Wind Power Has a Record Year, But the Forecast isn’t too Great
by AlwaysGreen - January 28th, 2010. Tagged as: Climate Policy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Harvesting, Green Business, Green Collar Jobs, Green Living, Renewable Energy, Wind Power.Even through the recession, alternative energy was still able to make an impact, push forward and create jobs. Nearly 10,000 megawatts of wind power electrical generation came on-line in 2009.
To put that in perspective, enough wind power was added in the U.S. last year to power 2.4 million homes.
This was a tremendous accomplishment given the economy, however, the latest wind energy report was not without its bad news.
Even though Green Collar Jobs were created, they were created on the installation side and not manufacturing. Also, the numbers are skewed a bit since some projects scheduled for 2008 were pushed back to 2009. And, lastly, energy demand has gone down over the past two years creating a lack of demand.
Some industry experts worry that without a strong federal stance on renewable energy, the state legislations that have been passed will not be enough to stimulate demand with natural gas near all-time lows.
But, experts remain confident that demand will increase as the economy improves.
The top 5 states in the U.S. leading in wind power are Texas, Iowa, California, Washington, and Minnesota.
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