Wind Power Eng101

Wind PowerIs wind energy good for the environment?

Wind has emerged as the nation’s fastest-growing

energy source, with thousands of towering

turbines dotting the countryside from Califor-

nia to New England. Generating capacity has

risen as much as 50 percent annually, encouraged by tax incentives

and state laws mandating growth in renewable energy. Already,

wind provides about 2 percent of electricity nationwide, and the

Department of Energy says a 20 percent share by 2030 is possible

with improvements in turbine technology, large-scale investment

and better planning of the electrical grid. But opponents argue

that wind turbines kill tens of thousands of birds and bats each

year, mar pristine scenery and require far more land than tradi-

tional methods of power generation. The battle over wind is play-

ing out in states such as Wisconsin, where the proximity of tur-

bines to homes is an issue, and Vermont, where environmentalists

are divided over two goals: protecting scenic vistas and reducing

fossil fuel use.

I

N

S

I

D

E

THE ISSUES ....................291

CHRONOLOGY ................299

BACKGROUND ................301

CURRENT SITUATION ........304

AT ISSUE........................305

OUTLOOK ......................308

BIBLIOGRAPHY ................310

THE NEXT STEP ..............311

THISREPORT

A small, 18-turbine wind farm in Velva, N.D.,population 1,000, generates 12 megawatts,

or enough electricity for 6,000 homes.

CQResearcherPublished by CQ Press, a Division of SAGE

www.cqresearcher.com

CQ Researcher • April 1, 2011 • www.cqresearcher.comVolume 21, Number 13 • Pages 289-312

RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR

EXCELLENCE ! AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD

W

290 CQ Researcher

THE ISSUES

291 • Can the United Statesderive a significant amountof its energy from wind?• Is wind energy goodfor the environment?• Should the U.S. govern-ment do more to supportwind energy?

BACKGROUND

301 Sails and WindmillsHumans have been puttingthe wind to use for atleast 7,500 years.

301 Harnessing ElectricityAn Ohio inventor built thefirst large windmill for elec-tricity in the U.S. in 1887.

302 Growth in EuropeEurope took an early leadin wind-farm development.

CURRENT SITUATION

304 White House SupportPresident Obama wants 80 percent of U.S. energyfrom clean sources by 2035.

307 Not in My BackyardResidents in Wisconsinand other states opposewind farms near homes,scenic areas.

OUTLOOK

308 ‘Delicate Circumstances’Passage of clean-energystandards is seen as un-likely.

SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS

292 Thirty-Eight States GenerateWind EnergyTexas generated one-fourth ofthe nation’s 40,000 megawatts.

293 How Wind Turbines WorkSpinning blades convert wind’skinetic energy into mechanicalpower.

295 Vermont Wind Farms PitGreens Against GreensDoes providing renewableenergy lead to environmentaldamage?

299 ChronologyKey events since 5,500 B.C.

300 With Wind Turbines, Taller Is BetterSome turbines are 400 feettall, with blades half as longas a football field.

301 Wind-Power AdditionsDrop in 2010Decline in new installationsran counter to previous trend.

305 At IssueShould government do moreto support wind power?

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

309 For More InformationOrganizations to contact.

310 BibliographySelected sources used.

311 The Next StepAdditional articles.

311 Citing CQ ResearcherSample bibliography formats.

WIND POWER

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Wind Power

THE ISSUESL ike much of the rural

Midwest, Rock Port, Mo.,population 1,300, has

faced its share of economicstruggles: falling incomes,boarded-up businesses andan exodus of young people.And yet the quiet farmingtown is on the leading edgeof what could be America’snext energy revolution.

On a spring day in 2008,Rock Port became the nation’sfirst community to get justabout all its power from thewind. Four massive three-bladed turbines on agricultur-al land within the city limitsprovide an estimated 16 mil-lion kilowatt-hours of electricityeach year — enough to meetthe town’s needs and providepower for sale to other juris-dictions. And those turbines,plus nearby wind farms, aregenerating not only electricitybut also money: higher realestate tax revenue for localgovernment and $3,000 to$5,000 per year for rancherswho lease their land for the towers.

“We’re farming the wind, which issomething that we have up here,” saidJim Crawford, a natural-resource engi-neer at the University of Missouri Ex-tension in Columbia. “The payback ona per-acre basis is generally quite goodwhen compared to a lot of other crops,and it’s as simple as getting a cup ofcoffee and watching the blades spin.” 1

Wind-energy advocates point to suc-cess stories such as Rock Port as ex-amples of how the nation can tap windto satisfy much of its energy needs. 2

As concerns about the environmentalimpacts of traditional energy sourceshave mounted, wind has emerged inrecent years as the fastest-growing en-

ergy source in the nation, increasingin generating capacity by as much as50 percent annually. Boosted in part bytax breaks and renewable-energy man-dates in a number of states, wind nowprovides about 2 percent of electricitynationwide and more than 15 percent inIowa, which leads the nation in the per-centage of power derived from wind. 3

Wind far exceeds every other renewable-energy source in amount ofelectricity generated except hydropower.Many analysts view wind power as akey component of any strategy to re-duce emissions of carbon dioxide, agas released by burning of fossil fuelsthat is blamed for contributing to cli-mate change.

“We’re seeing an expo-nential growth in wind ener-gy,” says Lena Hansen, an ex-pert on renewable energy andbiofuels at the Boulder, Colo.-based Rocky Mountain Insti-tute, which promotes the sus-tainable use of resources. “Itreally can be quite a substantialpart of our energy future.”

In some respects, windseems like a perfect fit for thenation. The steady and pow-erful gusts that blow acrossthe Great Plains, West Coastand other regions have led tothe United States being dubbed“the Saudi Arabia of wind en-ergy.” Some studies indicatethat, at least in theory, the windthat blows across the conti-nental United States could sup-ply as much as 16 times thenation’s electricity needs. Off-shore areas alone, where de-velopers are beginning to planmassive wind farms, may beable to generate as much en-ergy as four times the nation’selectricity needs. 4

But the obstacles are for-midable. Much of the nation’swind blows far from major pop-

ulation centers, which means that net-works of transmission lines would beneeded to deliver energy to consumers.

And because wind blows intermit-tently, it often fails to generate powerwhen consumers need it most. Thiswas vividly demonstrated during a bit-ter cold snap last Christmas, when alack of wind left most of Britain’s 3,000wind turbines becalmed just as powerdemands swelled. The British, whohope eventually to derive 30 percentof their power from wind, were forcedto ramp up coal-fired power stationsthat emit large amounts of pollutants.

Until engineers develop a cost-effectiveway to store excess power from windturbines, utilities will need to build

BY DAVID HOSANSKY

AP P

hoto

/Julia

Cum

esA massive wind farm planned in Nantucket Sound offCape Cod draws opponents and supporters to Woods

Hole, Mass., for a talk by Interior Secretary Ken Salazaron Feb. 2, 2010. Approved by Salazar that April, the

130-turbine project would be the nation’s first offshorewind farm. Opponents say it would harm wildlife and

scenic views. Supporters say clean energy and hundreds of jobs would be generated.

292 CQ Researcher

conventional power plants to meet de-mand when winds fail. Rock Port drawsenergy from the regional power grid onnon-windy days and sends excess en-ergy to the grid when the winds return.

“People want to use electricitywhen they need it and not just whenthe wind blows,” says Daniel Sim-mons, director of state and regulato-ry affairs at the Institute for EnergyResearch, a group in Washington thatsupports free-market energy solutions.

To harvest large amounts of ener-gy, wind developers construct towersthat can exceed 400 feet in height,often with a trio of blades each halfthe length of a football field and de-signed to capture as much wind aspossible. The towers are arrayed by thedozens, hundreds or even thousandsin wind farms. Sometimes they are builton ridges where winds are optimal —and where they can be seen for miles,

to the chagrin of people who enjoyunspoiled vistas.

The turbines often fray the nervesof nearby residents bothered by theirnoise and flickering shadows. The re-volving blades act as large reflectorsthat can interfere with radars by ap-pearing as false targets or as clutter thatobscures real targets — a significantconcern for the military, although newradar technology can help alleviate theproblem. Even environmentalists, whilefavoring a pollution-free energy source,have raised concerns. They cite the po-tential impact of wind farms on other-wise undisturbed areas and the deathsof birds and bats that fly into turbineblades or are affected by shifts in airpressure caused by the blades. (Seesidebar, p. 245.)

Debates over wind energy haveroiled policy makers on the nationaland state levels. Lawmakers have

clashed over such issues as tax breaksfor the wind industry and limits onhow close turbines can be to houses.

President Barack Obama is pressingfor legislation requiring that 80 percentof the nation’s energy come from low-or non-polluting sources, including wind,by 2035. Many in Congress worry, how-ever, that such a requirement would hurtthe oil, gas and coal industries and pos-sibly lead to higher costs for taxpayers.

“Taxpayers get a double whammyin terms of subsidies: They have topay for the subsidy and then they payfor higher rates as a result of havingthe renewables as part of the elec-tricity system,” says Simmons. “We’vebeen subsidizing wind and other re-newables for 30 years, and they’re stillnot cost-effective.”

Without sustained government sup-port, the wind industry may not be ableto continue competing with natural gas,which is plentiful and, at least for themoment, affordable. Despite its phe-nomenal growth in recent years, windhas faced something of a boom-and-bustcycle, with development of new windfarms dropping by 70 to 90 percent inyears when Congress has allowed fed-eral tax credits for turbines to expire.

In contrast, wind development over-seas is proceeding at a breezy pace.Thanks to significant financing incen-tives and sustained government supportfor renewable energy, Denmark nowderives 24 percent of its electricity fromwind. The European Union is addingmore electricity capacity from wind thanany other source, and several govern-ments are setting goals of deriving athird or more of their electricity fromwind and other renewable sources with-in a few decades. Still, many consumersare raising alarms over higher electrici-ty rates and what they regard as a blightof turbines across the landscape.

China is also revving up its wind-energy capabilities. It aims to get 15 per-cent of its energy from non-fossil-fuelsources by 2020. 5 Last year, Chinabecame the largest provider of wind

WIND POWER

Thirty-Eight States Generate Wind EnergyWind power in the United States exceeded 40,000 megawatts in 2010, a fourth of it in Texas. Generating capacity is also high along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington state. Only 12 states — mostly in the Southeast — lack wind-power capacity.

Source: “U.S. Wind Industry Year-End 2010 Market Report,” American Wind Energy Association, January 2011, www.awea.org/learnabout/publications/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=5083

Wind Power by State, Through 2010

N.Y.

Ohio

Texas

Va.

