The United States Has 50,000 Wind Turbines

January 7, 20169 years ago Cynthia Shahan 9 Comments

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The United States has 50,000 spinning wind turbines on its lands. Wind power is a critical solution to CO2 emissions and air and water pollution from power plants, and these 50,000 wind turbines result in steep emissions cuts

Though, Climate Central notes “how uneven the decline in those emissions” was across the US in recent years.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) notes that these 50,000 wind turbines produce enough electricity for ~19 million homes, with a total installed power capacity of 70 gigawatts (GW).

“This American wind power success story just gets better. There’s now enough wind power installed to meet the equivalent of total electricity demand in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming,” said Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “Wind energy is the biggest, fastest and cheapest way we can cut carbon pollution here in the U.S., and as wind power grows, so will savings for American families and businesses all across the country.”

Climate Central also shares some of what the Clean Power Plan can do. The plan was announced in 2014, coming out of the Obama administration. Climate Central summarizes that its aim is “to slash climate change-driving carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants burning fossil fuels, mostly coal — the nation’s largest source of manmade greenhouse gas emissions.” Wind turbines are currently the most cost-effective technology for doing so. And the turbines are also beautiful at sunset…