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Senator Chuck Grassley is leading bipartisan support for an extension of the production tax credit for wind energy. He's making the case that as much energy as possible -- both traditional and renewable -- should be produced at home to create jobs and strengthen national security, and said, "There's no reason to exacerbate America's unemployment problem by letting this successful incentive lapse."

#Senator Chuck Grassley #Production Tax Credit #ptc #wind power #wind energy #iowa #jobs

#50gw #wind50gw #wind power #wind #wind energy

How to Celebrate Global Wind Day in Under 2 minutes?

Join the Global Wind Day Celebration in 4 easy steps! First gather some simple materials: Pencil, Push Pin, Scissors, Markers (optional) Step 1: Print out the Global Wind Day pinwheel stencil

Step 2: Follow directions to create pinwheel Step 3: Take photo of yourself (and friends) with pinwheel Step 4: Share photo on Global Wind Day Facebook Page

Fact check: American Enterprise Institute FAIL on study of wind costs

We were recently alerted to a lengthy attack on wind energy that was released by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in its “Energy and Environment Outlook.” There are many serious errors in the paper, including two major mistakes that completely bring down the central argument of the paper. In a surprising turn, once those errors are corrected, the data presented in the paper actually make a compelling case for why America should be increasing its use of renewable energy. Study overestimates cost of wind energy by 500 percent The central argument of the paper, that wind is not cost effective compared to fossil-fired generation, rests upon what we will charitably call a major math error. Author Benjamin Zycher drastically inflates the cost of wind energy by adding $368/MWh, or 36.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, to the cost of wind energy for a supposed need for “backup capacity,” increasing his calculated cost for wind energy by 250% to a remarkable $517/MWh (51.7 cents/kWh). As the citation for that added cost, Mr. Zycher references two Department of Energy (DOE) data tables. Unfortunately for him, neither the $368/MWh figure, nor any figure that would allow one to arrive at that number, appears anywhere in the tables he references.

Read full post at AWEA's Into the Wind Blog

#AWEA #power of wind #AEI #wind energy #wind power #Benjamin Zycher #American Enterprise Institue

Anti-wind-farm "astroturfers" in Australia

[This article originally appeared at Independent Australia, and is reprinted by permission. Emphasis added on two paragraphs concerning turbine sound.]

Independent Australia has made it to Federal Parliament, with Sandi Keane’sinvestigation into anti-windfarm astroturfers the Landscape Guardians and the Waubra Foundation being used as the basis of an exposé by John Murphy MP in the House of Representatives earlier this week.

Read more at AWEA's Into the Wind Blog

WindTV: Michigan factories humming with wind power Latest video segment highlights how industry is tapping state’s manufacturing know-how

#Michigan #windtv #ptc #jobs #manufacturing #economic development #wind power #save usa wind jobs

Daily Oklahoman: PTC extension "makes sense"

The Daily Oklahoman Sunday joined a growing list of newspapers endorsing an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), noting that Oklahoma ranked fifth among the states last year in new wind generating capacity installed.

"Energy-related tax incentives are about as old as the use of electricity to light homes," said the Oklahoman, adding, "Decades-old credits for fossil fuels were joined in 1992 by the PTC, which has stimulated investment in wind power — from the manufacturing of equipment to the construction and maintenance of the turbines that are now a common sight in western Oklahoma ...

Read the full article on AWEA's Into the Wind Blog

#oklahoma #ptc #daily oklahoman #AWEA #power of wind #jobs #economy

Fact check: “Windfall” Film Offers Greatest Hits of Misinformation

Windfall takes aim at clean, renewable wind energy with misinformation. As one movie critic said: "The documentary isn’t big on hard data; instead, [Director Laura] Israel allows the majority of her interviewees to deliver anecdotes, speculation, anti-corporate conspiracy theories, and just a few statistics…the movie’s case relies more on emotional appeals and frightening images of giant machines than on real, objective number-crunching…the unbridled scare tactics cast too big a shadow over the agit-prop doc Israel ended up making." (Noel Murray, AV Club, Feb. 2, 2012) The following facts set the record straight on the issues that Windfall raises: Health: An independent expert panel established by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Public Health gave wind a clean bill of health in January 2012, based on analyzing all available scientific studies. The agencies reported, “There is no evidence for a set of health effects from exposure to wind turbines that could be characterized as a 'Wind Turbine Syndrome'…we conclude the weight of the evidence suggests no association between noise from wind turbines and measures of psychological distress or mental health problems.”