Minn.

Iowa

Mo.Calif.

Nev.

Ore.

Colo.

Wash.

Idaho

Mont.

Utah

Ariz. N.M.

Wyo.

N.D.

S.D.

Alaska

Okla. Ark.

La.

Ill.

Miss.

Tenn.

Ga.

Conn.

Mass.R.I.

MaineVt.

W.Va. N.J.Del.

Md.

Ala.

Fla.

Wis.Mich.

Ind.

N.C.S.C.

N.H.

Kan.Ky.

Hawaii

D.C.

Neb. Pa.

None1-100101-1,0001,001-2,0002,001-10,00010,000+

Electricity in Megawatts


energy in the world, with 41,800megawatts of electricity capacity. TheUnited States, with about 40,000megawatts, fell to second. 6

The rapid pace of wind-industrydevelopment abroad troubles U.S. tur-bine manufacturers, who say that Wash-ington’s failure to better support thewind industry is making it difficult forthem to compete with overseas tur-bine producers. “It has put the U.S. ata disadvantage in competing in theglobal marketplace,” says Bob Gates,chief commercial officer of ClipperWindpower Inc., a turbine maker inCarpinteria, Calif. “In the long term,it’s helping to export jobs.”

As policy makers consider whetherto provide more support for windpower, here are some key questionsbeing debated:

Can the United States derive asignificant amount of its energyfrom wind?

Those who believe wind may emergeas a top source of electricity in theUnited States point to a 2008 Depart-ment of Energy (DOE) report that laidout a road map for obtaining 20 per-cent of the nation’s energy — or 300gigawatts — from wind by 2030. Thereport found that the goal “could befeasible” but would require improve-ments in turbine technology, large-scaleinvestments and better planning so thatfar-flung regions could support one an-other as electricity supply and demandspiked and dipped across the grid.

Reaching the goal by 2030 wouldcost nearly $200 billion for turbines,improved transmission capability andother infrastructure, the report esti-mated. However, those expenses wouldlargely be offset by reduced costs forcoal, natural gas and other fuel. Thereport also noted that wind energycould provide such benefits as in-creased diversity of the nation’s fuelsources and reductions in coal andnatural-gas emissions associated withclimate change and air pollution.

How Wind Turbines WorkTurbines convert kinetic energy generated by the wind’s motion into mechanical power. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft that connects to a generator to create electricity.

Source: Department of Energy, www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html

Wind Turbine Diagram and Parts

Anemometer: Measures wind speed and transmits the data to the controller.Brake: A disc brake that can stop the rotor in emergencies.Controller: Starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 mph and shuts off the machine at about 55 mph.Gear box: Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase speeds from between 30 and 60 rotations per minute to 1,000 to 1,800, the speed required by most generators to produce electricity.Generator: Produces 60-cycle AC electricity.High-speed shaft: Drives the generator.Low-speed shaft: The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute.Nacelle: Contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, control-ler and brake.Pitch: Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control rotor speed.Rotor: The blades and hub together are called the rotor.Tower: Made from tubular steel, concrete or steel lattice.Wind vane: Measures wind direction and works with the yaw drive to orient the turbine to the wind.Yaw drive: Keeps the rotor on upwind turbines facing into the wind as wind direction changes.Yaw motor: Powers the yaw drive.

294 CQ Researcher

“There are significant costs, chal-lenges and impacts associated with the20 percent wind scenario,” concludedthe report. “There are also substantialpositive impacts. . . . Achieving the 20percent wind scenario would involvea major, national commitment to clean,domestic energy sources.” 7

But some experts doubt that windcan grow from 2 percent to 20 per-cent of the nation’s energy supply inless than two decades.

“There’s been an incredible amountof money thrown at renewables and re-newable-technology development, andthings haven’t changed much,” says RobertMichaels, a professor of economics atCalifornia State University at Fullertonand a consultant on wind issues. “Wekeep hearing that, in five years, renew-ables are going to be economical. Andfive years pass, and they’re not. If therewere not renewable-energy standards andthe tax breaks, there would be very lit-tle development of wind.”

Indeed, the United States faces twofundamental obstacles: Wind oftenfails to blow when it is needed andwhere it is needed.

Perhaps the single biggest challengeof wind energy is that winds often diedown just as they are needed most.Because utilities lack efficient systemsto store surplus wind energy and dis-tribute it when demand peaks, theyhave to either build extra power plantsto back up their turbines or buy elec-tricity at a premium on the “spot” mar-ket. Both options can be costly.

Peak demand for electricity gener-ally occurs on very hot or very colddays, when consumers are switchingon air conditioners or furnaces. Butstrong winds often blow at night,when demand is relatively low, andgusts rarely coincide with prolongedhot and cold spells.

The mismatch between winds andconsumer demand was illustrated onan unusually hot August afternoon in2010, when Texas broke its recordfor energy consumption. Even though

the state leads the nation in wind-turbine capacity, its winds tend tofade during August, and only about5 percent of energy from its windfarms was available when consumersneeded it most.

“The wind is free, but it also isn’tdispatchable,” says Simmons of theInstitute for Energy Research. “You can’tjust say you’re going to produce windtomorrow at 3 p.m.”

The intermittency also means thatwind turbines are comparatively ineffi-cient. They typically generate electric-ity at only about 25 to 40 percent oftheir capacity because their blades areoften still. In contrast, a traditionalcoal plant operates at about 70 per-cent capacity. 8

The other fundamental challenge isthat the strongest winds tend to blowin sparsely populated areas. Wind farmsare proliferating in regions such asWest Texas and the Dakotas, but util-ities need to move that energy to citieswhere it is needed. The only way todo that is to build large networks oftransmission lines.

The 2008 DOE report estimated thatto achieve the 20 percent wind-energygoal, the United States would need tobuild 12,000 miles of transmission linesat a cost of about $20 billion. Other an-alysts put the pricetag higher. 9 Ratepay-ers would likely bear the expense.

The nation faces at least one morefundamental challenge in harnessingwind: local opposition. Polls showstrong public support for wind ener-gy — at least in theory. Eighty-ninepercent of respondents to a poll com-missioned by the American Wind En-ergy Association, an industry tradegroup, said they favored wind power.But numerous communities are bat-tling plans for local wind farms or net-works of transmission lines. 10

The issue has come to the fore fromquiet Maine islands to the Texas HillCountry. “Is it really worth permanent-ly industrializing and destroying a uniquescenic area like the Hill Country?” asks

Robert Weatherford, a landowner inTexas’ Gillespie County who is battlingplans to build turbines on prominentridges and create a long-distance trans-mission network that would affect pri-vate properties.

Despite these challenges, experts saythat the goal of 20 percent wind ener-gy — or even more — is achievable ifnational leaders establish it as a priori-ty. To manage the intermittency of wind,utilities could rely on a mix of com-plementary energy sources — for ex-ample, by switching between wind tur-bines during unsettled weather patternsand solar panels on hot days, whilebacking them up with gas-fired plantsthat can quickly ramp up and down.

While new transmission lines willinevitably be controversial and costly,utilities could reduce the impact byworking closely with local communi-ties, avoiding sensitive areas or possi-bly tapping energy from offshore windfarms built near major cities. “It’s awillpower issue more than it is a costissue,” says Fort Felker, director of theNational Wind Technology Center atthe DOE’s National Renewable EnergyLaboratory in Golden, Colo.

Experts say surpassing the 20 percentgoal may be unrealistic without advancesin technology because the challenges ofintermittency and power transmissionbecome increasingly difficult as morewind power is introduced into the grid.

“You could get up to 10 to 20 per-cent without too much stress on thesystem,” says Robert Evans, a profes-sor of mechanical engineering and in-augural director of the Clean EnergyResearch Centre at the University ofBritish Columbia. “If you get aroundthe 20 percent mark or more, you’llstart to see real strains.”

Is wind energy good for the en-vironment?

The approximately 5,000 wind tur-bines in the Altamont Pass in cen-tral California, intended to produce

WIND POWER

Continued on p. 296


Opposition to new wind farms in ecologically mindedVermont has come from an unusual source: environ-mentalists. Conservationists in the Green Mountain

State have split over the prospect of building turbines on ridges,pitting those who worry about destruction of wildlife habitatand scenic views against others who believe that turbines arenecessary to move the state toward renewable energy.

“You want to save the environment by building renewable en-ergy, but in Vermont the only viable places for turbines are high-elevation ridges that have important habitat,” says Lukas Snelling, di-rector of communications for Energize Vermont, a nonprofit advocacygroup that promotes sustainable energy. “So if you build wind farms,you’re actually destroying part of the environment.”

Snelling says the wide roads and massive amounts of concreteneeded to install turbines would essentially industrialize sensitivemountain regions. As an al-ternative, Energize Vermontbacks small-scale, community-energy developments, in-cluding solar panels and hy-dropower from existing dams.Such projects, it contends,are a better fit for Vermont’ssmall-town nature than large-scale wind turbines.

On the other side of thedebate, long-established en-vironmental groups such asthe Vermont Natural ResourcesCouncil and the VermontPublic Interest Research Groupfavor building turbines in se-lected locations. If properlyplaced, they contend, the tur-bines could take advantageof reliable wind without sig-nificant effects on the environment, providing a critical alternativeto fossil-fuel plants that emit carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

In a statement urging its members to support the proposedinstallation of a wind farm of about 20 turbines, the VermontPublic Interest Research Group declared: “There is no free lunchwhen it comes to turning on our lights or running our refrig-erators. When we consume energy, we produce an environ-mental impact, and the impacts of wind power pale in com-parison to those of fossil fuels and nuclear power.” 1

Moreover, environmentalists who support bringing turbinesto Vermont point to agreements under which wind farms havesaid they will protect hundreds of acres through conservationeasements and return the land to its natural state once the farmhas been decommissioned.

The situation in Vermont is not unique. A proposal to expanda West Virginia wind farm sparked a green vs. green battle inthe courts over whether the turbine blades could endangerbats. And plans to build a massive offshore wind farm in awildlife-rich section of Nantucket Sound, known as Cape Wind,has faced stiff resistance from prominent environmentalists, in-cluding Robert Kennedy Jr., who worry about effects on localcommunities, wildlife and the landscape. Interior Secretary KenSalazar approved the project last year.

On the other hand, Midwestern ranchers who are not or-dinarily associated with environmental causes have frequentlyembraced wind farms. Turbines are injecting money and jobsinto economically depressed rural sections of the Plains, andstates such as Texas, Iowa and Kansas are emerging as lead-ing producers of wind energy.

