Though we are lucky here in New Mexico that almost every day is sunny, 2014 is on pace to be the hottest year on record for the planet as a whole, according to the latest U.N. analysis. Scientists say we are already experiencing the impacts of global warming, such as drought and wildfires.
None of us wants to leave the next generation a world where drought and wildfire are the new normal. To avoid the worst impacts of climate change, scientists are clearer and more emphatic than ever that we must cut our dependence on dirty fossil fuels in favor of clean, renewable energy. A new report called More Wind, Less Warming from Environment New Mexico Research & Policy Center shows that wind power can be a key player in that clean energy future.
Wind power is already growing rapidly around the country and here in New Mexico, and generates enough electricity to power more than 201,000. If recent growth keeps up its rapid clip, wind power could provide 30 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2030.
Our research shows that speeding wind power development in this way will slow global warming. The pollution reductions achieved would have the same effect on emissions as shutting down 254 coal plants nationwide. We would go above and beyond the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan, which requires 30 percent cut in carbon pollution from power plants. We would be well on our way to fulfilling the commitment the U.S. made in its landmark climate agreement with China.
More wind doesn’t just mean less global warming. It also means less of the air pollution that makes people sick, more of our increasingly precious water resources that can be saved, and more jobs for New Mexicans.
A rapid expansion in wind power is both feasible and affordable. The cost of wind energy is now at or below the cost of new natural gas power plants in regions like ours, where the resources are abundant. More than a dozen reports by utilities, independent grid operators, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other experts have found that the electric grid can accommodate much more wind energy than we currently generate.
To reach a vision of 30 percent wind energy by 2030, however, we need our leaders to act. We need to keep investing in wind power. We need support for the Clean Power Plan, the largest step ever proposed in the U.S. to cut global warming pollution, rather than the obstruction we’re seeing from Congressional leaders. And we need a long-term renewal of the federal production tax credits that have been so vital to wind power’s growth in this country to date.
Wind power can replace the dirty energy sources of the past, and move us to a future in which we’re setting records for pollution-free energy, not world-wide temperatures. That’s the U.N. report we want to be reading 15 years from now.
(Photo by Charles Henry / CC)
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