THE WIND POWER IMPERATIVE

The Wind Power Imperative
Herman K. Trabish, November 5, 2007 (NewEnergyNews)

“The US is like a giant boiler. Once the fire is lighted, there is no end to the power it can generate.” (Sir Edward Grey to Winston Churchill)

The drama and excitement of this moment in history hung in the air over The Wind Power Imperative, a gathering of wind energy producers and insiders November 1. The presentations were filled with the sense of opportunity this critical moment brings.

The day began with a screening of Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Eleventh Hour, 60 minutes of gut-wrenching images of worldwide tempest finally relieved with 20 minutes of glimmering hope. Its seriousness and call for vision was just right for these wind industry folks. They are not just building a multibillion-dollar energy business. These are people with a mission. They are educated, practical, involved people and they’re not talking about Hillary’s hesitation, Mitt’s Mormonism or Stephen Colbert. They’re talking about remaking the world anew.

They’re going to start with two small matters, securing America and slowing climate change. They’re set on generating a third of US electricity by 2030 without fossil fuels, radioactive waste, water use profligacy or greenhouse gas emissions.

Wind is booming. Just when we needed it the most.

Tom Weis of Wind Power Solutions moderated a panel called “Wind Energy’s Climate Contribution” and opened with an interesting observation: “I do not want to be asked years from now why we failed to act when there was still time.” He cited military leaders who see climate change and New Energy needs as a national security matter, and a protestant Reverend who sees them as a matter of creation’s stewardship, and numerous opinion polls showing that the American people want, no, DEMAND New Energy. And then he said, “It’s time for our generation to stand up and do something great…Our industry has a moral imperative to do everything in our power…It’s time for our industry to think big and lead…Let this be humanity’s and each of our greatest moment.”

Jeffrey Greenblatt, a young scientist with Environmental Defense, talked about a very important idea: Wedges. Developed by Princeton’s Robert Socolow, wedges were made famous by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth.

Socolow's wedges stop emission growth. (click to enlarge)

Greenblatt explained the idea with precise simplicity. On a graph, a line going up represents the world’s rising emissions. Another line, angled down, represents the decline of world emissions necessary to reverse climate change. The triangular space between the up and down lines is divided into wedges, each one a calculated reduction of emissions attributable to corrective action.

Greenblatt made 2 important points: (1) There will need to be 12 wedges, not the Socolow-Al Gore enumerated 7, to really bring emissions down far enough to reverse climate change, and (2) if wind energy achieves its 2030 goal of providing 30% of US electricity, it will have handled an enormous part of the renewable energy wedge.

Types of wedges. (click to enlarge)

Greenblatt went on to highlight what he called “revolutionary” answers like wind storage and capturing the wind in the stratosphere. These are exciting dreams. Being young, Greenblatt probably can’t even understand how revolutionary what the wind energy industry is doing right now really is. Nevermind – onward!

Veteran environmental leader Carl Zichella of Sierra Club, one of the elect group trained by Al Gore to do the “Inconvenient Truth” powerpoint presentation, cited the Stern Review’s conclusion that it will take 1% of global GNP, an accessible $300 billion/year, to reverse climate change. He admitted difficult things need to be done quickly. “If we allow this,” Zichella preached to the choir, “it’s one of the most profoundly immoral things one generation has ever done to another…but there are great opportunities…”

Wind industry veteran Jim Walker of enXco concluded the morning with general observations from the perspective of his seniority. He pointed out how any evaluation of wind energy’s growth shows that good governmental policies are the key. He said that by using 1% of US land (of which all but 2% would remain open for things like farming, grazing or recreation) wind could provide 8000 gigawatts of electricity. The US uses 1000 now. So the resources are there for wind to get to 300 gigawatts by 2030.

The drop-offs in production came with legislative policy hesitations. Growth came every time legislative incentives were approved. (click to enlarge)

Along with achieving the goal, Walker said, comes 300,000 new jobs at a benefit – pay attention! A benefit, not a cost – to electricity ratepayers of $86 to $214 billion. New clean electricity supply also smoothes the way for the transition to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Walker concluded by talking about the 5 most important things still to be handled for wind to reach its goal: (1) Fossil fuels and nuclear energy have to pay for the garbage they create (emissions and waste) and the enormous amount of precious water they use. (2) New transmission from where the wind is to where the electricity is used must be built. (3) 200 utility boards need to be educated about how viable wind is. (4) Political leaders must pass a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) to give New Energy market stability. (5) Wind ownership must be shared with localities as is done in Europe because, said Walker, “…your own pigs don’t stink.”

At lunch Randy Tinkerman, who built his first turbine in the mid-70s, described the giant, super-efficient turbines in Europe and WindGuard’s new state-of-the-art testing center that have kept him based in Germany for the last 6 years. Later, an American wind authority joked about the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab testing facility, so small and outdated the blades being tested stick out the doors of the building. It would’ve been a funny joke if it hadn’t reflected so shamefully on the political leadership responsible for providing New Energy research funding.

The afternoon seminars were just as rich and inspiring but posts should be brief. Here are some highlights:

- Greg Wortham, Mayor of Sweetwater, Texas, described what tremendous economic boon wind energy has been and will continue to be for the rural locals.
- Chris Miller of Greenpeace described their heroic advocacy for the controversial Cape Wind offshore project in Nantucket Sound. While the rich and powerful on Cape Cod are spending desperately to stop it, Greenpeace and wind energy advocates are determined to show the 80+% of Massachusetts’ pro-Cape Wind citizens offshore projects are part of the solution, not something to waste time and money resisting.
- John Flicker (National Audubon Society) and William Burnidge (Nature Conservancy) complimented the wind industry’s aggressive efforts to recognize, resolve and avoid its intrusions on avian/bat life and habitat.

The wind energy industry is determined to build capacity without doing serious harm. (click to enlarge)

- David Stout (US Fish & Wildlife Service), Paul Vercruyssen (CEERT) and Wayne Walker (American Wind Wildlife Institute) described new efforts by government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to write guidelines to facilitate windfarm and transmission growth without any harm to life or habitat disruption. “Isn’t it interesting,” Stout observed, “how it’s turned into this lovefest with the NGOs and the government agencies all saying ‘we’ve gotta get this done’…”

At the end of the day, chat turned to politics. Rumor has it there is still a political fight coming this year over an energy bill containing some elements that would incentivize New Energy development. The partisan infighting is intense. It is not clear the best measures will survive. At some point, New Energy advocates will call on the grass roots to speak out. Then it will be important to remember this year’s catch phrase on Heroes:
“Evil has decided our destiny. Good will have to overcome it.”