The situation has createdsome unusual political alliances.For example, Sen. Sam Brown-back, R-Kansas, aligned himselfwith liberal Democrats in sup-porting a national renewable-energy standard last year. 2

Snelling doesn’t object to windenergy — as long as the tur-bines are put in such spots asMidwestern croplands where theywon’t endanger sensitive wildlifehabitats. But he has deep reser-vations about plans for about 10wind farms in his state’s pic-turesque Green Mountains.

“Building wind farms in theMidwest or in the West is a verydifferent thing than buildingthem in Vermont,” he says. “Ver-mont is a unique microcosm

where the desire to build renewable energy in the country ishitting right up against the desire to protect natural resources.

“It’s as though the need to combat climate change necessitatesthat we destroy part of the environment. It’s just such a weirdcatch-22 that I can’t support it.”

— David Hosansky

1 “Kingdom community wind comment period now closed,” Vermont PublicInterest Research Group, Feb. 18, 2011, www.vpirg.org/node/409.2 Katie Howe and Katherine Ling, “Renewable Electricity Standard Bill StandsAlone or Dies, Senate Sponsors Vow,” The New York Times, Sept. 23, 2010,www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/09/23/23greenwire-renewable-electricity-standard-bill-stands-alo-16736.html.

Vermont Wind Farms Pit Greens Against GreensDoes providing renewable energy lead to environmental damage?

Wind turbines and clouds sit atop a hill in Vermont. Local conservationists are divided over

plans to erect more hilltop turbines.

Get

ty I

mag

es/J

ake

Wym

an

296 CQ Researcher

clean energy, have an environmen-tal downside. The blades have killedthousands of birds, including rare rap-tors such as golden eagles and bur-rowing owls. Wind-farm power lineshave electrocuted others.

In West Virginia, a wind farm mayhave killed as many as 2,000 bats inone year. 11 Scientists believe turbinescan be deadly to bats for two reasons:The nocturnal animals fly into turbineblades for reasons that are not clear,and their tiny lungs hemorrhage whenthey enter low-pressure zones createdby the moving blades.

Wind farms that are some distancefrom critical migratory paths or majorpopulations of birds and bats do not

have such deadly effects, and envi-ronmentalists generally cheer theemergence of an energy source thatdoes not emit carbon dioxide orother pollutants. Nevertheless, someare watching the spread of wind farmswith concern.

“Renewable energy is not neces-sarily green energy,” said Eric R. Glitzen-stein, a lawyer involved in efforts tostop expansion of a West Virginia windfarm to protect the endangered Indi-ana bat. “We should not be creatingnew ecological crises by addressingexisting ones. All energy sources havepotential benefits, but they also havepotential risks.” 12

Wind-energy advocates, however,contend that careful placement of wind

farms, away from migratory-bird routesand other sensitive areas, is signifi-cantly reducing the impact on wildlife.The Altamont Pass turbines were in-stalled after the 1970s energy crisis,when such issues were not well known.The towers also are far shorter thanmodern turbines, allowing their bladesto reach almost to the ground and killraptors as they dive for prey.

Supporters of wind energy alsopoint out that far greater numbers ofbird deaths — millions to tens of mil-lions yearly — occur because of pes-ticides, attacks by domestic and feralcats and collisions with windows, ac-cording to Fish and Wildlife Serviceestimates. 13

“The concerns about birds andbats around wind turbines were root-ed in early turbines that were poor-ly sited, along migration corridors,”says the Rocky Mountain Institute’sHansen. “For all the reasons that birdsand bats die, turbines are pretty lowon the list.”

Still, a 2005 report by the GeneralAccounting Office, the congressionalwatchdog agency now known as theGovernment Accountability Office, con-cluded that more research is neededon how wind farms affect birds andbats. It also warned that little is knownabout the potential impact of offshorewind farms on marine life. 14

Wildlife issues aside, critics pointout that wind farms require far moreland per kilowatt generated than tra-ditional forms of electricity generation.Robert Bryce, an energy writer whohas questioned the environmentalbenefits of renewable energy, esti-mates that wind power requires 45times more land than nuclear powerand several times more land than coaland natural gas plants. 15 Experts saythis phenomenon, known as energysprawl, could result in turbines cov-ering an area the size of Texas or larg-er, with potential damage to sensitiveecosystems, if the United States con-tinues to increase its use of wind.

WIND POWER

China Leads in New Wind InstallationsChina installed more than 16,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity in 2010 — nearly half the global total and far more than any other country. The United States was a distant second, with 14 percent of the global total. China recently overtook the United States in cumula-tive wind-energy capacity.

Source: “Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update 2010,” Global Wind Energy Council, March 2011, www.gwec.net/fileadmin/documents/Publications/Global_Wind_2007_report/GWEC Global Wind Report 2010 low res.pdf

New Wind Energy Installed, by Country, 2010

China(16,500 Mw)46.1%

United States

(5,115 Mw)14.3%India

(2,139 Mw)

6.0%Spain

(1,516 Mw)

4.2%Germany(1,493 Mw)

4.2%France(1,086 Mw)

3.0%

Rest of World(4,750 Mw)

13.3%

Canada(690 Mw)1.9%

Italy(948 Mw)2.6%

United Kingdom(962 Mw)2.7%

Sweden(603 Mw)1.7%

Continued from p. 294


“People don’t want to see coast-to-coast windmills,” says the Universityof British Columbia’s Evans.

Wind-energy supporters, however,say that the turbines take up rela-tively little space and that land aroundeach tower remains available for farm-ing, ranching or other purposes. “Theissue of the footprint of wind farmsis overblown,” says Jeff Deyette, as-sistant director of energy research andanalysis at the Union of ConcernedScientists, a research group that pro-motes environmental protection.“There are a lot of other uses for thel a nd on w i ndfarms. And as wemake improve -ments in technolo-gies, as wind tur-bines get larger andthere are fewer ofthem, you need farless land.”

Critics also ques-tion whether windfarms reduce airpollution from tra-d i t i ona l powerplants. Becausewind may not blowwhen electricity isneeded, utilitiesoften have to buildadditional plants tosupply back-uppower. Cyc l ingsuch plants up and down is costlyand can emit excessive pollution,much as driving a car at differentspeeds can burn more fuel thandriving at a constant speed.

“Cycling causes coal units to oper-ate less efficiently and reduces the ef-fectiveness of the environmental-controlequipment, substantially increasingemissions,” stated a 2010 report byBentek Energy, an energy-market infor-mation company, that was prepared forthe Independent Petroleum Associationof Mountain States, an oil-industrytrade group. 16

But Evans and other energy ex-perts dismiss such arguments as mis-leading. While older coal-firedplants cannot easily cycle on andoff, newer and more efficient gas-fired plants can with comparativelylittle impact on emissions, they argue.A kilowatt-hour of electricity pro-duced by wind will not entirely off-set the emissions associated with akilowatt-hour produced by burningfossil fuels, but it will offset mostof it, they say.

“Adding wind significantly reducesour carbon emissions because you’re

running fossil-fuel plants a lot less,”Hansen says.

She and other renewable-energyadvocates also say the environmentalharm caused by burning fossil fuelsfar exceeds the drawbacks of wind.The extraction, transport and com-bustion of coal, natural gas or otherfossil fuels can affect water and airquality, wildlife habitats and glob-al climate, they argue. “When Ihave a choice between looking atwind turbines and looking at smog,I’d rather look at wind turbines,”Hansen says.

Should the U.S. government domore to support wind energy?

Texas may be known for oil fields,but its legislature was quick to em-brace renewable energy. In 1999 thestate required utilities to generate2,000 new megawatts of power fromrenewable energy within a decade andlater set an even more ambitious goal:10,000 megawatts by 2025.

As a result, Texas installed morethan 10,000 megawatts of capacity fromwind and other renewable sources by2010, some 15 years ahead of sched-ule. The move toward wind has not

been without controver-sy, though. Residentshave sued to blockplans for transmissionlines across the state, andutilities warn that windenergy is often too un-reliable to meet peakdemands. Still, advo-cates believe Texas’ zestfor wind power sets anexample for the rest ofthe nation.

The state’s goals “areincredibly effective atstimulating new tech-nologies and economicgrowth,” said Tom Smith,director of the Texasoffice of Public Citizen,a consumer-advocacygroup. 17

Texas is one of more than two dozenstates that have adopted renewable-energy standards, and wind-energysupporters want federal policy mak-ers to follow suit. They say a nationalrenewable-energy or a broader clean-energy standard would strengthen theeconomy by creating green jobs, re-duce emissions from coal and natur-al gas and ensure a balance of ener-gy sources.

A renewable-energy standardwould save money and shield con-sumers from fuel-price volatility, saysRob Gramlich, senior vice president

Wind-turbine blades await delivery at a factory in China’s northernHubei province on Sept. 30, 2010. China plans to generate 15 percent

of its energy from non-fossil-fuel sources by 2020. Last year, China became the world’s largest provider of wind energy,

overtaking the United States.

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for public policy at the AmericanWind Energy Association.

Critics, however, say the govern-ment should not favor one energysource over another, arguing that candrive up rates and make it harder fornew energy technology to get a toe-hold in the market.

“You don’t want to force people touse a certain technology, particularlybecause a better technology may turnup,” says California State University’sMichaels.

Critics also pointout that Californiaand some other statesare falling behindschedule to meetrenewable-energygoals, partly be-cause of outdatedtransmission sys-tems and a need formore renewable-en-ergy facilities. A fed-eral standard maybe even more diffi-cult to meet, espe-cially because stateshave widely differingamounts of wind andother po ten t ia lsources of renewableenergy, such as sun-shine for solar power.

“These policies mandate more ex-pensive forms of electricity generation,”says the Institute for Energy Research’sSimmons. “State legislatures have tailoredtheir laws to their situation, and stillthey’re not meeting their standards. Theproblem with the federal mandate isit could be more of a one-size-fits-allpolicy, which I believe will be evenmore difficult to meet.”

Other policies that benefit wind arealso proving controversial, particularlythe federal renewable-energy-productiontax credit. It amounts to 2.1 cents perkilowatt-hour for the production ofelectricity from large-scale wind tur-bines and geothermal plants. Wind en-

ergy advocates want a permanentcredit rather than one that expires everyfew years — an irregular and oftenunpredictable occurrence they say hasstunted the industry’s growth. Criticssay the credit costs taxpayers and un-fairly benefits the wind industry.

In many respects, the debate overgovernment support of wind energycomes down to two basic issues:Whether the United States has a com-pelling reason to promote renewable

energy, and whether the governmentshould support wind to counterbalancepolicies that help other energy sources.(See “At Issue,” p. 305.)

