Getting the Word out about Wind Energy

May 17, 2011 | Climate Change, Sustainability + Energy

With a confluence of wind energy events and rising energy prices, now is a great time to get the word out about wind energy.

The Wind Industry

Next week is the annual industry confab at AWEA’s WINDPOWER conference. Such events seem to have a life and a personality of their own in every industry, and the same event can vary year by year. For nearly three decades, the team at NRG Systems has looked forward to WINDPOWER as an annual opportunity to learn and share the latest.

This year, amidst concerns about the continuing slump in the North American market brought about by the economic crisis, policy uncertainty, and depressed natural gas prices, we could use a bit of inspiration. I look forward to hearing about the successes of products, projects and plant expansions recently announced by Vestas, GE, DeWind and Siemens.

At NRG Systems, we have used the market downturn as an opportunity to invest in our technology and product improvements. In Anaheim next week, we'll be displaying our new 80-meter XHD tilt-up tower, iPack GPS communication module, the new IceFree hybrid XT turbine control sensors, and the new SymphoniePLUS3 data logger. Together with our friends and colleagues, our efforts focus on bringing the benefits of wind energy to more parts of the world, more cost-effectively.

Global Wind Day 2011

As much as there is to be gained from talking with industry colleagues, it is the mainstream public we need to reach with the message that global wind power works. It diversifies and stabilizes our energy mix, helps tackle climate change, creates jobs and economic opportunities, and reduces our dependence on fossil fuels.

It is the need to get these messages out that led GWEC (the Global Wind Energy Council) and EWEA (the European Wind Energy Association) to join with other wind energy associations and businesses worldwide to establish Global Wind Day.

On 15 June 2011 thousands of public events will be organized simultaneously around the world. As a member of GWEC’s corporate member board of directors, I will be among those involved as I work with others here in Vermont to celebrate the day and spread the facts on the benefits of wind energy in our small, rural state. (More on that in a future post. Subscribe above.)

The Wind BHAG

There’s a big, hairy, audacious goal before us. The Earth Policy Institute’s Plan B to Save Civilization by stabilizing climate change calls for a doubling of wind energy generation every two years until 2020. The first step was envisioning that goal. Now we must talk with each other at trade shows and during our day-to-day business interactions; and we must reach out beyond our inner circle into communities everywhere in conversations about how to move forward.

I invite you to join the effort. Together we can do this.