Recent data and analyses have made it clear that the emissions savings from
adding wind energy to the grid are even larger than had been commonly thought. In addition to each kWh of wind energy directly offsetting a kWh that would have been produced by a fossil-fired power plant, new analyses show that wind plants further reduce emissions by forcing the most polluting and inflexible power plants offline and causing them to be replaced by more efficient and flexible types of generation.

The budget proposed by President Obama includes US$28.4 billion for the Department of Energy (DoE), including US$108m in new funding to advance and expand research renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal. By renewable energy technology, funding for wind energy will increase 53% to US$122.5m, geothermal by 25% to US$55m, solar by 22.4% to $302m and water power by 19% to US$40m, while funding for biomass and biorefinery systems remain static at US$220m.

The U.S. wind industry broke all previous records by installing nearly 10,000 megawatts (MW) of new generating capacity in 2009 (enough to serve over 2.4 million homes), but still lags in manufacturing, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its Q4 report. These new projects place wind power neck and neck with natural gas ¹ as the leading source of new electricity generation for the country. Together, the two sources account for about 80% of the new capacity added in the country last year.