Wind advocates say it is crucial forthe United States to reduce fossil-fuelemissions, especially carbon dioxide thatis blamed for climate change. They alsosay the nation needs a stronger re-newable-energy industry to competeglobally in that sector. Wind is less ex-pensive than other sources of renew-able energy, such as solar power andbiofuels. It also appears to be safer thannuclear power, which is likely to losepublic support after last month’s releaseof radiation from reactors in Japan.

“If we want to move beyond pe-troleum energy and achieve some sortof energy independence, as well asmaintain our technological lead in theworld . . . , it does make sense in ourview to have government subsidiesuntil the wind industry can stand onits own,” says Gene Hunt, director ofcorporate communications for BeaconPower Corp., in Tyngsboro, Mass.,which makes flywheels for storing ki-netic energy from wind and other

sources that is releasedto the electrical gridwhen needed. (See side-bar, p. 303.) Critics ofgovernment interven-tion, however, maintainthat the United Stateshas vast stores of coaland natural gas that canmeet the nation’s elec-tricity needs for decadesor even centuries tocome. If the goal is toreduce carbon dioxideemissions, it would bebetter to tackle thatproblem directly in-stead of artificiallypropping up the windindustry, they say.

“We need to addressthe carbon dioxide prob-lem in the most cost-

effective way,” says Ross Baldick, a pro-fessor of electrical and computerengineering at the University of Texas.An energy expert who favors a carbon-consumption tax instead of tax creditsfor the wind industry, he adds, “As aU.S. taxpayer, I don’t want to spendmoney on something that doesn’t solvethe problem.”

As for government help, wind-energy supporters say they need fed-eral assistance if the industry is tocompete on equal terms with pro-ducers of conventional energy. Oilcompanies enjoy generous tax de-ductions, natural gas companies have

Continued on p. 300

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visits the American Wind EnergyAssociation’s annual wind-power convention in Chicago in May 2009.

Salazar and Energy Secretary Steven Chu unveiled a plan on Feb. 7, 2011, to accelerate the development of

offshore wind energy in the United States.

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Chronology5500 B.C.-1400 A.D.Wind power first harnessed inthe Middle East.

5500-5000 B.C.Egyptians and Sumerians use windenergy to sail their boats.

500-900 A.D.Persians build windmills to pumpwater and grind grain

Middle Ages (400-1400 A.D.)Windmills spread throughout theworld to grind grain, pump waterand drain land.

•

18th and 19thCenturies Steamsupplants wind power duringIndustrial Revolution.

1700sWindmills are well established asthe primary power source in pre-industrial Europe.

Early 1800sNew steam-powered engines beginto replace windmills.

1887Professor James Blyth of Anderson’sCollege, Glasgow, builds first wind-mill for electricity production.

1887-88Cleveland inventor Charles Brushbuilds first wind turbine to gener-ate electricity in the United States.

1890sDanish scientist Poul la Cour beginstesting wind turbines in effort tobring electricity to rural Denmark.

1900-1980sFarmers use wind turbines forpower but most of nation relieson nuclear energy and fossilfuels to generate electricity.

1930s-40sFarmers lacking electricity use small,multi-blade turbines to operate irri-gation pumps.

1941World’s first megawatt turbine beginsdelivering electricity to a Vermont grid.

1950s-60sUnited States and other industrializednations develop national electricalgrids, relying primarily on oil, naturalgas, coal and nuclear power.

1973-1974Mideast oil embargo sparks wide-spread fuel shortages and spursinterest in alternative energy.

1980World’s first wind farm is installedin southern New Hampshire.

1983Iowa requires utilities to invest inwind and biomass power.

1986California establishes itself as theglobal leader in wind energy, with1.2 gigawatts of capacity.

•

1990s-PresentRising oil prices spark renewedinterest in wind energy.

1992As part of an omnibus energymeasure, Congress passes the pro-duction tax credit, intended tospur wind-farm development.

1999Congress allows the production taxcredit to expire, setting up a boom-bust cycle in the wind industry.

2000Europe achieves more than 12 gigawatts of wind-energy capacity,by far the most of any regionworldwide.

2003Oil prices begin rising sharply andspeculation grows that petroleumresources may be running low,spurring increased interest in alter-native energy.

2005United States reestablishes itself as theworld leader in wind-energy capacity,despite rapid growth in Europe.

2008Rock Port, Mo., becomes first U.S.community powered by wind energy.

April 27, 2010Interior Secretary Ken Salazar an-nounces approval of nation’s firstoffshore wind farm, the controversialCape Wind project in NantucketSound.

December 2010Efforts to establish a national renew-able energy standard die in Congressdespite passage of separate versionsin the House and the Senate Energyand Natural Resources Committee.

2010China, with nearly 42 gigawatts ofwind-energy capacity, overtakesthe United States (40 gigawatts) asthe world’s wind-energy leader.

Jan. 25, 2011In his State of the Union address,President Obama sets goal of deriv-ing 80 percent of nation’s powerfrom clean-energy sources by 2035.

300 CQ Researcher

eminent-domain power to buildpipelines, and nuclear power plantsenjoy partial immunity from law-suits, they point out.

“We’ve had decades of incentivesthat have skewed the market towardnatural gas and other fossil fuels. Nu-clear has also benefited,” says Deyetteof the Union of Concerned Scien-

tists. “I see a renewable electricitystandard as helping to level the play-ing field.”

Whether a renewable energy stan-dard or a permanent production taxcredit would put the various energyindustries on equal footing is a com-plicated question to answer. Coal andnatural gas companies say they are ata disadvantage because they are far

more regulated than wind- and otherrenewable-energy producers. Windcompanies respond that decades ofgovernment support for traditional fuelsources have entrenched those indus-tries, making it even more importantfor the government to help emergingtechnologies gain traction.

Some analysts say the best policywould be to end all incentives and let

WIND POWER

A wind turbine is a machine that converts the wind’s ki-netic energy, or movement, into electricity. The rotorgenerally consists of three blades that face the oncom-

ing wind, automatically swiveling when the wind directionchanges. In a typical breeze, the blades turn a shaft that re-volves about 20 to 30 times a minute — not enough to pro-duce much power. However, the shaft is attached to a gear-box with a series of interconnected cogs that magnify thespinning motion. This enables a second shaft to spin manytimes faster than the first. A set of copper-wire coils is attachedto the high-speed shaft. The shaft and coils spin within a circleof magnets, generating electricity. The electricity flows throughpower cables to a transformer, which converts the electricity intothe necessary voltage, and then into the electrical grid.

Most turbines rotate on a horizontal shaft, with blades thatturn in a vertical plane. However, there are also vertical-axiswind turbines. Blades on those machines move in a horizon-tal plane and can take advantage of wind from different di-rections. Vertical-axis wind turbines generate relatively littlepower and can become unstable as winds grow stronger.

The larger the area that is swept by the blades, the morepower that can be generated. Doubling the blade length gener-ates four times as much power. In addition, tall turbines withhorizontal shafts tend to produce more power because theyreach higher in the atmosphere, where wind blows more strong-ly. As a result, turbines have become increasingly large. Thelargest blades are half the length of a football field or evenlonger; the tallest turbines generally reach more than 400 feetabove the ground.

Even a relatively small change in the wind can have a sig-nificant effect on the amount of electricity generated. Energyincreases by the cube of the wind speed, which means that adoubling of wind produces eight times more power. However,at very high wind speeds — typically between 45 and 80 milesper hour — turbines have an automatic shutdown mechanismthat prevents the blades from becoming damaged.

Because the size of the turbine largely determines the amountof electricity that it can generate, small-scale turbines have lim-

ited applications. A turbine with a rotor assembly — a centralhub and blades — spanning three feet from tip to tip can gen-erate about one-half a kilowatt per hour, which is enough tocharge batteries in boats, vans, and other low-power vehicles.Supplying the power needs of an average-size house can re-quire a rotor assembly spanning about 10 to 15 feet, mount-ed 30 feet high or more to catch stronger winds. Residentialwind turbines exist, but they are of limited practicality becauseof their size requirements.

In theory, a wind turbine can convert a maximum of about60 percent of the wind’s kinetic energy into electricity. Themost efficient turbines are closing in on the 50 percent mark,which means there is a limited amount of additional energythat a turbine can produce unless it is built much larger.

Engineers are focusing on capturing more energy from the windby looking at how arrays of turbines are organized. As wind movesthrough a wind farm, the front row of turbines extract about halfthe kinetic energy, leaving relatively little energy for downwind tur-bines to capture — a problem known as wind shade. For thatreason, turbines need to be spaced far apart, which makes it dif-ficult to capture large amounts of energy in a small space.

Rather than arranging turbines in straight lines or rectangles,as is often the case with wind farms, researchers are studyingwhether other formations, such as triangles or beehive shapes,would be more productive. They are also looking into coor-dinating the movements of turbines to ensure that each tur-bine captures as much energy as possible.

“Perhaps there is a coordinated control system that can dobetter where upwind machines back off a little bit while thedownwind ones collect more, instead of the simplistic approachwhere it’s every man for himself,” explains Fort Felker, directorof the National Wind Technology Center, part of the Depart-ment of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory inGolden, Colo. “The way engineering works is [that] it’s often asuccession of 1 percent improvements. You keep that up for10 or 20 years, and you’re looking at real changes.”

— David Hosansky

With Wind Turbines, Taller Is BetterSome turbines are 400 feet tall, with blades half as long as a football field.



competition work its will. “It will giveus the most robust energy market in theend when you have the various tech-nologies competing on their attributes,”says Simmons.

BACKGROUNDSails and Windmills

H umans have turned to the windfor power ever since they hoist-

ed the first sails at least 7,500 yearsago in Egypt and Sumer. The Greekengineer Heron of Alexandria designeda wind wheel in the first century A.D.— the earliest known effort to usewind for powering a machine.

Persians built a type of windmill knownas a panemone sometime between 500and 900 A.D. It comprised a vertical shaftattached to lightweight wooden bladesthat had sails made of reeds or cloth.These early windmills, which first cameinto use in a region between Iran andAfghanistan, were used initially to pumpwater and later to grind grain.

Within a few centuries, windmills ofvarious designs — and with either verti-cal or horizontal shafts — were builtacross the Middle East and Central Asiaand eventually in India, China and Eu-rope. They were used for grinding grain,draining land, pumping fresh water orsaltwater to make salt, threshing, power-ing sawmills and other purposes.