Get the full facts: http://bit.ly/Asysfy

Wind power brings new-found income to local businesses

Rural Nebraska town gets 35 percent business up-tick Kimball is a small town at the western end of Nebraska and “very few people know we’re out here,” as Mayor James Schnell puts it. But a new resident has come to town—wind power—and it’s generating some real economic noise. Wind power’s economic impact on Kimball is featured on the latest installment of WindTV, the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) recently launched vehicle to highlight how wind works for America.

Can Wind Energy Survive Without Tax Subsidies?

Am I for the extension of the PTC? You bet I am. Supporting an industry that reduces environmental issues, health problems, and reliance on foreign imports ought to be a no brainer. It takes time and new technologies and innovations to foster a successful new industry. As William Shakespeare said “to climb steep hills requires slow pace at first” and that is exactly the happenings of the wind energy industry. If the industry is cut at the throat, it will never have a chance to thrive.

Wind Power Produces Just 4-14% Emissions of Fossil Fuels

From TreeHugger:

It's tempting to think that wind power is entirely free of greenhouse gas emissions, but energy has to be used to make, assemble, maintain and ultimately decommission turbines and wind power projects. Even given all that though, a new assessment of the environmental impact of wind power, published in Environmental Research Letters, shows that wind power is a huge improvement over fossil fuel power plants it replaces.

Fact check: Kavulla off target on wind's cost

In a lengthy Power Engineering magazine opinion article criticizing utility regulation, Travis Kavulla, chair of the Montana Public Service Commission, also discusses the cost of renewable energy. We'd like to set the record straight with a few facts not mentioned by Mr. Kavulla: - Recently, Alabama Power Co. decided to purchase wind-generated electricity from Tradewind's Chisholm View wind farm in Oklahoma. The Alabama Public Service Commission reviewed this purchase and commented, "Specifically, the delivered price of energy from the wind facility is expected to be lower than the cost the Company would incur to produce that energy from its own resource (i.e. below the Company’s avoided costs), with the resulting energy savings flowing directly to the Company’s customers." The full Commission report is here.

Fact check: Newman misleads on wind incentives and more

Alex Newman has a column in New American magazine bashing wind power on a wide variety of grounds. Some facts he neglects to mention: Older wind turbines are being replaced with new, more efficient models: While there are still a number of 1980s-vintage turbines in the three California passes--Altamont, Tehachapi, and San Gorgonio--where the first commercial wind farms were installed, many are scheduled for replacement with newer, more modern turbines (wind farm "repowering") during the next few years.

WindTV: Wind power generates good jobs for young people

Recent Columbia Gorge Community College grad excited to embark on wind career Timo Macke grew up watching wind farms sprout up around him. That must have planted a seed, because the 20-year-old just received his associate’s degree in renewable energy technology from Columbia Gorge Community College in Oregon. Macke is featured on the latest segment of WindTV, which is the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) recently launched vehicle to highlight how wind power works for America.

Schwarzenegger calls for level energy playing field

The Washington Post recently featured a noteworthy opinion article from former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) concerning market distortions in government treatment of energy sources and calling for a level playing field. Highlights: - While "support for energy innovation has always helped drive America’s growth ... [w]hen the oil, gas and nuclear industries were forming, federal support for those energies totaled as much as 1 percent of federal spending. Subsidies available to the renewables industry today are just one-tenth of 1 percent."

Call Your Sentor Today & Ask to Support the PTC!

You’ve probably heard on the news that Congress is working on tax legislation right now – but you might not have realized that this legislation can actually have an impact on the wind energy industry. With your help – by making a call to your Senator – we may be able to leverage support for an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) to be included in this tax bill.

The PTC is a tax incentive that helps keep electricity rates low and encourages development of proven renewable energy projects. The status of the PTC is uncertain beyond 2012. This uncertainty is keeping developers from planning projects beyond next year. That pause is keeping manufacturers from receiving orders now. Layoffs have already begun, and will continue until the credit is extended. If Congress waits too long, these jobs will never come back.

Take action to support WIND ENERGY! With your help, we may be able to leverage support for an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) to be included in this tax bill. It is simple to make a call to your Senator today. Please dial: 1-877-234-9199 When you’re connected to the Senator’s office, please relay this message: • I urge the Senator to support, and advocate for, the inclusion of a renewable energy production tax credit extension in any tax bill that moves forward this month. • For the purposes of the American wind industry manufacturing sector, the PTC effectively expires at the end of this year. • Layoffs have already begun, and the wind industry will continue to lose jobs in our state if the PTC is not extended this year.

The only way that the PTC can be extended this year is for it to be included in the tax legislation Congress is working on right now. It is critically important for you to call today!

Let us know if you called. Thank you!

#production tax credit #call your senator #tax bill

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