Increase wind power

ONSHORE AND OFFSHORE WIND POWER COULD PROVIDE MORE THAN 13 TIMES THE WORLD'S CURRENT ENERGY CONSUMPTION.

Wind power currently accounts for less than 3% of global energy supply.

map illustration sources: onshore wind - 5km wind map at 80m, Vaisala; offshore wind – Global Wind Atlas, World Bank Group, ESMAP, Vortex. Improved Offshore Wind Resource Assessment in Global Climate Stabilization Scenarios, NREL

"WIND IS EITHER COMPETITIVE WITH OR LESS EXPENSIVE THAN COAL-GENERATED ELECTRICITY - AND IT HAS NO FUEL COSTS AND NO POLLUTION."

"Onshore wind farms have small footprints, typically using no more than 1 percent of the land they sit on, so grazing, farming, recreation, or conservation can happen simultaneously with power generation... [and] winds over sea are more consistent than those over land."

source: Project Drawdown: Onshore Wind Power | Offshore Wind Turbines

SURFACE AREA REQUIRED TO POWER THE WORLD WITH WIND ENERGY ALONE

Area required to meet projected energy demand in 2030: 5,850,000 km2

These 22 contiguous areas estimate the reasonable responsibility for various parts of the world to supply the entire energy demand estimated for the year 2030. Source:  “Surface Area Required to Power the World with Zero Carbon Emissions and With Offshore Wind Alone” Land Art Generator, 2009

BEST PRACTICE: BLOCK ISLAND WIND FARM

“In a first for America, the ocean breeze is now generating clean renewable power offshore... Though the Block Island Wind Farm is small...it is the first successful offshore wind development in the United States, and it sets up the possibility for offshore wind projects elsewhere along the coast”

Source: “America’s First Offshore Wind Farm Spins to Life” Kayan Szymczak, The New York Times, 12/14/2016.

OFFSHORE WIND POTENTIAL IN THE UNITED STATES

“...if wind farms were built in all of the suitable areas, including in the Great Lakes... they could provide up to twice as much electricity as the country now uses.”

Source: “America’s First Offshore Wind Farm Spins to Life” New York Times; United States Wind Resource Map, NREL