Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Renewable energy sources (like wind power) and energy efficiency can help the southern U.S. meet what is expected to be growing future electricity demand, but a lingering set of myths is hampering their development in the region, according to a new study, "Myths and Facts About Electricity in the U.S. South," by researchers from Duke and Georgia Tech. These misimpressions could have serious consequences--the South's population is expected to increase by 28 percent over the next 20 years, and wise use of resources will be needed to satisfy energy demand while reducing energy-related pollution.

The researchers used economic and energy modeling to examine ...

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"Colorado's Eastern Plains are a bit safer for prairie chickens — lesser and greater — and a spate of other animals and plants as the result of a unique partnership between conservation groups and the wind industry."

That's Denver Post reporter Mark Jaffe, describing a recent agreement by five environmental groups and 10 wind farm development companies on a series of best practices for wildlife management to guide wind development in Colorado.

The 15 organizations formed the Colorado Renewable & Conservation Collaborative, and have been working for the past three years to come up with the guidelines, aimed at protecting a number of species and fragile ecosystems. The best ...

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As the anti-wind docu-diatribe "Windfall" opened this weekend in Chicago and New York, AWEA extended an unusual invitation to noted film critic Roger Ebert to come visit an actual operating wind farm so he can better judge for himself whether the film tells the truth.

AWEA's letter, from AWEA VP for Public Affairs Peter Kelley, gets right to the heart of the matter: "It was disappointing to see such a normally clear-eyed film critic taken in by such a fact-free and slanted take on wind power."

Viewers may be taken in by Windfall's HD cinematography and lingering landscape views of rural New York landscapes, but there is little pretense of balance ...

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Windfall takes aim at clean, renewable wind energy with misinformation.

As one movie critic said: "The documentary isn’t big on hard data; instead, [Director Laura] Israel allows the majority of her interviewees to deliver anecdotes, speculation, anti-corporate conspiracy theories, and just a few statistics…the movie’s case relies more on emotional appeals and frightening images of giant machines than on real, objective number-crunching…the unbridled scare tactics cast too big a shadow over the agit-prop doc Israel ended up making." (Noel Murray, AV Club, Feb. 2, 2012)

The following facts set the record straight on the issues that Windfall raises:

Health:  

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Steve Milloy's recent Washington Times piece on the national energy policy issues currently before Congress tries to paint wind power as something Republicans don’t care about. Here are several of the points he missed:

The wind industry creates tens of thousands of American jobs

Mr. Milloy cites “vital wind-industry tax credits” that are soon to expire (namely the federal Production Tax Credit — PTC). He correctly notes that the wind industry is currently 75,000 jobs strong, but that these jobs are at risk if Congress allows the PTC to expire. In addition to the jobs figures that Mr. Milloy includes, the wind industry has also boosted the American industrial sector, expanding to over 400 manufacturing facilities ...

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Republican governors Terry Branstad of Iowa and Sam Brownback of Kansas provided some very specific support for the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) yesterday, urging members of the Congressional conference committee on the payroll tax deduction legislation to include a PTC extension in the bill.  Prospects for a PTC extension were also buoyed by positive comments from several Senators, both regarding the PTC and willingness to consider extending expiring tax provisions, during a hearing Tuesday.

In making their plea, Branstad and Brownback called for an "all-of-the-above" energy policy that promotes a diverse portfolio of domestic ...

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday became the latest group to support extending the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the key incentive that has helped the U.S. wind industry expand dramatically over the last decade.

In a Senate Finance Committee hearing on tax legislation, Caroline L. Harris, the Chamber's Chief Tax Counsel and Director of Tax Policy, testified as follows:

"Inaction on these provisions has real consequences. Businesses need certainty and predictability…

"When Congress fails to act, provisions such as the wind Production Tax Credit… do not operate efficiently. Industries that are in their infancy are ...

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Robert Bryce, rehashing previous articles written elsewhere, has a new opinion column in City Journal, the in-house publication of his employer, the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy, a group that receives funding from Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries, a major oil & gas producer.

Mr. Bryce's latest hymn to energy density, like the previous versions, omits some basic facts:

The actual amount of land used by wind power is very small.  The U.S. Department of Energy's 20% Wind Energy by 2030 Technical Report found that if wind power provided 20% of America's electricity, the actual space occupied by wind turbines, related equipment such as electrical substations, and service roads would be ...

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Two local newspapers, in the windy states of Kansas and Illinois, have added their voices to the New York Times and Denver Post in calling for an immediate extension of wind power's key incentive, the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC).

The Garden City (Kans.) Telegram noted yesterday that AWEA's recent wind power market report for the fourth quarter of 2011 shows the Sunflower State leading the nation with more than 1,188 MW of wind farms under construction.

It added, "The ample supply of wind in Kansas — ranked second among windiest states, with Texas first — wasn't the only driving force in new turbines, however, as a federal production tax credit helped fuel those projects ...

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The electric utility owned by one of America's best-known investors, a man noted for his thoughtful view of investment fundamentals, is planning a systematic organizational push into wind and other renewable forms of energy.

MidAmerican Energy, owned by Warren Buffett (known as the "Sage of Omaha" for his investment prowess), said this week that it will set up a new unregulated subsidiary to invest in wind, solar, geothermal and hydro projects. 

Of particular note were the comments of two senior MidAmerican officials regarding the new subsidiary.  Greg Abel, the utility's chairman, president and CEO, said, "We look forward to ...

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