Report: U.S. Wind Farms Reduced CO2 Emissions In 2015 Equal To 28 Million Cars

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. wind farms have reduced carbon dioxide emissions equal to that from 28 million cars, or more than six percent of total air pollutants from U.S. electricity generation last year, a new report contends.

Wind power displaces generation from power plants using traditional fuel sources, and thus reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants. A typical new wind turbine will avoid over 4,200 metric tons of CO₂ emissions every year, the equivalent of nearly 900 cars’ worth.

At the start of 2016, there were 9,400 megawatts (MW) of wind power capacity under construction, which is expected to reduce another 23 million metric tons of CO₂ emissions each year when operational, and cut overall power sector CO₂ emissions by an additional one percent.

The 132 million metric tons in CO₂ reductions in 2015 are equivalent to eliminating all power sector carbon dioxide emissions in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado last year.

Data released Tuesday is an early look at AWEA’s 2015 U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report, set for release this year on April 12 in Denver. It will provide a comprehensive update on the state of the U.S. wind market, job numbers, state-by-state comparisons, and more.

Wind energy is the most cost-effective energy source to comply with the Clean Power Plan, the nation’s first-ever rule to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants, according to the government’s Energy Information Administration, Wall Street investment firm Lazard, and other analysts. While the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued a temporary stay of the Plan, many states and utilities have already indicated they continue to plan for generation changes and have recognized carbon reductions as inevitable.

Total U.S. power sector emissions fell to their lowest annual level since 1995 last year, according to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s recently released fourth annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. Even while America has greatly reduced electric sector carbon pollution, electricity rates across the U.S. have remained 5.5 percent lower than they were in 2009.

Wind produced over 190 million megawatt-hours of electricity in the U.S. last year, enough to power 17.5 million typical U.S. homes, making the U.S. number one in the world in wind energy production.

Wind energy could grow to supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030 and 35 percent by 2050, according to the 2015 Wind Vision report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Cumulatively by 2050, the DOE estimates wind could avoid $400 billion in climate change damages and save an additional $108 billion in public health costs by cutting other air pollutants, including preventing 22,000 premature deaths