Wind could be major power source
POSTED: May 20, 2008
In the quest to find alternative energy sources, wind power has generated a lot of discussion. After all, what could be more environmentally friendly than harnessing air?
Some states, led by Texas and California, already have made strides in developing wind-generated electricity.
Still, only about 1 percent of the country’s electricity today comes from wind. That’s because creating wind power on a large scale presents some huge challenges.
But a recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy in cooperation with industry partners outlines how the United States could generate 20 percent of its electricity from wind by 2030.
Such a huge leap over the next two decades does not require a major new technological breakthrough, but a huge investment of resources would be needed. Among the biggest challenges cited in the DOE report is a substantial expansion of the electricity grid system to move power from high-wind areas to where it is needed elsewhere in the country. Americans also would have to accept the presence of giant wind turbines on the landscape — and offshore.
The payoff, according to the report, would be an 18 percent decrease in coal consumption and an 11 percent decline in use of natural gas — moves that would help reduce carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming by 825 metric tons a year.
Long-term, it’s also important to consider that wind, unlike coal and natural gas, is an infinite resource.
The DOE report, compiled over 18 months, says that in order to produce 20 percent of the nation’s power by 2030, the country would have to build 75,000 new wind turbines. Improved turbine technology also would be needed.
In her push to make Michigan a leader in alternative energy production, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has emphasized the importance of wind power. Although Michigan currently ranks 30th among states in the amount of power generated by wind, it has the potential to be 14th, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory cites the Great Lakes shore, especially Lakes Michigan and Superior, as well as the Thumb area as having the potential for utility-scale production of wind power.
It is not an unrealistic pipe dream, but if Michigan wants to become a leader in the industry, creating jobs while generating clean energy, it will have to make the necessary investment and commitment to do so. We think it could put us on the path to a bright future.
THE BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER
Member Comments
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Patrick
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05-20-08 12:25 PM
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Democracy now reports on other energy problems...As US Threatens Iran Over Enriching Uranium, Bush Promises to Give Enriched Uranium to Saudi Arabia... As you may recall, the Clinton administration cut a deal with the North Koreans to build a reactor there, and of course now suddenly, when Bush comes in, they’re a nuclear threat. We have to put this in perspective. We have to remember that when the Shah was in power in Iran so many years ago, he was in the process of buying thirty-six reactors, and had those reactors been completed before he fell to the Ayatollah, Iran would now have thirty-six reactors. So what the Bush administration is telling us is that this current Saudi government is always going to be in power and it’s perfectly fine for them to have nuclear reactors. We know that India and Pakistan built—both built nuclear weapons from their commercial atomic power programs, as perhaps did South Africa. And it’s just almost staggering to think about this prospect.
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Patrick
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05-20-08 11:58 AM
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Funding is the major road block... In 2003 alone, total federal energy subsidies ranged from $37 billion to $64 billion, according to a study prepared for the National Commission on Energy Policy. Wind energy accounted for less than 1% of that total. The FY 2008 budget calls for nuclear R&D funding of $547 million. Wind energy's FY 2006 R&D funding: $38.3 million. While the primary federal incentive mechanism for wind power is the PTC, it's actually quite difficult to get at all of the financial incentives that the fossil fuel industries receive because many of their subsidies are provided in indirect ways that are spread across the stages of production, from resource exploration and extraction, to transportation of fuel, to pollution clean-up, to risk and safety. Again, wind eliminates the need for many of these incentives since it does not require such elements of production.
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