Wind power is becoming the fastest growing energy source on the planet. Last year wind electricity-generating capacity increased by 24 percent as compared with 2.5 percent for coal, 1.8 percent for nuclear power, 2.5 percent for natural gas, and 1.7 percent for oil. Within the last decade wind energy has increased 12 times from 5,000 megawatts to 59,100 megawatts.
There are ups and downs to this huge growth seen in wind power. An up side is the fact that wind power is clean, super clean with no emissions like oil based fuels or nuclear waste like nuclear power has. On the downside, wind power takes up a lot of space. Wind farms take up acres upon acres of land with loud turbine Windmills.
Some of the largest contributors to the increase in wind power is the advances made in technology to lower the noise production of these large turbines and to increase the efficiency of them to allow smaller footprints for wind farms. Also heading the way in helping wind power gain a footing is the 1.9 cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity produced from a wind farm. Money always helps markets grow.
We found this information at Common Dreams News Center. You can read more about wind power and replacing fossil fuels with alternative energies at their article… The Race to Replace Fossil Fuels
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