Windmills had several advantagesover water-driven mills. They did nothave to be located adjacent to fast-moving streams, and they could op-erate when water might freeze. Somewindmills were built in a fixed posi-tion to take advantage of prevailingwinds, such as on islands where winddirection was relatively predictable.Others were designed to swivel ac-cording to wind direction, a critical re-quirement in a region such as north-

western Europe where winds are vari-able. Inventors gradually improvedwindmill designs, developing modelswith up to eight sails that generatedmore power than those with four sailsand creating windmills that adjustedautomatically to different wind speeds.

During the Industrial Revolution,steam and internal-combustion engineslargely supplanted traditional windmills,but society still found new uses forwind energy. For example, windmillspumped water for steam locomotives,a major factor in the expansion of railsystems. And as Americans plowed theMidwest and Great Plains, farmersused an estimated several million smallwindmills to operate irrigation pumps.Wind’s remarkable power in the at-mosphere accounts for the enduringpopularity of windmills. The ultimatedriver of wind is energy from the sun,which heats the atmosphere uneven-ly depending on such factors as lati-tude, season, time of day and whetherthe air being warmed is over land orwater. Air that grows hotter expandsand rises, and heavier, cooler air rush-es in to fill the space it occupied. Thismoving air is wind.

Large-scale wind patterns are influ-enced by the Earth’s rotation, which

causes air to circulate around regionsof high and low pressure. Daily windmovements, which can be extraordi-narily difficult to predict, are deter-mined by such factors as the move-ment of high- and low-pressure systemsand local topography, with the strongestbreezes tending to occur in moun-tainous regions, high, open land andcoastal areas.

Harnessing Electricity

A lthough modern wind turbinesbegan to emerge in the 1970s,

they have been used to generate elec-tricity since the late 19th century. Ohioinventor Charles F. Brush built the firstlarge windmill for electricity in theUnited States in 1887. Made from 144cedar blades, it could generate 12 kilo-watts for batteries or his mansion’s lights.Soon after, Danish meteorologist Poulla Cour found that fast-moving rotorswith fewer blades could generate morepower. By the 1930s, farmers who hadno other access to electricity were usingsmall multi-bladed turbines, which wererelatively inexpensive and easy to build.On the eve of World War II, theworld’s first megawatt turbine — a

Growth in Wind Power Slow in 2010Wind-power capacity of more than 5,000 megawatts was added in the U.S. in 2010, about half the amount in 2009. The decline in new installations ran counter to the past decade’s upward trend.

Source: “U.S. Wind Industry Year-End 2010 Market Report,” American Wind Energy Association, January 2011, www.awea.org/learnabout/publications/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=5083

Annual U.S. Wind-Power Growth,2000-2010

02,0004,0006,0008,000

10,00012,000

20102009200820072006200520042003200220012000

1,69141267

1,670 2,3852,462397

5,258

8,36610,010

5,115

(in megawatts)

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large machine with 98-foot blades —began delivering electricity to a localgrid in Vermont.

Turbine use declined in the post-war era as the United States and othercountries began building national powergrids, taking advantage of relativelylow coal and natural gas prices andnewly developed nuclear technology.With the electrification of rural areas,windmills largely fell into disuse.

But in the mid-1970s, Arab nationsimposed an oil embargo on the Unit-ed States in retaliation for U.S. supportof Israel, and oil supplies fell sharplywhile prices skyrocketed. 18 Concernsabout access to traditional fuel sourcesspurred new interest in wind and otheralternative power sources.

California provided tax incentives forwind power, sparking the first major de-velopment of wind farms for electric util-ities. These turbines, somewhat primitiveby today’s standards, were placed by thethousands in wind farms such as thosein the Altamont Pass. By 1986, Califor-nia had installed nearly 1.2 gigawatts ofwind power, which at the time repre-sented nearly 90 percent of global wind-energy capacity. But the expiration inthe mid-1980s of the state’s tax incen-tives (along with the expiration of asimilar federal initiative in 1985) broughtnew installations to a halt.

Growth in Europe

S everal European countries, includ-ing Denmark and Germany, enact-

ed ambitious renewable-energy policiesand took the lead in wind-farm devel-opment. By 2000, Europe had morethan 12 gigawatts of capacity, comparedwith 2.5 in the United States.

Interest in wind energy spurred con-siderable technological developmenton both sides of the Atlantic. In the1980s and ’90s engineers developedmany innovations currently used inmulti-megawatt turbines, including

WIND POWER

Consider the AlternativesThe nation’s renewable-energy toolkit includes more than just windpower. About one-third of U.S. renewable energy comes from hydropower.Nevada’s Hoover Dam provides electricity for Nevada, Arizona and severalcities in Southern California, plus water for irrigation (top). A smallamount of renewable energy comes from solar power. On Chicago’sSouth Side, more than 32,000 solar panels generate enough electricityfor 1,500 homes.

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Consider the humble flywheel: Ever since the BronzeAge, wheels of one form or another, such as spinningwheels and potter’s wheels, have been used to keep

motion constant during certain mechanical activities. Today theheavy flywheel in a car engine helps keep the crankshaft turn-ing at a constant speed.

Now the flywheel is being used for a different purpose: stor-ing energy to stabilize the output from electrical grids — especial-ly grids that rely on intermittent sources of energy such as wind.

“What flywheel systems can do 24/7 is act as shock ab-sorbers to the grid,” says Gene Hunt, director of corporate com-munications for Beacon Power Corp.,a Tyngsboro, Mass., company that isdeveloping flywheels for utilities. “Theyallow you to maintain as close a bal-ance in the demand and supply ofelectricity as possible.”

Beacon Power is finishing con-struction on a 20-megawatt energy-storage facility in Stephentown, N.Y.,that uses 200 flywheels to “store”electricity from wind or other sourcesin the form of kinetic energy and re-lease it to the grid when needed.The flywheels spin at 16,000 rota-tions per minute. By releasing ener-gy to the grid for as long as 15 min-utes, they can temporarily regulatethe frequency of electrical power ifdemand or supply suddenly change.

Flywheels are at the forefront of awave of technological innovation de-signed to address a major concernabout wind energy: its intermittency, or unreliability. If engineerscan develop economical systems to store energy when the windis blowing and release it to the grid when winds are calm, thechangeable nature of wind would no longer represent a seriousobstacle to integrating large amounts of wind into electrical grids.

While the flywheels are designed to provide a cushion ofa few minutes while traditional power plants ramp up, muchof today’s research focuses on storing energy overnight and re-leasing it during peak demand times during the day.

For decades, utilities have stored comparatively small amountsof energy the old-fashioned way — by pumping water uphillfrom one reservoir to another with surplus electricity. When thatenergy is needed during the day, the water is released downhillto flow through a turbine — the modern version of the water-wheel on an old gristmill — creating electricity. Although such asystem works well, constructing additional reservoirs would in-volve significant costs and extended environmental reviews.

Engineers are studying an alternative storage technology: spe-cialized batteries that can hold large amounts of energy overnightand release it during the day. Conventional lead-acid batteries aretoo expensive and don’t last long enough, so research is focus-ing on batteries with other chemical combinations. For example,giant sodium-sulfur batteries the size of a double-wide trailer arebeing tested at several wind farms. They offer the advantage ofstoring large amounts of energy that is released at a compara-tively efficient rate, but they remain very expensive.

Engineers are also exploring ways to store energy in other ways,such as by creating reservoirs of compressed air in underground

cavities. The air is used to spin the turbineon a generator when electricity is needed.

One of the key challenges to overnightstorage systems is the cost. Whereas a newgas-fired power plant can generate elec-tricity for about $600 to $1,200 per kilo-watt, a battery that offers eight hours ofstorage would likely cost $4,000 or more,says Paul Denholm, a senior energy ana-lyst at the National Renewable Energy Lab-oratory. A 2008 report by the American In-stitute of Chemical Engineers estimated thatit could cost more than $340 billion to de-velop mass-energy storage systems if re-newable energy were to supply 20 percentof the nation’s energy needs. 1

Unless technological innovations can sig-nificantly reduce the cost of such storagesystems, experts say utilities that are inte-grating more renewable energy will try torely on other methods for meeting peakelectrical demand. In addition to using fly-

wheels, they can manage demand by reimbursing residents whoreduce their electrical use during peak times by using systems tocycle air conditioning on and off or setting dishwashers to run lateat night. Utilities can also trade electricity more broadly, meeting aspike in demand in one region with extra supply from another.

But overnight storage will likely continue to get consider-able interest.

“One of the biggest constraints for the system now is the in-ability to store electricity,” says Lena Hansen, an expert on renew-able energy and biofuels at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a re-search group in Colorado. “Electricity storage would be game-changing.”

— David Hosansky

1 Bernard Lee and David Gushee, “Massive Electricity Storage,” AmericanInstitute of Chemical Engineers, June 2008, www.aiche.org/uploadedFiles/About/DepartmentUploads/PDFs/MES%20White%20Paper%20submittal%20to%20GRC%206-2008.pdf.

Storing Energy for a ‘Rainy’ DayTechnology is providing new ways to deal with peaks in power demand.

Lena Hansen of the Rocky MountainInstitute views electricity storage as a keychallenge for the wind-energy industry.

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blades made of fiberglass and othermaterials and sophisticated controls tobetter capture wind gusts. In 1998, tur-bines had an average capacity of sevento 10 times the capacity of those inthe1980s, and costs had dropped near-ly 80 percent. 19

By the first decade of the 21st cen-tury, increasingly durable and power-ful turbines could generate as much asfive megawatts apiece on land; offshoreturbines approached the 10-megawattlevel. With individual turbines nearingmaximum efficiency, engineers andscientists began focusing more on suchissues as arranging arrays of turbinesto make maximum use of winds, im-proving wind forecasting and usingremote-sensing technology to automat-ically reposition blades to take betteradvantage of gusts. Such research canhelp wind farms generate more powerin low-wind situations.

Over the past decade, concernsabout climate change, energy securityand the long-term availability of fos-sil fuels have spurred rapid expansionof wind and other forms of renew-able energy in the United States andoverseas. The U.S. wind-power indus-try expanded by as much as 50 per-cent annually, increasing capacity from2.5 gigawatts in 2000 to about 40 atthe end of 2010. 20

Much of the expansion stemmedfrom the enactment of renewable-energy standards by more than twodozen states, beginning with Iowain 1983. The federal production taxcredit, first enacted in 1992 as partof comprehensive energy legislation,has also spurred wind-farm devel-opment — although its expiration in1999 and again in 2003 caused spo-radic growth. In 2005, the UnitedStates re-established itself as the worldleader in wind-energy capacity, onlyto lose the title last year to China,which is aggressively turning towind to help meet its fast-growingenergy needs.

