Lifestyle - Wind Power can prevent climate change;study

Aarti Dhar


NEW DELHI: Wind power could produce 12 per cent of the world’s energy needs and prevent 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions within 12 years, according to a report.

The ‘Global Wind Energy Outlook 2008,’ published by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace International, looks at the global potential of wind power up to 2050 and found that it could avoid as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year, which would add up to over 10 billion tonnes in this timeframe. The report also explains how wind energy can provide up to 30 per cent of the world’s electricity by the middle of the century.

China has the world’s fastest growing wind power market and is expected to become the biggest manufacturer of wind energy equipment by 2009-end.

Wind energy has already become a mainstream power generation source in many regions around the world and it is being deployed in over 70 countries. In addition to environmental benefits, wind energy provides a sustainable answer to increasing concerns about security of energy supply and volatile fossil fuel prices.

It is becoming a substantial factor in economic development, providing more than 3,50,000 ‘green collar’ jobs both in direct and indirect employment. By 2020, this figure is projected to increase to over 2 million.

The existing power sector is responsible for around 40 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions and there are only three options to reduce this by 2020 — energy efficiency, fuel switching, and renewables, predominantly wind power.

A coalition of wind companies, associations and non-governmental organisations will launch a campaign shortly to increase government action on wind energy globally. Entitled ‘Wind Power Works,’ the campaign will run for a year until the next round of climate change talks at Copenhagen in December 2009.