is electricity generated from wind power cheaper than solar?
Blowing in the Wind Wind has the greatest potential. The price of wind power has dropped 40 percent since the 1980s and is now one of the cheapest energies to produce. In the United States, about $2 billion is spent annually ($9 billion worldwide) on building wind farms, which generate enough power to supply 1.6 million homes. Wind constitutes just 1 percent of the electric market in the United States, but the figure could easily grow to 6 percent by 2020, says the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Denmark illustrates the technology’s promise. In just over a decade, the country went from virtually no wind energy to supplying 20 percent of the country’s needs today. “The really good news is that people can no longer hide behind the old argument that wind is expensive and will wreck the economy,” says AWEA spokeswoman Christine Real de Azua. “Technologically and economically, converting to wind is feasible.” Solar power, while more expensive to produce than wind, is heating up as
Related Questions
- Why are renewable forms of energy (e.g. solar, wind, hydro-electricity and geothermal) that offer greenhouse-friendly alternatives not used more often?
- Renewable sources such as solar and wind have variable output. Would an RES affect the reliability of the energy system?
- is electricity generated from wind power cheaper than solar?