European countries, seeking to cutcarbon-dioxide emissions, continueto use tax incentives and renewable-energy goals to promote wind energy.Wind accounts for 24 percent of elec-tricity use in Denmark, 14.4 percent inSpain, 14.8 percent in Portugal, 9.4 per-cent in Germany and 10.1 percent inthe Irish Republic. 21 Gains have re-quired creative approaches to the grid.Denmark, for example, sometimesexports energy to its neighbors andsometimes imports it, depending onfluctuations in winds.

Although wind energy is generallypopular in Europe, its increased usehas spurred controversy, especially overwind turbines in scenic areas and thecost of new transmission lines. More-over, concerns have arisen over highresidential electricity rates stemmingpartly from wind-energy subsidies, es-pecially in Denmark.

As wind developers begin runningout of optimal sites on land, they arelooking into more offshore locationswhere turbine towers can be securedto the sea bottom. Offshore windfarms present greater engineeringchallenges and are more expensive tobuild and maintain than those on land.But winds over the water are com-paratively reliable and contain less tur-bulence, which allows the turbines toextract more energy. Furthermore, off-shore turbines can support larger bladesand thereby generate more power.

Europe has emerged as a centerfor offshore development, partly be-cause it has limited sites for land-based wind farms. The United Stateshas yet to construct an offshore windfarm. But a number of projects areunder consideration, and U.S. InteriorSecretary Ken Salazar last year ap-proved development of the CapeWind project off Cape Cod, a pro-posed 130-turbine wind farm that hasfaced vigorous local opposition be-cause of potential visual and envi-ronmental impacts on Nantucket Sound.(See sidebar, p. 295.)

CURRENTSITUATION

White House Support

I n this year’s State of the Union ad-dress, President Obama set a goal of

Continued on p. 306

Wind Supplies Tiny Slice of U.S. Energy

Wind power and other renewable-energy sources supplied less than 10 percent of U.S. energy in 2009. Most of the renewable energy came from hydroelectric and biomass sources, with small amounts produced by wind, solar and geothermal power. More than 80 percent of the nation’s electricity came from oil, natural gas and coal.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, August, 2010, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/alternate/page/renew_energy_consump/rea_prereport.html

Sources of the Nation’s Energy Supply, 2009

Petroleum37%

NaturalGas25%

Coal21%

Nuclear9%

Renewable

8%


no


At Issue:Should the federal government do more to support wind energy?yes

yesDENISE BODECEO, AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION

WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER, APRIL 2011

w ind power is here. Today wind power is a major,mainstream source of electricity that successfullycompetes in all ways with any of the more traditional

sources of energy. Wind power, for example, competes on size.This safe, inexhaustible resource accounts for 35 percent of allnew electricity generation since 2007 — more than coal andnuclear combined. Wind power also competes on cost. Newwind installations beat new coal and nuclear plants on electricitycost and are competitive with natural gas. Thus, no technologicaladvances are needed to bring wind power into the mainstream.It already is.

Still, policy incentives are needed — but only to level theplaying field. The Congressional Research Service notes that formore than 90 years, fossil-fuel industries have been receiving sub-sidies via generous tax breaks. They are seldom debated or, forthat matter, heard of, because they are permanent. Examining theissue during the Bush administration, the Government Account-ability Office concluded that fossil fuels continue to receive nearlyfive times the tax incentives as renewable energy. Moreover, ontop of direct subsidies, fossil fuels cost Americans $120 billion an-nually in health damages, according to a National Academy ofSciences report commissioned by the Bush administration.

Wind power, meanwhile, has had to compete despite re-ceiving only one- and two-year policy extensions. Yet the in-dustry already boasts 85,000 jobs and 400 manufacturingplants in the United States — making the wind-power industryone of the fastest-growing manufacturing sectors in America.

Strong policy support for fossil fuels during the last centuryhelped create an abundance of affordable domestic energy,powering strong economic growth. It also created an addictionto fossil fuels. But rising demand, volatile prices and instabilityoverseas have created the need for a more diverse energysupply. With wind power, utilities can lock in power priceswith 20-year contracts, providing a hedge against fuel-priceincreases and volatility. Wind is a fuel, and it’s free.

America boasts some of the world’s best wind resources.There’s enough wind-energy potential to power this land 10times over. Iowa already makes 15 percent of its electricityfrom wind, and soon wind’s share will be 20 percent. In2008, the Department of Energy confirmed what the industryalready knew — that wind can provide 20 percent of the na-tion’s electricity by 2030. The industry is anxious to meet thatbenchmark. It just needs a little policy stability to do so.no

DANIEL SIMMONSDIRECTOR OF STATE AND REGULATORYAFFAIRS, INSTITUTE FOR ENERGY RESEARCH

WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER, APRIL 2011

t here is no justification for increasing support for wind. Itis time that wind pulls its own weight instead of relyingon taxpayers’ dollars and pleading for additional subsidies

and mandates.Wind proponents argue that wind is not a “mature” technol-

ogy and should therefore receive subsidies, set-asides and pref-erential treatment from the government. This argument ignoresthe fact that wind energy has been used for more than 7,000years. It also ignores the fact that wind has been used to pro-duce electricity for over 120 years. In fact, coal has been usedto make electricity for only five years longer than wind.

Wind may not seem like a “mature” technology because itis unreliable. People switched away from wind to othersources of energy such as coal, hydroelectric, natural gas andpetroleum because the wind doesn’t always blow, and theseother sources could be counted upon. For example, shippingbecame much more reliable when vessels switched from sailsto coal power.

Wind proponents also argue that their industry should re-ceive support because wind energy could reduce America’simports of oil. This is unlikely because wind produces electricitywhile cars and trucks run on gasoline and diesel.

Electric vehicles might reduce oil consumption, but they arenot competitive with gas and diesel vehicles. Nissan has soldonly 173 Leafs, and Chevy has sold 928 Volts. These anemicsales should improve, but electric cars are very expensive andlack the range of conventional vehicles. For over 100 years,people have been trying to build electric vehicles that are com-petitive with conventional vehicles. They have yet to succeed.

The wind lobby also argues that wind should receive subsi-dies because conventional fuels do. While fossil fuels receivelarger total subsidies, if the comparison is made on a per-unit-of-energy-output basis, wind subsidies dwarf conventional en-ergy subsidies. According to the Energy Information Adminis-tration, total federal subsidies for wind-generated electricity forfiscal 2007 were $23.37 per megawatt hour, compared to $1.59for nuclear, 44 cents for coal and 25 cents for natural gas andpetroleum liquids. Our energy and fiscal situation would beimproved if we removed all energy subsidies.

Wind energy does not merit increased government support.Federal policies have supported wind power for decades de-spite the fact that it is inefficient and unreliable. Wind is amature energy technology. It’s time that it starts acting like it.

306 CQ Researcher

generating 80 percentof the nation’s energyfrom so-called clean-energy sources by 2035.“Some folks want windand solar,” Obama said.“Others want nuclear,clean coal and naturalgas. To meet this goal,we will need them all— and I urge Democ-rats and Republicans towork together to makeit happen.” 22

From the viewpointof wind and other re-newable-energy indus-tries, the proposalmarked a strategic re-treat. The House in 2009voted to require that20 percent of the na-tion’s energy come fromrenewable sources by2020, and the Senate En-ergy and Natural Re-sources Committee ap-proved a 15 percentrenewable-energy stan-dard that would havetaken effect in 2021. Nei-ther proposal, howev-er, reached Obama’sdesk before Congressadjourned, largely be-cause of bitter debate inCongress over climate-change legislation.

By broadening theproposed energy stan-dard to include nuclear, natural gasand clean coal, Obama hoped to drawsupport from those industries — cru-cial to his energy agenda given thesharply conservative tilt of Congressfollowing the 2010 elections.

“Obama’s broadened the con-stituency by proposing a clean-energystandard, and that might help hisplan get more support,” says SaurabhSingh, a senior research associate

with the investment firm Sanford C.Bernstein & Co. But, Singh adds, “Thestandard that’s proposed is veryamorphous right now. It’s a big pic-ture. A lot of work needs to go intodefining clean energy.”

The wind industry, which prefers arenewable-energy standard, is respond-ing cautiously until more details of theplan emerge. A major issue is whethera standard would include provisions

to ensure that a percent-age of the nation’s energycomes from renewablesources — perhaps by in-cluding a specific targetwithin the broader cleanenergy goal. Or, alterna-tively, would the legisla-tion allow natural gas andcoal to continue to dom-inate electricity markets,which the wind industryargues could prevent windfrom expanding?

“Whether Congresslooks at the renewable-energy standard or theclean-energy standard, theyshould be focused on en-suring diversity in our en-ergy portfolio,” says Gram-lich of the American WindEnergy Association. “A bigpart of their responsibilityis to avoid fuel-price volatil-ity. Wind can offer a stableprice, but I’m not aware ofany non-renewable sourcesthat can do the same.”

While the president’s pro-posal for a clean-energy stan-dard is likely to generatedebate over the nation’s en-ergy future, it appears toface long odds in the cur-rent Congress. A number ofDemocrats greeted Obama’splan with enthusiasm, butRepublicans argued that afederal standard could driveup electricity rates and un-

duly favor one energy sector over an-other. Leaving such mandates to thestates would be wiser, they said.

“A clean-energy standard is betterthan a renewable-energy standard orone that picks and chooses among thekinds of energy,” said Sen. Lamar Alexan-der, R-Tenn. “But I would prefer to letstates make these decisions.” 23

Added Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairmanof the House Energy and Commerce

WIND POWER


Wind turbines tower over a farmhouse in rural northern Illinois.The battle between operators of wind farms and residents tryingto stop their development is reaching a crescendo in Wisconsin,where the wind industry says proposed statewide standards for

locating turbines will stymie their construction. Somehomeowners say the flickering shadows and noise from

giant turbines are so distracting that they want to sell their houses — if they can — and move.

Get

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Committee, “energy independence isnot achieved through government de-pendence.” 24

In addition to a clean-energy stan-dard, the wind industry is keeping aclose eye on federal incentives, suchas the production tax credit for re-newable energy. Last extended as partof an economic stimulus plan in 2010,the credit will expire next year. A toppriority for the wind industry is makingthe credit permanent, or at least passinga long-term extension.

“All the traditional energy sourceshave their support permanently, butwind only has it for a year or two,”says Gates of Clipper Windpower.The uncertainty over the tax credit“has a negative effect on the businessand . . . long-term job growth.”

The wind industry is concerned thatallowing the tax credit to expire wouldstunt new investment. Over the lastdecade, the industry has experiencedboom-and-bust cycles, with growthplummeting by 70 to 90 percent inyears such as 2004 after the tax creditwas allowed to expire.

