate emissions that contribute to mercury contamination in our lakes and streams. Wind energy also conserves water resources. For example, producing the same amount of electricity can take about 600 times more water with nuclear power than wind, and about 500 times more water with coal than wind.
To learn more read Wind Powering America’s “The Wind/Water Nexus” (pdf).
Wind uses less land
Wind Farms have a very small “footprint”. Less than 5% of a wind farm site is disturbed for the installation of the turbines, equipment and access roads and in sensitive areas, this disturbance can be reduced further. As a result, existing land uses, such as farming and grazing, or recreational use, can continue with a minimal affect to those uses.
Wind is flexible; it can be used in a variety of applications
Unlike some other energy resources, wind energy is highly flexible. Small wind turbines, alone or as part of a hybrid system, can power individual homes, businesses, and farms/ranches. Wind energy is perfect for remote applications, such as water pumping, ice making, powering telecommunications sites, and displacing diesel fuel in villages. Community wind projects include projects for schools, tribes, municipal utilities, and rural electric cooperatives. Wind “farms” can produce large amounts of electricity to power nearby cities and towns where small wind and community wind cannot meet the needs of the populace.
Wind power helps save the environment
Other sources of electricity produce harmful particulate emissions which contribute to global climate change and acid rain. Wind energy is nearly pollution free.
Wind energy is clean energy that produces virtually no emissions, which means it doesn’t contribute to acid rain and snow, global climate change, smog, regional haze, mercury contamination, water withdrawal, and particulate-related health effects.
Although wind turbines do not necessarily take fossil fuel plants out of service directly, a watt of electricity produced by a utility-scale wind turbine IS a watt not produced by a natural gas or coal plant. During its 20+ year lifetime, a single 2.0 MW turbine can prevent the emission of 3,300 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2 = global climate change), 17 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2 = acid rain) and 9 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOX - smog).
In order to absorb the same amount of CO2 saved by a 2.0 MW wind turbine, a 1,200 acre forest would be needed. Such a wind turbine needs a disturbed area of less than 2 acres, leaving the majority of the surrounding property available for farming, ranching and other purposes.
Air pollution lowers crop yields - to the tune of tens of billions of dollar per year in the US alone - and wind power can help reduce air pollution by displacing power produced from fossil sources.
Cleaner air simply means healthier air, especially for people with respiratory disabilities.
And in most cases, wildlife and bird species coexist with wind energy projects much better than they coexist with any other form of traditional energy production.
Because wind energy’s “fuel” is free, it reduces the risk associated with volatile fossil fuel prices
Wind energy often displaces electricity that would otherwise be produced by burning natural gas, thus helping to reduce gas demand and limit gas price hikes. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the current U.S. natural gas shortage amounts to approximately 3 to 4 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day. By the end of 2004, wind plants were generating about 17 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, or the equivalent of nearly 0.5 Bcf/day of natural gas. In most areas of the country, every kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by wind power helps reduce the demand for natural gas used to generate electricity. Lower demand for natural gas helps mitigate rising costs of consumer heating and electricity, industrial processes, and chemical and agricultural feedstocks.
Wind Energy stimulates the economy
Wind projects provide high quality jobs, creating and retaining wealth that can then be re-invested in the community to grow new business opportunities. By keeping energy dollars circulating within the community – instead of being exported to other nations or states – energy independence becomes institutionalized at the local level.
A significant contribution to the worldwide energy mix can be made by wind farms, small clusters of turbines, or even single turbines operated by local landowners and small businesses. Developing local sources of electricity means we import less fuel from other states, regions, and nations. It also means our energy dollars are plowed back into the local economy.
Wind Energy provides substantial economic benefits
Wind energy benefits our local and national economy by creating jobs. Studies have shown that wind energy provides more jobs per dollar invested or per kilowatt-hour (kWh) generated, than most conventional resource options. With a cost per kilowatt roughly one half that of geothermal and one fifth that of solar power, wind energy is a clear economic winner over other sources of renewable energy and, even when compared with traditional energy sources, is cost effective.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that 1000 MW of wind in Nevada would have an economic impact of $1.1 billion (pdf).
According the Union of Concerned Scientists, for every megawatt (MW) of wind energy produced $370,000 is generated in the form of tax revenues, lease payments, and capital investment. This figure does not included additional revenue generated from planning, development, and construction that could bring that figure closer to $1 million.
A study by NYSERDA estimates that wind energy produced 27 percent more jobs per kilowatt-hour than coal plants and 66 percent more jobs than natural gas. The Renewable Energy Policy Project estimates that every megawatt of installed wind capacity creates about 4.8 job-years of employment. 1000 MW of wind in Nevada would represent 2586 new local jobs during construction and 398 new local long term jobs (pdf).
There also is indirect benefit from the economic stimulus. The paychecks generated by the new jobs and additional income are spent on local goods and services, boosting the local economy and creating additional jobs. Most counties collect substantial property tax revenues from wind projects that help to fill their coffers with minimal service needs from the wind project as wind turbines do not attend school.
Wind Energy strengthens rural communities
Wind projects generate new income sources for farmers, landowners, and communities. It also strengthens rural and often depressed communities in more subtle –yet important–ways by expanding local entrepreneurial ingenuity and fostering a sense of hope for the future. Unlike fossil fuel or nuclear power plants wind farms have to be sited where the wind resource is. That resource is frequently located in rural areas. Thus, in a rural state like Nevada wind energy can boost the economies of small rural communities with high paying high skilled jobs. Many locally owned service companies that serve wind projects needs have sprouted up in small communities across the country over the past 20 years providing good small-business jobs - the heart of our economy.
Wind Energy is a valuable crop of the future for farmers, ranchers and the others.
It is not often a new crop emerges from thin air. Wind turbines can be installed amid cropland without interference to people, livestock, and production. Crops can be grown and livestock can be grazed up to the base of the turbine.
Wind farms located in rural areas generate energy that can be transmitted to load centers in urban areas via the regional utility grid. The rural areas retain the jobs, and on private land, land lease revenues for farmers and ranchers (as much as $10,000 per mega-watt per year in Nevada).
In fact, the Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that farmers or ranchers with good wind resources can increase the economic yield of their land by 30 to 100 percent.
On public lands, royalties and rents similar in magnitude to the land lease revenue described above goes to the Federal or State coffers depending on the ownership of the land. Such income provides a vital new source of income to fund our government.
Wind Energy strengthens personal responsibility
Wind turbines connect people to the source of their electricity, which characteristically inspires them to become more efficient and even more environmentally responsible. What some describe as a negative visual impact is actually a call to action.
Wind is the fuel of today and tomorrow
Today, the wind energy industry provides competitive electricity. In the future, it is likely to be the cheapest source of electricity for the distributed generation of hydrogen.
People want Wind Energy
Because of all the reasons listed above, along with concern over debilitating illnesses associated with air pollutants, wind has overwhelming public support.
