Global Wind Day

Last June's Global Wind Day, sponsored by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), National Wind underscores the myriad benefits not only of wind energy but specifically of community-based development. National Wind's community model fits well with Global Wind Day's mission to encourage worldwide support of wind energy as a near-term job creator, economic development agent, and climate change solution. Community wind projects have 5 times the local economic impact and 3.4 times the impact on local job creation of traditional, corporate wind farm developments. National Wind is proving that a wind farm's business structure matters. With 13 families of community wind projects, totaling about 4,000 megawatts of wind energy in development or operation across the Midwest and Plains States, demand for National Wind's community-based development model is in no short supply. The American Wind Energy Association and many other groups are lobbying for a progressive national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), requiring utilities to purchase 25% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Such a standard could prompt the creation of nearly new 300,000 jobs, $13.5 billion in local income to farmers and ranchers, $11.4 billion in local tax revenue, $64.3 billion in savings on electricity and natural gas bills, and a 2 percent reduction in power plant global warming pollution, taking nearly 45.3 million cars off the road, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.