You’ve no doubt been hearing plenty about wind energy as of late. Unless you happen to live there though, what you might not know is that wind power is already being used to meet a sizeable portion of energy needs in some parts of the country. In Texas, there are even oil tycoons and energy industry players not normally associated with renewable energy who are beginning to get into wind power. To learn more about the wind boom going in Texas and throughout the nation, read on.
GE has a one and a half billion dollar contract to supply turbines and maintenance for an Oregon wind farm over the next decade, a project expected to create about four hundred and fifty jobs. T. Boone Pickens, Texas oilman, is getting behind wind power in his state, and wind farms are popping up all over in the American Midwest. That’s because wind is worth a lot of money right now.
The US imports around 70% of the oil we use; and many argue that we need to become independent of foreign suppliers. Combined with the public awareness of the negative effects of burning fossil fuels, wind power has been getting more and more interest. Natural gas, a fossil fuel the US has larger reserves of is being examined as an alternative to foreign energy supplies along with an assist from renewable energies like wind power.
In some areas of Texas, it’s possible to drive for nearly 150 miles and see turbines all over the place. While not everyone loves how wind turbines look, there are just as many who look at these structures and see a future where the US can be energy independent. In Nolan County, Texas there are 1,500 wind generators in operation (which is approximately $5 billion worth of renewable energy technology). In this county alone, more energy is generated per year using wind power than is produced in the entire state of California.
Nolan County isn’t the only place in Texas with a wind boom underway. The Rolling Plains region of the state near Abilene is home to 2,000 fully functioning wind turbines and in the Permian Basin region near Odessa and Midland, 3,000 wind turbines generate about 6,000 megawatts. There are new turbines going up around the state; as many as three or four per day in some areas.
Clean, renewable and non-polluting, wind power has great promise for producing electrical energy. With energy industry giants like GE and T. Boone Pickens getting onboard, it seems that wind energy is something that Americans can count on becoming a more important part of how the nation’s energy needs are met along with solar power and other renewable energy technologies.
So can wind be the solution to our energy conundrums? Not everyone agrees on this, but this much is certain; wind power is already here and it is becoming more common every day.
About the author: Jerry Dyess specializes in Texas Electricity news and Texas Electric prices.
Tags: energy, environment, green, Texas, wind
