Wind power is a water-conservation solution

Responsibly meeting our nation’s immense current, and future, energy demands requires a careful cost-benefit analysis. Extended droughts in traditionally arid regions of our nation, and the resulting near-record wildfires, are making it increasingly important to consider the impact of our electricity generation on our fresh water supplies.

The current U.S. power plant fleet consumes a massive amount of freshwater–more than 40 percent of all freshwater withdrawals as recently as 2005–according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Those water withdrawals make electricity generation the largest “consumer” of fresh water outside the agriculture sector.

 

The good news is that generating power from wind doesn’t require water, unlike traditional forms of electricity generation. And since wind farms directly offset the most expensive, least efficient source on the utility grid–usually an older fossil-fuel plant– added wind energy dramatically reduces our power grid’s water consumption.

The wind energy projects currently installed in the U.S. will avoid consumption of over 37.7 billion gallons of water per year. That’s the equivalent of nearly 286 billion bottles of water.

States in the usually arid Southwest could particularly benefit from adding wind power, as many are currently experiencing near record-setting drought. At one point earlier this year, nearly 99 percent of New Mexico was classified as having extreme or exceptional drought, according to researchers at the University of Arizona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Texas, severe drought conditions have been exacerbated by the often water-intensive extraction process required for fuel production, as well as by climate change.

But other regions also could use the water-saving benefits of wind power. Several areas throughout the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southeast are experiencing water challenges related to the electricity sector’s use, according to a recent Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) report.

In some cases, the incoming cooling water is too warm for efficient and safe operation; in others, cooling water is too hot for safe release into nearby rivers or lakes. When traditional power plants cannot get enough cooling water, they must cut back or completely shut down their generators, as happened in 2011 and 2012 at plants around the country, the UCS report notes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic courtesy of Union of Concerned Scientists

Adding more wind power, already established as a readily scalable source of clean energy, could help reduce these issues.

And as recent reports and real-world statements demonstrate, wind power also has significant cost-savings benefits, even beating natural gas on price in some areas.

All forms of energy production have different natural resource requirements, as well as different impacts on the natural environment and human health. Wind power has many  advantages over traditional sources of energy, and as costs continue to decline, it is becoming increasingly clear how important wind power is to our nation’s energy future.