Wind power is vital to US energy security
Paresh Nath, The Khaleej Times, UAE Mike Keefe, Cagle Cartoons Nate Beeler, The Columbus Dispatch
Can offshore wind installations provide reasonably cheap and environmentally sound energy? They can, especially off the relatively shallow Atlantic coast.
Some ask why we should bother with wind power when fossil fuels are abundant and cheap today.
The answer is that climate change is a serious threat to the environment, public health and national security. Addressing it requires moving away from reliance on fossil fuels and toward renewables.
Defenders of fossil fuels sometimes question the reality of climate change. But the scientific evidence is overwhelming.
Those who doubt that should examine reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Academy of Sciences, among others. Summaries are available on the websites of the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA.
How dependent are we are fossil fuels? According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. and most of the world rely on fossil fuels for about 80 percent of the energy we use. Currently, renewables account for only 10 percent of the energy used in the U.S., while nuclear power chips in about 9 percent.
The Department of Energy expects energy use globally to rise nearly 50 percent over the next 25 years and says wind and solar will be the fastest growing energy resource. Even so, fossil fuels will supply 78 percent of energy consumed in 2040 unless we change that path.
We can do that by strongly encouraging development of wind energy resources through public policy action and support for private sector investment. Fostering offshore wind power should be among those actions.
Wind power is not without its problems. There are aesthetic, environmental and economic concerns, but all can be addressed. Aesthetic concerns have been voiced for years. Coastal residents have said that offshore turbines might interfere with their views. However, the turbines can be placed far enough off the coast that few can see them.
Environmental objections have been raised over threats to wildlife. The solutions lie in careful planning to select locations far from migratory flight paths and ocean environments where aquatic life would be harmed. Federal, state, and local planning and permitting processes should be able to address such concerns.
The economic barriers are the most challenging. There is no question that offshore wind power installations are more complex and costly than those built on land, but this doesn’t prohibit their use.
Both their design and the conditions offshore compensate to some extent. The turbines can be much taller and they can generate more power because wind is stronger offshore.
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management says that over 50 projects are operational in coastal waters around the world and have been successful.
These include wind power off the coasts of Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Japan and China, among others. Other nations, in short, have concluded that the costs are worth it.
Private investors and utilities proposing offshore installations here have run the numbers and taken into account advances in ocean-based construction technologies that may improve efficiency and reliability over time. They are unlikely to propose offshore wind installations that are not economically justifiable.
One other way to ensure that wind power has a fair chance to prove its worth is to enact a widely endorsed carbon tax.
This is a simple way to factor in the social costs of the fossil fuels we now use, such as the impact on climate change and damage to public health from air pollution. If these costs were included in the price of fossil fuels, wind and solar power would be more economically competitive.
Both the United States and the world need to begin a serious transition toward renewable energy resources. Offshore wind power can be one of the best ways to do that. Let’s encourage those companies that are willing to try.