Thursday, December 10, 2009


One alternative to fossil fuels is wind power. Wind power is one of the most promising new energy sources there is out there. "As of 1999, global wind energy capacity topped 10,000 megawatts." (Alternative Energy) Now the U.S. can generate more than 25,000 megawatts of electricity from the wind, which is enough to power about 7 million average American homes. "Less than 5% of the land would be occupied by wind equipment-the remaining 95% could continue to be used for farming or ranching." (Alternative Energy)

A researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory said "20 years ago, wind-generated electricity cost about 40 cents a kilowatt hour. Whereas today it costs about five to eight cents a kilowatt hour, depending on the site you're at." (Robert Thresher, NREL) If a household used wind power for 25% of its needs, it would spend only $4 or $5 dollars per month for it and the price of it is still dropping. By using wind power it can prevent 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions every year and it can be a healthy way to power our lives.

3 comments:

  1. This seems to be very cost effective, especially for a struggling family who cannot afford gas or oil. Now we just have to work on converting households to be able to use wind energy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Where do you think are some places where wind turbine could be placed that are not be used for anything?

    ReplyDelete
  3. This all sounds like a great idea, but how much will it cost to convert a house that runs on oil to run on wind? I think that that will be the expensive part.

    ReplyDelete