Twenty-two states welcomed the installation of 1,650 windmills in the U.S. last year (2005). It is expected that by 2014 the wind power industry here will quintuple in capacity, with about 6,500 megawatt hours expanding to more than 28,000 megawatt hours. In 2005, wind power was already a $3 billion market. In 2010 that’s expected to increase to a $7.5 billion market. The following are some of the latest trends, advancements, and headlines in this burgeoning industry.
Offshore wind: With 20-odd years of experience with on-land wind energy under our belts, offshore wind energy is fast becoming the industry’s next frontier. Offshore wind turbines, while more expensive to build (for what are probably obvious reasons), promise to generate far more power than windmills built on land because ocean winds blow so much harder than winds on land. The innovation of installing windmills on floating platforms has made the transfer of this technology from land to sea even more viable.
Offshore wind turbines are now being built with capacities in the megawatts (MW) as opposed to their predecessors that could only provide power in the kilowatt (kW) range (and most often, less than 100 kW at that).
Additionally, by being built offshore, wind turbines can now spin faster than they can on land with no nearby “neighbors” having any qualms about the noise. They are also typically more stable than onshore turbines. It is widely projected that in just 10-20 years the offshore wind energy industry could be fully realized.
Jobs/Careers: Wind energy not only creates power, but it also creates jobs. As wind power takes off as a more and more mainstream source of electricity worldwide, that means more and more careers in the industry. Sectors of the wind energy industry that will likely see huge growth in the coming years include manufacturing and engineering (incl. installation and operation), environmental management, consulting, marketing, and more. Currently, however, the biggest trends in wind energy related careers include utility grid integration, turbine research, forecasting, energy storage, and wind resource assessment.
Whole Foods: Always striving to stay a step ahead of the retail natural foods marketplace, and at the behest of many of its environmentally conscientious employees and customers, Whole Foods Market championed yet another great trend, having announced plans in January of this year to buy wind energy credits equivalent to all of its planned energy needs for the year (an estimated 458,000 megawatt hours). Experts compare the environmental benefit of that action to planting 90,000 acres worth of trees, or removing 60,000 automobiles from the road. Other Fortune 500 companies purchasing credits for renewable energy, include: FedEx, Nike, and Starbucks
Freedom Tower: The Freedom Tower in New York City is currently one of the world’s most widely watched and eagerly anticipated green building projects. Among its many impressive features will be a wind farm. The Freedom Tower’s wind farm will be a cabled truss section, 60’ up, with as many as 30 vertical axis wind turbines generating 20% of the building’s electricity from winds off the Hudson River.
Record wind power projects were initiated in both the U.S. and Canada in 2005. And a great number of other countries outside our North American borders are also hopping on the wind power bandwagon, such as Australia, Japan, and Europe. The top producer and consumer of wind power, however, is China. More power to them, we say. And, if the facts above are any indication, more power to us as well.
For easy to understand, in depth information about wind energy visit our ezGuide 2 Biogreen.
Tags: Wind Energy
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Tags: Wind Energy