• What does the U.S. wind industry contribute to the economy?
• What are America's current sources of electricity?
• How many people work in the U.S. wind industry?
• In what other ways does wind energy benefit the economy?
• I've heard that rising natural gas prices are hurting our economy. Is this a problem that wind energy can help to solve?
• I own some land that is windy. How can I build a wind farm on it?
• I support the concept of wind power. How can I invest in it?

What does the U.S. wind industry contribute to the economy?
Wind power supplies affordable, inexhaustible energy to the economy. It also provides jobs and other sources of income. Best of all, wind powers the economy without causing pollution, generating hazardous wastes, or depleting natural resources—it has no "hidden costs." Finally, wind energy depends on a free fuel source—the wind—and so it is relatively immune to inflation.

More reading:
Wind Energy and Economic Development: Building Sustainable Jobs and Communities, http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/EconDev.PDF

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What are America's current sources of electricity?
Coal, the most polluting fuel and the largest source of the leading greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), is currently used to generate more than half of all of the electricity (52%) used in the United States. Other sources of electricity are: natural gas (16%), oil (3%), nuclear (20%), and hydropower (7%).

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How many people work in the U.S. wind industry?
The U.S. wind industry currently directly employs more than 2,000 people. The wind industry contributes directly to the economies of 46 states, with power plants and manufacturing facilities that produce wind turbines, blades, electronic components, gearboxes, generators, and a wide range of other equipment.

The Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) estimates that every megawatt of installed wind capacity creates about 4.8 job-years of employment, both direct (manufacturing, construction, operations) and indirect (advertising, office support, etc.). This means that a 50-MW wind farm creates 240 job-years of employment.

Wind and solar energy are likely to furnish one of the largest sources of new manufacturing jobs worldwide during the 21st Century.

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In what other ways does wind energy benefit the economy?
Wind farms can revitalize the economy of rural communities, providing steady income through lease or royalty payments to farmers and other landowners. Although leasing arrangements vary widely, a reasonable estimate for income to a landowner from a single utility-scale turbine is about $3,000 a year. For a 250-acre farm, with income from wind at about $55 an acre, the annual income from a wind lease could be $14,000, with no more than 2-3 acres removed from production. Such a sum can significantly increase the net income from farming.

Farmers can grow crops or raise cattle next to the towers. Wind farms may extend over a large geographical area, but their actual "footprint" covers only a very small portion of the land, making wind development an ideal way for farmers to earn additional income. In west Texas, for example, farmers are welcoming wind, as lease payments from this new clean energy source replace declining payments from oil wells that have been depleted.

Farmers are not the only ones in rural communities to find that wind power can bring in income. In Spirit Lake, Iowa, the local school is earning savings and income from the electricity generated by a turbine. In the district of Forest City, Iowa, a turbine recently erected as a school project is expected to save $1.6 million in electricity costs over its lifetime.

Additional income is generated from one-time payments to construction contractors and suppliers during installation, and from payments to turbine maintenance personnel on a long-term basis. Wind farms also expand the local tax base, and keep energy dollars in the local community instead of spending them to pay for coal or gas produced elsewhere.

Finally, wind also benefits the economy by reducing "hidden costs" resulting from air pollution and health care. Several studies have estimated that 50,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of air pollution.

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I've heard that rising natural gas prices are hurting our economy. Is this a problem that wind energy can help to solve?
Yes. When a wind farm generates electricity in the U.S., the fuel that it is most likely to displace is natural gas. In mid-2003, when Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before Congress that rising natural gas prices were threatening the economy's future, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) estimated that U.S. wind plants were already reducing the national natural gas shortage by 10-15%. AWEA has stated that enough wind plants could be built within four years to eliminate the entire gas shortage (estimated at 3-4 billion cubic feet of gas per day). For more information, see http://www.awea.org/news/news030618gas.html

In 2001, the Colorado Public Utility Commission recognized wind's value as a hedge against volatile natural gas prices, requiring a major utility to include a wind plant in its generating mix in the state rather than relying solely on natural gas.

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I own some land that is windy. How can I build a wind farm on it?
A first step is to find out more about just how windy your land is—its "wind resource." You can find out more about this and other basic things you will need to know from 10 Steps in Building a Wind Farm, http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/10stwf_fs.PDF

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I support the concept of wind power. How can I invest in it?
The wind industry includes many companies which derive some or much of their revenue from wind-related business. To learn more about investing in one of them, see Investing in Wind Power, http://www.awea.org/pubs/factsheets/Investing_WP02.pdf

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