Denise Bode, AWEA
Newsrooms, websites and social media have been enthusiastically reporting this past week that the United States wind power sector now has installed at least 50 gigawatts of electric generating capacity.
Chuck Grassley, a Republican Senator from Iowa, said in an American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) press release that attaining 50 GW of wind energy is a milestone for the US sector. “This milestone for wind-energy production marks continued success for this clean, renewable and domestically produced energy source,” Grassley said.
Frank Lucas, a Republican Representative from Oklahoma, also called the new level of installed wind power a milestone: “It is amazing that 50,000 megawatts of our nation’s power is generated from clean and affordable wind energy,” Lucas said. “This is a very big milestone for the wind industry.” continue reading »
Nancy Sutley, White House Council on Environmental Quality
As US citizens prepare for the summer season and federal politicians lobby for votes in the upcoming November election, an increasingly acrimonious debate over extending the nation’s main wind power incentive continues.
On Monday, Nancy Sutley, President Barack Obama’s principal environmental advisor and Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, joined other politicians in Saint Paul, Minnesota to highlight the need for Congress to extend the existing Production Tax Credit (PTC).
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“At a time of austerity, Greek citizens cannot afford to support practices which prolong energy dependence. The choice of importing oil and gas versus producing renewable energy within the EU, and encouraging clean energy exports among Member States, is obvious”, Greek Energy Minister George Papakonstantinou told Wind Directions magazine recently.
He also rebutted the myth that renewables are expensive, saying it was a view he didn’t share, “especially in regard to proven and tested technologies such as wind and solar PV, whose investment costs have been lowered significantly in the last few years. continue reading »
Wind power and the rest of the global renewable energy sector received good news earlier this week in two related reports that showed investments in the green technologies reached €205 billion last year, a new record level.
The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report, published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), noted that last year’s investment total increased by 17% over the 2010 level despite the ongoing economic crisis.
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EWEA public debate
The European Wind Energy Association believes it, and now the European Commission has confirmed it believes it too: wind energy creates economic growth and jobs.
In fact, in a Communication on renewable energy published today, the Commission says that a strong growth in renewables “could generate over 3 million jobs” and “would result in a net GDP growth by 0.36-0.4% by 2030”.
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