Government Study Says Wind Could Supply 20 Percent of U.S. Energy Needs

If you’re worried about global warming and increasing U.S. dependence upon foreign oil, a new report just released by the U.S. Department of Energy should be welcome news.

The goal cited in the report’s title, "20 Percent Wind Energy by 2030," could help solve the bedeviling environmental, economic and geopolitical problems caused by our overreliance upon fossil fuels.

Increased use of wind power could reduce the U.S. energy industry’s annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 7.6 billion metric tons between now and 2030, in large part by reducing the need for more coal-fired power plants, the report concludes. Wind also could help reduce and stabilize the cost of oil.

In addition, wind power could save 4 trillion gallons of water that otherwise would be consumed in power generation with fossil fuels by 2030. That could help the U.S. to cope with increased future demand for water and shortages that might result from drought caused by climate change.

The report "confirms the viability and commercial maturity of wind as a major contributor to America's energy needs, now and in the future," said Andy Karsner, assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, in a press release. "To dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance our energy security, clean power generation at the gigawatt-scale will be necessary, and will require us to take a comprehensive approach to scaling renewable wind power, streamlining siting and permitting processes, and expanding the domestic wind manufacturing base."

For wind to provide 20 percent of the nation’s energy needs by 2030, wind-power generation would need to grow from its present annual level of 11.6 gigawatts to more than 300 GW, according to the report. That, in turn, would require improvements in turbine technology, changes in transmission systems to deliver wind power through the electric grid, and expansion of the markets that would purchase and use the energy. While shifting to wind power wouldn’t be cheap — the report estimates capital costs at nearly $200 billion — about three-quarters of that expense would be offset by the savings from decreased expenditures for other fuels.

Wired.com calculates that the transition would cost the average consumer about $6 a year.

Already, manufacturers of wind turbines are struggling to meet the increased demand from utilities across the nation, according to the report.

The U.S. pioneered wind-power generation in the 1970s, and thanks to federal and state tax credits that encouraged its development, by the mid-1980s California had 90 percent of the world’s wind power-generating capacity, according to the report.

The end of those government incentives, however, stalled wind power in the U.S., and Europe subsequently took the lead in its development. By 2000, Europe had 12,000 megawatts of wind power-generating capacity, nearly five times that of the U.S. Since then, however, many states have required utilities to generate a portion of their energy from alternative sources, which has led to a resurgence of wind power in the U.S. As a result, in 2005 the U.S. surpassed Germany and Spain to regain world leadership in wind-energy generation.