Power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. With the federal Environmental Protection Agency unveiling new rules this week regulating the amount of carbon pollution released by existing power plants, many Americans should know what can be done to meet these standards, including ways we can do so without significantly raising electricity rates or hurting the economy.
Fortunately, there's good news. We don't have to give up economic growth in exchange for keeping our air clean. Wind power is already working to achieve these goals as it is one of the biggest, fastest, cheapest ways to help us reduce carbon emissions within the electric power sector while also driving significant economic development.
A prime example of this fact can be found right here on the border of two windy states. The Gem State ranks in the top 10 states in which wind energy is helping to reduce carbon emissions. Wind power installed here avoids 303,000 metric tons of carbon emissions a year - the equivalent of taking 50,000 cars off the road. At the same time wind has attracted $1.9 billion in capital investment to Idaho and supports up to 500 good-paying jobs.
Across the line in Washington, the story is even more impressive. Wind avoids enough carbon dioxide to take the equivalent of 600,000 cars off the road - 3.7 million metric tons a year. Evergreen State wind power represents more than $5.3 billion in private investment, energizing up to 2,000 workers. Wind energy's ability to provide affordable, carbon-free power crosses state lines.
Continued leadership in Idaho and Washington on clean energy warrants praise because it demonstrates wind and clean energy technologies can improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions both cost effectively and reliably, and importantly on the state's own terms by applying the best local solutions and tools.
A typical 2 megawatt wind turbine avoids the equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of more than 700 cars. And across the U.S. in 2013, wind power reduced carbon emission by 127 million tons, the equivalent of reducing power sector emissions by more than 5 percent, or taking 20 million cars off the road.
According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, by obtaining 30 percent of the nation's electricity needs from wind, we would cut power sector emissions 37 percent. More than a dozen utility and independent grid operator studies have already found wind can reliably provide a larger share of our electricity needs, which will, in turn, reduce emissions in even larger amounts.
Wind keeps the air clean by avoiding more than just carbon dioxide emissions. Wind energy reduces other harmful air pollutants including 347 million pounds a year of acid rain-producing sulfur dioxide and 214 pounds a year of smog-forming nitrogen dioxide.
Wind energy's ability to reduce emissions comes as the industry has improved wind turbine technology and lowered costs by 43 percent in four years.
The Energy Information Agency and financial advisory firm Lazard find wind is one of the lowest cost options for new electric generation, and utilities agree.
We don't have to sacrifice higher electricity bills in exchange for reducing carbon emissions with wind power either. New data from the Department of Energy show ratepayers in states with the most wind energy have saved the most on their electric bills. And multiple studies from independent groups show adding wind power into our energy mix saves billions of dollars while maintaining electricity reliability.
Altogether American wind power fosters economic development in all 50 states, not just the ones where wind is significantly reducing carbon emissions. And wind attracts up to $25 billion a year in private investment into our national economy while powering a domestic manufacturing supply chain of more than 560 facilities across 43 states and supporting over 50,000 jobs.
By providing stable, long-term policy that appropriately values carbon-free electricity, state and federal governments can ensure wind power continues to lead the way by reducing carbon emissions today, and for generations to come.
Tom Kiernan is CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, which describes itself as a lobbying force for wind development and a voice for wind manufacturers in the United States.
