Did you know...?

• Investment in wind in the US grew from $700 million in 2004 to $18 billion in 2008 ($48 billion worldwide)
  
• The US is the world leader in new installations (8,358 MW), total MW (25,000+) and annual output
  
• Wind was 42% of power capacity (MW) added in the US in 2008, more than any other form of power generation, including natural gas (net of retirements)
• In 2008, 35,000 jobs were added in the wind industry, raising the total to more than 85,000
  
• Over 70 new manufacturing plants or expansions were announced or built since January 2007 in 21 states
  
• A 2008 study by the Department of Energy showed it is technically feasible to produce 20% of electricity needs through wind power by 2030
  
• Cumulatively, the 20% wind scenario would avoid the consumption of 4 trillion gallons of water through 2030
  
• The 20% wind scenario cuts electric sector water consumption by 17% in 2030
  
• Each wind turbine provides farm or ranch income annually—$2,000–4,000 per megawatt—and uses only 2-5% of the land for turbines and access roads.
  
• Each megawatt (MW) of wind energy capacity installed in the U.S. provides 2.5–3 job-years of employment.
  
• In 2006, U.S. wind farms will be saving over 0.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
  
• To generate the same amount of electricity as a single 1-megawatt (MW) wind turbine, a traditional fossil fuel or nuclear power plant requires, on average, withdrawing about 60 million gallons of water per year from a stream or river.
  
• To generate the same amount of electricity as today's U.S. wind turbine fleet (6,740 MW), it would require burning 9 million tons of coal (a line of 10-ton trucks 3,437 miles long, from Seattle to Miami) or 28 million barrels of oil each year.
  
• Wind energy could provide 6% of our nation's electricity, or about the same as hydropower, by 2020 and 20% by 2030.
  
• Up to 2,500 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy capacity will be installed in 2005.
  
• A New York study found that if wind energy supplied 10% (3,300 MW) of the state's peak electricity demand, 65% of the energy it displaced would come from natural gas, 15% from coal, 10% from oil, and 10% from electricity imports.
  
• As many as 215,000 new jobs would be created by adding 50,000 MW of new wind installations in the U.S.—a $50 billion investment that could provide electricity for as many as 15 million homes with 39 million people.