By 2050, United States of America will be meeting 35 percent of its electricity needs from wind energy.
The US department of energy has stated this in a recent report titled ‘Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States’, based on a comprehensive analysis of the US wind energy industry.
According to the report, America has been progressing steadily in advancing its climate goals based on a comprehensive climate action plan put forward by President Barack Obama in June 2013.
“Today we harness three times as much of electricity from wind and 10 times as much from the sun as we did since President Obama took office. Wind energy is emerging as a powerhouse in the US energy mix — supporting over 50,000 American jobs and supplying enough energy to power 16 million homes,” The White House Blog has stated.
Wind energy has been a key contributor in delivering energy independence and energy security to the US. It covers a third of all new generating capacity created over the past five years. And the country is the top wind power generator of the world.
According to the White House Blog, the Obama administration has proposed a permanent extension of production tax credit for wind.
The department of energy report states that America could reduce more than 12.3 billion tonnes of carbon pollution — a third of global annual carbon emissions — cumulatively by 2050. Besides, the growth in wind energy industry could generate more than 600,000 jobs by 2050, including engineers, construction workers, truck drivers, factory workers, utility operators, maintenance technicians, electricians, and other supporting services.
Further, the growth in wind power generation could save about 260 billion gallons of water — about 23 percent of current usage by conventional power projects — by 2050, the report has stated.
Ajith Kumar S
editor@greentechlead.com