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Less oil more wind power in Americas future
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Burlington, VT - With domestic oil reserves declining and
national security a prominent issue, energy experts are looking for
wind energy to play a larger role in meeting America's growing demand
for electricity.
"More and more people are recognizing that,
in addition to strengthening our nation's energy future, wind energy
can also help bolster national security," said David Blittersdorf,
president of the American Wind Energy Association. "Unlike traditional
power plants, which are large and centrally located, wind turbines can
be highly dispersed, making them less vulnerable to terrorist threats."
According to Blittersdorf, wind technology is also gaining
attention because it requires no fuel source (other than the wind) and
comes online quicker than traditional power sources.
"Wind has the potential to provide as much as 40% of U.S. electrical needs in the next 20 years," said Blittersdorf.
Currently,
less than 1 percent of the nation's electrical power is generated by
wind. While wind and other renewable energy technologies have enjoyed
growth in the U.S. following the California blackouts, the nation still
lags behind other countries in its use of this clean energy source.
"Europe
is far ahead of us," said Blittersdorf. "Denmark alone generates more
than 10% of its electricity from the wind…Germany and Spain are also
big users."
Wind energy growth in Europe has been so strong
that the European Wind Energy Association has raised its goal for the
region by 50%, from 40,000 MW of installed wind capacity by 2010 to
60,000 MW-enough to meet two-thirds of California's electricity demand.
For the past two years, worldwide installations of wind energy
generating capacity have outstripped those of nuclear energy. According
to AWEA, the wind industry was expected to grow by 60% this year in the
U.S. and 34% worldwide. According to Blittersdorf, even with these
growth projections, wind and other clean energy sources will never gain
a strong foothold without a change in Federal policies and regulations.
"We need tax credits for small wind and solar systems,
regulations to make greater use of the wind in our electricity grid, a
standard to require a minimum percentage of electricity generated to
come from renewable energy and increased research funding to drop the
price of wind and other clean energy sources even further," said
Blittersdorf.
AWEA, the wind industry's national trade
organization, has nearly 1,000 members and provides information on
policy developments related to wind and other renewable energy sources,
wind energy projects operating worldwide and wind energy technology
developments. AWEA has advocated for the development of wind energy as
a reliable environmentally superior energy source in the United States
and around the world since 1974.
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