Greenpeace

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) recently announced that the national electricity generation capacity from wind has surpassed 20,000 megawatts (MW). That’s enough electricity to power 5.3 million homes, the equivalent of 28.7 million tons of coal or 90 million barrels of oil, according to the AWEA’s press release.

Better yet:

“Wind energy installations are well ahead of the curve for contributing 20% of the U.S. electric power supply by 2030 as envisioned by the U.S. Department of Energy,” said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher.

This is certainly good news, but there may not be too much cause for celebration just yet. Though the numbers announced by the AWEA sound impressive, here’s a little bit of perspective: even at 20,000 MW of installed capacity, wind power still only makes up 1.5% of America’s energy mix.

And there is a very real danger that the rapid pace of wind power expansion could be drastically scaled back in the near future. If the federal renewable energy production tax credit is allowed to expire, as it’s currently set to do in just 4 months, it would more than likely chill investments in wind energy considerably.

So what are our “leaders” doing about it? Nothing. For instance, six times the renewal of the tax credits for renewable energy investment has come before the Senate, and six times it has been defeated.

The AWEA has an action online to contact Congress and urge them to renew the renewable energy production tax credit. I urge you to take action.