American innovation at work: U.S. top wind energy producer in world

The United States created more electricity from wind than any other country in 2015, according to new data released by the Global Wind Energy Council and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

American ingenuity and strong wind resources have helped make U.S. turbines the most productive in the world, producing over 190 million megawatt-hours of electricity in 2015. That’s significantly more than runners-up China, Germany and Spain. Although China has more than two times the installed wind power capacity as the U.S., production-based policies and top notch wind reserves allowed American turbines to generate more energy.

The new data also included some impressive milestones. Iowa became the first state to crack 30 percent wind-generated electricity, and 12 states now generate at least 10 percent of their electricity with wind. New to that list is Texas, the nation’s largest electricity user.

Wind created enough electricity in 2015 to power 17.5 million typical American homes. To put that into context, that’s enough to satisfy the full electricity demands of Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas combined.

These findings show the U.S. continues to be on the path to hit the Department of Energy’s target of generating 20 percent of America’s electricity with wind by 2030. Not only would achieving that goal mean more clean, affordable energy, it could support as many as 380,000 jobs.

So let’s give ourselves a hand! We should all be proud that America is leading the world toward a clean energy future.

Data used from the EIA can be found at www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly in tables 1.1 and 1.1A, and in this public statement by the China Electricity Council http://bit.ly/1oJQ3qT.