Throughout the Midwest, wind energy has caught on. In that region, ten states produce more than 10% of their electricity from wind, and Iowa and South Dakota top 20%. For the country as a whole, wind energy supplies 3.5% of our electricity, and at the current rate of growth this could reach 20% by 2030.
Windmills have sprung up rapidly, spurred by Federal tax subsidies for those who produce wind energy. Wind energy reduces our dependence on dirty coal, creates jobs, and lowers the risk of serious climate change.
Earlier grumbling about the death of birds and bats by wind turbines has largely disappeared, because we have a better understanding of how to site windmills away from these animals. It’s not that an occasional bird isn’t killed, but as an alternative, think of the devastation to bird populations by the removal of entire forests using mountain-top removal mining. People now grumble about government subsidies for wind power.
Would the explosive growth of wind power have happened without the Production Tax Credit to producers of wind energy? Probably not, but the collective advantages of wind power speak strongly for government programs to wean us from dependence on fossil fuels. Subsidies for wind power are one of the few issues in Washington that garner bipartisan support.
We can tilt at windmills, but it is certainly likely that there will be one near you before you know it.
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Photo, taken on November 25, 2010, courtesy of Theodore Scott via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.