WIND ENERGYCAMI GHANBARABBASI, KRISTEN RUNDSTEIN AND RACHEL STEINER

RENEWABLE OR NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY?

• RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE

The major types of wind power are:• Utility-scale wind• Distributed or "small" wind• Offshore wind

Picture taken by Rachel Steiner in Indiana--- Utility-scale Wind

Off-shore wind

Fact: Off-shore wind farms of 350 Mega-Watts will generate enough energy to power 125,000 homes annually

OFF-SHORE POTENTIAL IN AMERICA

• The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s report found that offshore wind capacity could provide 54 gigawatts of the 300 GW needed to deliver 20% of the nation’s electricity from wind energy by 2030. That’s enough energy to power over 16 million homes.

Pros of offshore wind energy: • Create significant job-creation

potential, • It has been proven to have

environmental benefits• Will be in close proximity to

demand

HOW IS WIND ENERGY CREATED?

• Well… when a mommy wind and a daddy wind love each other very much…

• Wind power captures the natural wind in our atmosphere and converts it into mechanical energy then electricity.

HOW DOES THE ELECTRICITY GET TO YOU?• Wind turbines stand together in a windy area that has been through a development

process in an interconnected group called a wind project or wind farm, which functions like a wind power plant.

WIND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• It costs $1940 per kwhr but the price is going down due to advanced technology, improved siting techniques, and learning across all sectors as the industry increases

• In any given year, the total Giga-watts produced is 238

• Pollutant Output: 0%

WIND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• In 2011, it was reported that 3% of the world uses Wind Energy

• Top World users include China, United States and Germany

• Every state in the United States has some form of wind power (operational energy project, or a wind related manufacturing facility)

Pros: Wind industry• Bringing jobs• Investment• Development, • New business• Clean wind energy

generation across the country

Texas is the national leader in wind energy - with more installed capacity, more wind turbines and more jobs than any other state.

Fun Facts:Texas established a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in 1999 and it was amended in 2005. The current RPS provisions require 5,880 MW of renewable energy by 2015. The state also has a target of reaching 10,000 MW of renewable capacity by 2025, a target that the wind energy industry met in 2010.

PROS AND CONS

Pros

• Renewable: will never run out

• No waste/pollution

• Can offset 2600 tons of carbon dioxide waste

• Creates jobs: By 2030, 200,000 workers will be employed in Europe by the offshore wind sector and currently there are 85,000 employed in land based wind industry in the United States

Cons

• Not aesthetically pleasing to some

• Only works in windy areas

• Could kill birds (technologies to prevent killing birds is in the process of development)

• Take up land (100 square feet)

THE HISTORY OF WIND ENERGY

• 1887 first windmill used for electricity built in Scotland

• 1927 Jacobs Wind factory created, first commercial wind turbine generators

• 1941 worlds first megawatt wind turbine

• 1970’s U.S. government begins research into commercial wind turbines

• 1973 energy crisis began, encouraging the experimentation of wind energy

• 1980 first wind farm started with 20 turbines in New Hampshire

• 1991 first offshore wind farm created in Denmark

POLITICS

• The federal government’s more important roles is to ensure that energy is abundant, affordable and American made to fuel the U.S. economy. Wind energy fits this bill and is a key piece of America's current and future energy needs.

• The Industry’s top federal policy priorities are:

• Stable and predictable tax credits

• A national standard for renewable electricity

• Transmission policies to improve the nation’s power grid

• Cautious siting policies.

The renewable energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) have been the keys to:

• Installing enough American wind power capacity to power the equivalent of over 15 million homes;

• Building over 550 wind energy-related manufacturing facilities across 44 states;

• Growing the wind energy workforce to 80,000 direct employees; and,

• Driving down the cost of wind by over 90%.

RECENT EVENTS

• Dirty Wind caused by too many wind turbines?

• http://www.npr.org/2013/03/27/174820893/is-the-sky-the-limit-for-wind-power

• Wind is cheaper than Coal

• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-06/australia-wind-energy-cheaper-than-coal-natural-gas-bnef-says.html

WORK CITEDhttp://www.npr.org/2013/03/27/174820893/is-the-sky-the-limit-for-wind-power

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-06/australia-wind-energy-cheaper-than-coal-natural-gas-bnef-says.html

http://awea.rd.net/resources/statefactsheets.aspx?itemnumber=890

http://www.awea.org/Issues/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=866

http://www.awea.org/Issues/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=822

http://www.awea.org/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=771

http://www.awea.org/Resources/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=900

http://www.awea.org/

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/oct/17/wind-power-renewable-energy

http://www.awea.org/Resources/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=5547

http://www.awea.org/Resources/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=900&navItemNumber=587 http://www.awea.org/Resources/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=873&navItemNumber=588

http://www.awea.org/Resources/industrystatistics.aspx?itemnumber=891&navItemNumber=620

http://www.greenbang.com/which-countries-produce-the-most-wind-energy_21841.html

http://awea.rd.net/Advocacy/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=791&navItemNumber=580