Healing Appalachia: Sustainable Living through Appropriate Technology

3. Wind Power

The gentle shushing sound of our small wind generator is soft and relaxing—almost meditative. We like to think of it as the sound of coal not being mined. In a state ravaged by mountaintop -removal mining, wind power is a practical, ethical, and Earth-friendly choice. Our area of West Virginia is visited every winter by substantial snow and ice storms, during which our neighbors may lose electric power for days at a time. Our alternative power system keeps right on going! We are delighted to be able to express our ecological values in the energy we use. Carol Warren and Todd Garland, Webster Springs, West Virginia Wind power is far from new. In the seventeenth century, England had ten thousand windmills of 10 to 20 horsepower each; in the same period, twelve thousand wind machines were operating in the Netherlands, primarily to reclaim inundated cropland.1 In the nineteenth century, American wind devices were mostly found on the prairie and on individual farms, where they pumped water for livestock. Many of these devices survived even after cheap rural electrification programs, and some workable relics remain today. Even though the technology of these early devices and those of ancient Dutch windmills was notoriously ineffiCHAPTER 3 Wind Power 1. Christopher Flavin, The Turning Point, Worldwatch Paper 45 (Washington , D.C.: Worldwatch Institute, 1981). cient, the devices were reliable and satisfactory for the work that had to be done. Today, wind is the fastest-growing energy source in the world. Almost 11,531 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity was added in 2005, an increase of 40.5 percent over the previous year’s increase, with large percentage increases in North America and Asia. Denmark, a longtime leader in wind use (3,122 MW total capacity), now obtains a greater portion of its energy from wind than the United States does from nuclear facilities. Germany, after taking a number of measures related to renewable energy, including imposing energy taxes on nonrenewable energy sources, has the largest installed wind power capacity in the world: 18,428 MW. Spain (10,027 MW total wind capacity in 2005) has set an updated goal of 20,000 MW in 2011, or 15 percent of its national electricity consumption. In the Netherlands, consumers want green power, and their expanding wind farms cannot meet demand. The European Union uses more than four times the wind power that we do in the United States and reached its 2010 goal of 40,000 MW five years ahead of time. Wind now accounts for 3 percent of total energy use on the Continent. Europeans recognize that wind has two advantages: it is virtually environmentally benign, and with improvements in technology , wind-generated electricity is going down in price. Unlike nonrenewable energy sources, wind power generation entails no chemical emissions or major land disturbance. And wind equipment today is far more efficient than its forebears of just a few years ago and has advanced from state-of-the-art devices with limits of 550 kW each in 1996 to over three times that limit as of this writing. Wholesale wind-generated electric rates are dropping rapidly; they are now as low as 3 cents a kilowatt hour and will be falling toward the 2-cent range in the coming years. Wind is now competitive with coal and other fossil fuels, and the utility companies seem to recognize this better than our national policymakers. Wind Power ❖ 49 In the future wind power will be used to break down water and generate hydrogen for the anticipated hydrogen economy. In this regard wind is recognized worldwide as the fuel of the future. U.S. WIND POWER Without political support, wind energy remains at a competitive disadvantage due to distortions in the world’s electricity markets created by decades of massive financial, political and structural support to conventional technologies. Arthouros Zervos, president, European Renewable Energy Council Unlike the European nations that committed themselves to reaching Kyoto treaty goals, the United States is playing catch-up with renewable energy applications. Americans are only starting to realize wind’s potential (9,149 MW total installed capacity in 2005). Denmark and other European nations are relatively small, compact nations whose population centers are close to wind energy sources; the United States has vast, untapped wind potential in many regions and near some but not all population centers. Transmission costs can be high to reach all population...