Given congressional concerns overthe budget deficit, however, analysts warnthat a renewal of the production taxcredit is far from certain.

“When we go into the expiration atthe end of 2012, we’re going to havea very difficult debate,” says ChristineTezak, senior energy and policy ana-lyst at the international investment firmRobert W. Baird & Co. “It will be verychallenging for the industry.”

As for the desire to make the pro-duction tax credit permanent, she saysflatly, “A permanent extension is adream too far.”

Not in My Backyard

T he battle between energy compa-nies that want to install new wind

farms and residents trying to stop de-velopment is reaching a crescendo inWisconsin. The wind industry is con-

cerned that proposed statewide stan-dards for selecting locations for tur-bines will make it virtually impossibleto build new wind farms and may en-ergize wind opponents in other states.

Local officials in Wisconsin, as inmany other states, have the authority todetermine how close a wind turbine maybe built to a house or property line. Thishas led to a conflicting set of rules, withresidents worried that wind farms areencroaching on farms and subdivisions.

Some homeowners say the flickeringshadows and noise from giant turbinesis so distracting that they want to sell

their houses and move. But that can bedifficult. Nearby turbines can drive downproperty values by 40 percent, accordingto the Wisconsin Realtors Association.

“Residents have indicated that the tur-bines that are located too close to homescan have an adverse impact on theirhealth — everything from high anxietylevels to high blood pressure to rapidheart rate,” says Tom Larson, chief lob-byist and director of legal and public af-fairs for the association. He adds thatflickering shadows from the turbines are“like the Bat-signal [for Batman] right onyour house, constantly. It’s a big deal.They [the turbines] are monsters.”

The debate over wind-turbine set-backs, which pits property owners

against the wind industry, erupted inDecember when Wisconsin’s PublicService Commission approved rules that,among other things, prevent local gov-ernments from requiring wind turbinesto be built more than 1,250 feet froma house. The wind industry viewed thenew rules as a model for replacing aconfusing and often shifting patchworkof city and county regulations with asingle, predictable statewide standard.

But the new setback standard drewsharp criticism from property owners.Republican Gov. Scott Walker proposedmuch a stricter standard, barring tur-

bines from being built within 1,800feet of a property line. The situationis now in limbo. A joint legislativecommittee voted March 1 to suspendthe rules, giving local governments, atleast temporarily, the power to estab-lish setbacks on a case-by-case basis.Meanwhile, lawmakers are consider-ing a bill to give the Public ServiceCommission seven months to revisethe rules.

If Walker’s proposal were adopted,“that would be pretty devastating,” saysGramlich of the American Wind En-ergy Association. He warns that therequirements are so strict that winddevelopers would be unable to buildnew wind farms in Wisconsin.

“Residents have indicated that the turbines that arelocated too close to homes can have an adverse impact on their health — everything from high anxiety levels

to high blood pressure to rapid heart rate.” — Tom Larson

Director of Legal and Public Affairs,

Wisconsin Realtors Association

308 CQ Researcher

WIND POWER

Some worry that Wisconsin’s ap-proach, if adopted in other states, couldprevent the nation from expanding itswind-energy capabilities. Larson saysWisconsin has become a national battle-ground on the issue.

“We’ve seen a lot of involvementfrom national organizations,” he says.He worries that unless the two sidesare able to reach a compromise, thecontroversy will continue to roil thestate. “I think there’ll be lawsuits,” hesays. “I think it’ll be a mess.”

OUTLOOK‘Delicate Circumstances’

I t seems unlikely that the federal gov-ernment will adopt a clean-energy

standard any time soon, analysts say.Congress is too focused on other high-ly contentious issues, such as cuttingthe budget and rolling back regulations.

“The big challenge for a [clean en-ergy standard] is that right now thestars are not particularly aligned for it,”says Baird & Co.’s Tezak. She gives ita slight chance of passing, especiallyif supporters try to attach it to a largerenergy measure. But, she adds, “that isone delicate set of circumstances.”

Investment analyst Singh is evenmore dubious. “I think the chances ofObama’s clean-energy standard passingin the near term are effectively zerobecause it’s going to be a pretty am-bitious target that’s going to affect a lot

of people and companies, and I don’tthink Republicans want to support abig program right now,” he says.

Without a boost in government sup-port, the short-term outlook for the U.S.wind industry is uncertain. It faces twochallenges: Demand for new energy hasdeclined because of the economicdownturn, and natural gas prices are atunusually low levels — making gas anattractive alternative to wind. As a result,new wind installations in 2010 were onlyhalf the level of 2009. (See graph, p. 301.)China likely installed three times as muchnew wind capacity as the United Statesin 2010, and Europe twice as much. 25

In addition to the competition withtraditional fuel sources, wind maysoon face increased competition fromsolar energy. Singh says technical in-novations could start driving downsolar prices in the next five years. Andsolar offers some advantages over wind:Rooftop photovoltaic cells reduce theneed for transmission lines, and ener-gy from the sun tends to correspondwith peak consumer demand.

Singh says that wind may eventuallyaccount for about 10 percent of the na-tion’s electricity consumption, “but muchhigher than that is unlikely. Wind willdefinitely have decent growth rates. ButI think the growth rates over time willbecome less than solar.”

Industry executives, however, are morebullish on wind’s long-term prospects.Gates of Clipper Windpower believesthat the peak growth years of the lastdecade, in which the wind industry addedas much as 10 gigawatts of capacity, maybe hard to replicate. But he sees steadygrowth of about 5 gigawatts yearly. “The

industry has potential,” he says. “Theworld needs more electricity. It needsmore generation of every type.”

Some renewable-energy advocatesenvision a future in which wind playsa vital role in meeting the world’s en-ergy needs. They believe technologi-cal innovations, such as storing sur-plus wind energy in giant batteries andusing wind power to fuel electric cars,can, along with conservation and otherrenewable sources, eventually makefossil fuels virtually obsolete.

Although supporters and skepticsmay disagree over the extent to whichwind farms may help to power Ameri-ca, both sides agree that there is noshortage of wind energy’s key ingredi-ent. As Paul Denholm, a senior energyanalyst at the National Renewable En-ergy Lab puts it, “In terms of the rawresource, there’s plenty there.”

Notes

1 Quoted in Andrea Thompson, “First U.S.Town Powered Completely By Wind,” LiveScience, July 15, 2008, www.livescience.com/2704-town-powered-completely-wind.html.2 For background, see the following CQ Re-searcher reports: Jennifer Weeks, “Modernizingthe Grid,” Feb. 19, 2010, pp. 145-168; MarciaClemmitt, “Energy and Climate,” July 24, 2009,pp. 621-644; and Barbara Mantel, “Energy Ef-ficiency,” May 19, 2006, pp. 433-456.3 Statistics for wind and other energy sourcesin the United States from the U.S. Energy In-formation Administration, “Electric Power Industry2009: Year in Review,” revised Jan. 4, 2011, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epa_sum.html.Statistics for Iowa from the Iowa Policy Project,“Think Wind Power, Think ‘Iowa,’ ” March 2010,www.iowapolicyproject.org/2010docs/100303-IPP-wind.pdf.4 John Lorinc, “Study Suggests Wind PowerPotential Is Much Higher Than Current Esti-mates,” The New York Times, July 16, 2009, http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/study-suggests-wind-power-potential-is-much-higher-than-current-estimates/; and Marc Schwartz,Donna Heimiller, Steve Haymes and WaltMusial, “Assessment of Offshore Wind Ener-

About the AuthorDavid Hosansky is a freelance writer in the Denver areawho specializes in environmental issues. He previously wasa senior writer at CQ Weekly and the Florida Times-Unionin Jacksonville, where he was twice nominated for a PulitzerPrize. His previous CQ Researcher reports include “FoodSafety” and “Youth Suicide.”


gy Resources in the United States,” NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory, June 2010, www.nrel.gov/news/press/2010/885.html.5 “Non-fossil fuels to take up 11.4% of China’senergy,” China Daily, March 4, 2011, www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-03/04/content_12117490.htm.6 “Wind industry finishes 2010 with half theinstallations of 2009, activity up in 2011, nowcost-competitive with natural gas,” AmericanWind Energy Association, Jan. 24, 2011, www.awea.org/newsroom/pressreleases/release_01-24-11.cfm.7 “Wind Power in America’s Future: 20% WindEnergy by 2030,” U.S. Department of Energy,2008, p. 20, www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/pdfs/41869.pdf.8 Wind turbine capacity is given in ibid., p. 221;capacity for other energy sources is providedby U.S. Energy Information Administration,“Electric Power Annual,” revised Jan. 4, 2011,www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epaxlfile5_2.pdf.9 “Wind Power in America’s Future,” ibid., p. 95.10 “U.S. Poll Shows Wind Works for Ameri-cans,” American Wind Energy Association,April 22, 2010, http://archive.awea.org/newsroom/releases/04-22-10_Poll_Shows_Wind_Works_for_Americans.html.11 “Wind Power: Impacts on Wildlife andGovernment Responsibilities for RegulatingDevelopment and Protecting Wildlife,” U.S.General Accounting Office, September 2005,p. 2, www.gao.gov/new.items/d05906.pdf.12 Quoted in Maria Glod, “Court constrictsW. Va. wind farm to protect bats,” The Wash-ington Post, Dec. 10, 2009, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/09/AR2009120904106.html.13 U.S. General Accounting Office, op. cit.14 Ibid., p. 19.15 Robert Bryce, Power Hungry: The Myths of“Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Fu-ture (2010), p. 84.16 “How Less Became More: Wind, Power andUnintended Consequences in the ColoradoEnergy Market,” Bentek Energy, April 16, 2010,p. 9, www.bentekenergy.com/documents/bentek_how_less_became_more_100420-319.pdf.17 “By Meeting Renewable Energy Goal 15 YearsAhead of Schedule, Texas Shows Policies Work,”Public Citizen, April 6, 2010, http://texasvox.org/2010/04/06/by-meeting-renewable-energy-goal-15-years-ahead-of-schedule-texas-shows-policies-work/.18 For background, see Peter Katel, “Oil Jitters,”CQ Researcher, Jan. 4, 2008, pp. 1-24.

