Wind Power is becoming the Technology of Choice for Public Power Reduction
Posted on 22. Jul, 2010 by keith in Environmental Impact
Wind power is as old as the windmill. But today, it sits at the forefront of renewable energy technologies that are proposed for reducing public power loads. Currently, the American Wind Energy Association is working with lawmakers to pass legislation that will result in three major actions that boost the wind power industry’s long-term prospects: the adoption of a “25 x “25 national renewable energy standard that calls for 25 percent of electricity to come from wind power and other renewable power sources by 2025; the approval of a production tax credit that offers the wind power industry a subsidy of 2.1 cents of its generated electricity; and the authorization of an expansion to link wind farms to major population centers where power demand is highest.
In recent years, wind power has gained popularity as both a private and public means of reducing energy consumption. But the wind industry’s dialogue with lawmakers ultimately focuses on reducing power loads for power suppliers, with the goal in each case being the reduction of traditional power consumption by a certain percentage by a certain date.
The main obstacle to wind power on a private basis is finding enough space for wind turbines, while the main obstacle on a public basis has centered on how the presence of wind farms will affect the environment of the locales where they reside.
One example of this conflict can be seen in the Cape Wind Project, which is set to erect several wind turbines in the ocean some 25 miles from Nantucket Sound. Critics of the plan, of which the late senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was one, cite that the turbines threaten to disturb the native bird life of Nantucket sound, as well as diminish the pristine aesthetic of an area that has survived the industrial age.
