Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., April 17, 2008 Nisan 12, 5768 | | Israel Time: 02:15 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

Texas leads in petroleum production, but also in wind energy By Zafrir Rinat The use of wind energy, which thus far has been considered trivial in the international energy market, is expanding. In a current report by World Watch, an American institute for environmental issues, it emerges that the extent of the activity of wind turbine farms throughout the world increased significantly over the past year: The capacity for the production of electricity by means of wind increased by 27 percent and now stands at 94,000 megawatts. Advertisement The most impressive advance has been chalked up in the United States, where wind was the second most important source for additional production of energy, after the use of natural gas. The main problem with expanding the use of wind energy in recent years has been a shortage of turbines. In order to manufacture them, no less than 8,000 components are needed. A shortage that had existed in some of them because of the increasing demand also led to an increase in the price of turbines. Recently, however, the extent of production of components like blades for the turbines has increased, and it is estimated that in 2009 it will be possible to satisfy the increasing demand. Wind currently provides electricity to 4.5 million homes in the United States, and for the third year in a row, it has been the leader in increasing the rate of the production of electricity derived from wind energy, and second after Germany in production capability. The momentum during the past year stemmed in part from financial benefits that were granted to organizations that used energy of this sort. Ironically, the leading wind energy state is none other than Texas, the major petroleum producer in the United States. Contributing to this are the climatic conditions and the vast expanses in this state that allow for the building of turbines that exploit the wind efficiently. The United States is planning during the coming years to increase its capacity for the production of wind energy by a factor of nearly four. In Europe, wind is currently supplying about 4 percent of the demand for electricity, but there are countries like Germany where wind supplies nearly 10 percent of the demand. The German state of Schleswig-Holstein is located in a northern region where there are strong winds for long periods of time. Its government is planning for the future to provide nearly one-third of the electricity consumed there by means of wind turbines. Another player that has entered the turbine market is China. During this past year it has climbed to fifth place with respect to the use of wind energy. The future looks promising. The European Union has set itself an ambitious goal of supplying one-fifth of its energy consumption from renewable resources by the year 2020, and the assumption is that wind will account for a large part of this. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Breaking with the ZOA Is Harvard University's Progressive Jewish Alliance inciting against Israel? Rising in the polls New survey finds Nasrallah is the most admired leader in the Arab world.

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