19 “Wind Power in America’s Future,” op. cit.,p. 6.20 “Wind Powering America,” Department ofEnergy Wind and Water Power Program, www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_installed_capacity.asp.21 “Wind in Power: 2010 European Statistics,”European Wind Energy Association, February2011, www.ewea.org/fileadmin/ewea_documents/documents/statistics/EWEA_Annual_Statistics_2010.pdf.22 White House press office, www.whitehouse.

gov/the-press-office/2011/01/25/remarks-president-state-union-address.23 Darren Goode, “State of the Union 2011:Key senators laud Obama ‘clean energy’ push,”Politico, Jan. 16, 2011, www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48209.html#ixzz1GVTCjN1H.24 Ibid.25 “U.S. Wind Industry: 2010 Year in Review,”Sustainable Business, Jan. 7, 2011, www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/21684.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONAmerican Wind Energy Association, 1501 M St., N.W., Suite 1000, Washington, DC20005; (202) 383-2500; www.awea.org. National trade association representing wind-power project developers, suppliers, service providers and others in the wind industry.

Cape Wind, 75 Arlington St., Suite 704, Boston, MA 02116; (617) 904-3100;www.capewind.org. Wind farm proposed in Nantucket Sound; potential to be-come first offshore wind-energy project in U.S. coastal waters.

Clean Energy Research Centre, University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall,Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada; (604) 827-4342; www.cerc.ubc.ca.Seeks to reduce the environmental impact of energy use.

Energize Vermont, P.O. Box 605, Rutland, VT 05702; (802) 778-0660; www.energizevermont.org. Advocates for renewable energy in Vermont.

Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Indepen-dence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20585; (202) 586-8800; www.eia.doe.gov. Statis-tical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.

European Wind Energy Association, Rue d’Arlon 80, 1040 Brussels, Belgium;32-2-213-1811; www.ewea.org. Promotes use of wind power across Europe.

Global Wind Energy Council, Rue d’Arlon 80, 1040 Brussels, Belgium; 32-2-213-1897; www.gwec.net. Trade association for the international wind-energy industry.

Institute for Energy Research, 1100 H St., N.W., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005;(202) 621-2950; www.instituteforenergyresearch.org. Conducts research and analysis onthe functions, operations and regulations of global energy markets.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, 1617 ColeBlvd., Golden, CO 80401; (303) 275-3000; www.nrel.gov. The United States’ primarylaboratory for renewable-energy and energy-efficiency research and development.

Nature Conservancy, 4245 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, VA 22203; (703)841-5300; www.nature.org. Opposes many wind-turbine development projectsbecause of potential environmental consequences.

Public Citizen, 1600 20th St., N.W., Washington, DC 20009; (202) 588-1000;www.citizen.org. Consumer advocacy group lobbying for renewable-energy standards.

Rocky Mountain Institute, 1820 Folsom St., Boulder, CO 80302; (303) 245-1003;www.rmi.org. Think tank focusing on efficient use of natural resources.

Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 547-5552; www.ucsusa.org. Advocacy group whose focus includes environmental issues.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

310 CQ Researcher

Selected Sources

Bibliography

Books

Bryce, Robert, Power Hungry: The Myths of ‘Green’ Energyand the Real Fuels of the Future, Public Affairs, 2010.A veteran energy journalist presents an engaging but highly

critical look at sustainable-energy technologies, including wind.

Evans, Robert L., Fueling Our Future: An Introductionto Sustainable Energy, Cambridge University Press, 2007.The inaugural director of the Clean Energy Research Centre

at the University of British Columbia gives a balanced lookat sustainable energy.

Goodall, Chris, Ten Technologies to Save the Planet,Greystone Books, 2008.An expert on climate change analyzes the potential of wind

and other sustainable technologies to provide energy with-out high carbon-dioxide emission.

Naff, Clay Farris, ed., Fueling the Future: Wind, ThomsonGale, 2007.A science writer presents opposing viewpoints about con-

troversial aspects of wind energy, such as whether it canmeet future energy demand in a cost-effective manner.

Parks, Peggy, Wind Power, Reference Point Press, 2010.Parks offers a concise introduction to key wind-energy issues,

with plentiful graphics and quotes from leading experts.

Articles

Clayton, Mark, “How Enormous Batteries Could Safeguardthe Grid,” The Christian Science Monitor, March 22, 2009,www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Responsible-Tech/2009/0322/how-enormous-batteries-could-safeguard-the-power-grid.Clayton offers a comprehensive look at batteries and other

storage technologies that can boost efforts to integrate morewind energy into the electrical grid.

Fahey, Jonathan, “How Clean Is Obama’s Clean EnergyStandard?” The Associated Press, Jan. 26, 2011, viewed athttp://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=12771095.Fahey analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of various en-

ergy sources, including wind, that may be included under aclean-energy standard.

Gurwitt, Rob, “Renewable energy industry shows surpris-ing clout,” Stateline, Jan. 4, 2011, www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=539044.Gurwitt provides a fascinating look at the wind industry’s clout

in influencing policy makers across the political spectrum.

McNulty, Sheila, “Renewables in the US: uneven incentiveshamper growth,” Financial Times, Jan. 14, 2011, www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6f5e9afc-1f71-11e0-87ca-00144feab49a.html.McNulty explains how the U.S. wind industry is hampered by

uncertainty over future government policies, such as tax breaks.

Wald, Matthew L., “Wind Energy Bumps into Power Grid’sLimits,” The New York Times, April 27, 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/business/27grid.html.Wald examines the extent to which the nation’s limited trans-

mission system is holding back wind-energy development.

Reports

“U.S. Wind Energy Year-End 2010 Market Report,”Amer-ican Wind Energy Association, January 2011, www.awea.org/learnabout/publications/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=5083.A trade association provides statistics on the state of the

U.S. wind industry.

“Wind Power: Impacts on Wildlife and Government Re-sponsibilities for Regulating Development and Protect-ing Wildlife,”General Accounting Office, September 2005,www.gao.gov/new.items/d05906.pdf.The congressional watchdog group analyzes the potential

impacts of wind farms on wildlife.

“Wind Power in America’s Future: 20% Wind Energy by2030,” U.S. Department of Energy, 2008, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/pdfs/41869.pdf.The federal agency examines the potential benefits of wind

energy and the challenges of deriving 20 percent of the nation’selectricity from the renewable resource by 2030.

Kreutzer, David, Karen Campbell, William Beach, BenLieberman and Nicolas Loris, “A Renewable ElectricityStandard: What It Will Really Cost Americans,” HeritageFoundation, May 5, 2010, www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/05/A-Renewable-Electricity-Standard-What-It-Will-Really-Cost-Americans.A conservative think tank argues that a proposed federal

renewable-energy standard would be highly expensive andendanger the economy.

Logan, Jeffrey, and Stan Mark Kaplan, “Wind Power in theUnited States: Technology, Economic, and Policy Issues,”Congressional Research Service, June 20, 2008, accessed athttp://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34546_20080620.pdf.A concise and objective overview of the benefits and draw-

backs of wind energy, focusing on technology, economicsand policy issues.


Developments

Bardin, Sharla, “Pilot Project Uses the Power of Wind,”Roanoke (Va.)Times, April 20, 2010, p. NRV4, www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/243943.Virginia Tech researchers are working to install a wind tur-

bine at the YMCA in Blacksburg, Va., to determine the fea-sibility of wind power in an urban environment.

DeWitte, Dave, “MidAmerican Energy to Add 258 WindTurbines in 2011,” The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa),Dec. 30, 2010, easterniowabusiness.com/2010/12/28/midamerican-energy-to-add-258-wind-turbines-in-2011/.An energy company plans to increase the number of its

wind turbines in Iowa, with a focus on environmental re-sponsibility, reliability and price stability.

Jurlina, Emily, “Restaurant Takes Spin on the Green Side,”Chicago Sun-Times, April 22, 2010, p. 19.A Chicago-area restaurant owner says he has realized his

dream of going green after installing a wind turbine to provideelectricity for his establishment.

Energy Potential

Friedman, Matt, “N.J. Stresses Wind’s Power Potential,”The Record (Bergen County, N.J.), Dec. 2, 2010, p. A4.An advocacy group in New Jersey says commercially viable

wind power off the state’s coast can generate electricity forall 3 million homes in the state.

Lydersen, Kari, “Green Living: Wind Turbines Power a BronxApartment Complex,” The Christian Science Monitor,Aug. 7, 2010, www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2010/0807/Green-living-Wind-turbines-power-a-Bronx-apartment-complex.Ten wind turbines mounted atop an apartment complex

in the Bronx, N.Y., generate enough power for all tenantswhen the wind blows steadily.

Turmelle, Luther, “Report: Offshore Wind Projects CouldPower 1.5M Homes,” New Haven (Conn.) Register, Dec. 2,2010, p. D1, www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/12/07/business/dd1_wind1202120710.txt.A report by several labor groups concludes that enough

wind power exists off the New England coast to powerabout 1.5 million homes in the region.

Environmental Impact

Darragh, Tim, “Study: Energy Push Has Cost to Nature,”Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), Nov. 16, 2010, p. A5, articles.mcall.com/2010-11-15/news/mc-allentown-drilling-wind-20101115_1_natural-gas-marcellus-shale-coalition-natural-diversity-inventory.

The push to develop wind power in Pennsylvania could wreakhavoc on hundreds of acres of forest and disrupt critical nat-ural habitats, according to the Nature Conservancy.

Fallon, Scott, “DEP Calls Turbine Risks ‘Negligible,’ ”Herald News (Passaic County, N.J.), June 19, 2010, p. A3,www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-regional-local/15307906-1.html.New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection says

there would be negligible environmental consequences ifthe state decides to harness offshore wind power.

Scott, Karen, “Turbines on Poor Mountain Would Have LargeImpact,” Roanoke (Va.) Times, March 29, 2010, p. A11.Environmentalists say the development of wind turbines

on a mountain in Virginia would lead to land clearing andsoil erosion that would have negative consequences.

Regulations

Anderson, Jim, “Afton Joins List of Cities Regulating WindTurbines,”Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.), July 25, 2010,p. B1, www.startribune.com/local/east/99182779.html?elr=KArks:DCiUtEia_nDaycUiacyKUUr.More and more cities in Minnesota are crafting regulations

for wind turbines as the technology becomes more popular.

Briggs, James, “Legislative Winds in Wisconsin CouldBlow Business to Illinois,” Daily Reporter (Milwaukee),Jan. 25, 2011, dailyreporter.com/blog/2011/01/25/legislative-winds-could-blow-business-to-illinois/.New Wisconsin regulations restricting the development of

wind turbines could lead companies that specialize in windfarms to bring more of their business to neighboring Illinois.

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Jost, K. (2001, November 16). Rethinking the death penalty.CQ Researcher, 11, 945-968.

CHICAGO STYLE

Jost, Kenneth. “Rethinking the Death Penalty.” CQ Researcher,November 16, 2001, 945-968.

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Documents

Wind Power Eng101