Wind Energy Rocks, But at an Important Crossroads (VIDEO)

May 20th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

Wind energy is a big economic driver, as our readers know. It’s also a huge and growing source of electricity in many places now, as you know. But it’s under serious threat from an extreme branch of one political party. This terrific video below from Peter Sinclair, his “Renewable Energy Solution of the Month” video, puts all this out there in a wonderful format that I wish I had more skills in — video.

As always, Peter has found some excellent clips, quotes, stats, images, and more. And, as always, he’s put them together in an excellent sequence and style. Anyway, enough of the text(!), here’s the video:

Source: Climate Denial Crock of the Week

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Tags: Manufacturing, ptc wind, quickies, wind jobs, wind power jobs, Wind PTC

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

sWINDle

Zachary,

Your “chart” shows wind cheaper than all other energy sources – taking the average value. Based on this, the glorious wind companies don’t need to fight for subsidies or worry about political support – they can merely sell more wind scams, er “farms”, to PUDs who are always looking for cost-effective energy sources.

Hmmmm. We both know the real story.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  the source of the chart is in the video, it’s not mine.
  
  the fact that wind is the cheapest form of electricity in many places is not news to anyone following the industry. the fact that it is being chosen over natural gas in many countries is not because it’s a scam. sorry, go back to the couch and turn on Fox News..
- Captivation
  
  Of course wind needs subsidies. A moderate price advantage will only lead to a slow conversion to wind. We need a rapid transition in order to slow down the arrival of global warming. Besides, any country who doesn’t do wind is going to get locked out of global trade deals.
- Bill_Woods
  
  The chart is misleading, because wind power is worth less than the others. Gas power is there when you want it; wind power is there … when the wind blows. For an apples-to-apples comparison, add the cost of backing up wind with hydro, pumped-hydro, or gas.
  - http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
    
    if we’re going to go that route, we should add in the costs of backing up fossil fuels with healthcare and destruction of important environmental systems.