Opinion: Is wind power the future of alternative energy?

Posted By Carter Ashforth on Oct 12, 2012 | 2 comments

Wind power has the potential to become a suitable substitute for fossil fuels, but what is the environmental and financial cost of alternative energy?

By Carter Ashforth, Staff Writer

The United States has been in a race against the global community for much of our generation’s existence to find the ideal alternative energy that can fill the gaping hole petroleum will eventually leave once its supply is depleted. This movement towards alternative sources of energy is called the Green Revolution. It is a commonly known fact that there is only so much fossil fuel on our planet and we will no doubt eventually run out. Many scientists say we will run out not in our generation, but the next. It is also known that the emissions from fossil fuels have caused catastrophic damages to our planet and climate. The ideal alternative energy must not cause significant damage to our planet and climate and it also needs to be cost-effective and renewable. It has proven to be extremely difficult to combine these two vital characteristics. Four different forms of alternative energy have been proposed – solar, water, nuclear, and wind power.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement towards wind power due to its impressive renewability and seemingly harmless carbon footprint. Recent studies have shown that wind power can indeed generate enough power to fuel the entire planet. This is extremely exciting news especially since the U.S. is currently on track to produce 20 percent of its electricity by wind, making us the largest producer of wind power in the world, according to the New York Times.

According to Inside Science, two different scientific teams have recently released some extraordinary evidence of wind power’s ability to sustain our planet in a very minimally affected way. Katherine Marvel at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has essentially proven wind power can produce 400 terawatts of power, if the land is completely covered with wind turbines. This figure is incredible since the world currently uses 18 terawatts of power per day. Marvel does say that 400 terawatts would create extreme long-term affects on our climate; however, if humans only use the absolutely necessary amount of power collected from turbines, the global temperatures will decrease by 0.1 degrees Celsius and our precipitation will change by one percent.

Mark Jackson of Stanford University and Christina Archer of University of Delaware have found that wind turbines covering the whole of the U.S. would produce 250 terawatts of power. This is also much larger than the global demand. Jackson and Archer found that if the world only had 4,000,005-megawatt turbines, that would be enough to produce 7.5 terawatts of power without any major impact on our climate. Although the numbers from each team were different, both were able to prove that wind energy can sustain our planet in a safe way – if used in appropriate quantities. Marvel also reminds us that “there is still a lot of interesting work to be done on local and regional climatic consequences of wind.”

So where does this leave the American people? Senior Caroline Clark, an environmental studies major and health sciences minor, acknowledges the great possibilities of wind power, but at the same time realizes not enough is currently known of this form of energy. Clark also recognizes a serious threat to wind power is its high cost in comparison to cheaper forms of energy like fossil fuels.

Clark stated, “A lot of people just can’t afford green technology, wind power included.”

The Obama administration has tried to lower the expense  of alternative energies by assisting wind companies with government subsidies. The New York Times reported that these subsidies are due to expire by the end of the year. President Obama is known to endorse wind power but Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, on the other hand, does not support the government subsidies towards wind power. This has caused investors and wind companies to become worried.

On Sept. 20 of this year, The New York Times reported, “The wind business is already preparing for a slowdown. On Tuesday, a wind tower manufacturer, Katana Summit, said it would probably sell or close its two plants, in Nebraska and Washington State, because of the expiration of the tax credit. The two plants employ a total of about 300 people.”
If the government ends its support of wind power, the costs will increase even more, likely prompting less people to purchase this alternative energy.

“[Wind power] is all dependent on government benefits because it is so expensive,” Clark said.
With the upcoming elections, the U.S. can only hope the government considers the huge strides wind power is making and the positive impact it can make in the future. Regardless, Clark believes that “the U.S. will never change to alternative energy, especially wind power.” Though the future may not seem extremely bright for this type of alternative energy, our generation must support the Green Revolution.