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Environmentally and
economically sound, free from the increasing cost of fossil
fuels, wind has a lot to offer Canadians. Wind farms can
be built quickly – faster than many other types of power
plants – and can meet our growing need for electricity
in cities, towns and rural areas. With wind energy, the
cost of electricity is predictable because there are no
escalating fuel costs. Investing in wind also helps us
offset our use of other precious resources. That’s why
wind energy is a choice for today and tomorrow.
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Wind projects provide
significant tax revenues to local
municipalities.
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Wind projects have
been shown to generate tourism for local communities.
Some wind farms get upwards of 60,000 visits a year and
the benefits of even drawing a fraction of that amount
of visitors to a community can be felt by many local businesses
including shops, restaurants, hotels, motels, and others.
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Wind energy is compatible
with other land uses such as farming and can serve as a
boost for rural economic development. Wind energy creates
alternative revenues for farmers who lease their land.
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Wind energy does
not produce any harmful waterborne emissions, or toxic
solid wastes. Wind energy offsets the emissions of other
energy sources, thus reducing our contribution to global
climate change.
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Wind energy is one
of the most economical sources of new large-scale electricity
generation. Wind energy is becoming even more economic
to produce as economies of scale are reached and as electricity
prices increase.
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Using wind to produce
enough power for over 200 homes (2,000,000 kWh annually)
of electricity instead of burning coal will leave 900,000
kilograms of coal in the ground and reduce annual greenhouse
gas emissions by 2,000 tonnes. This has the same positive
impact as taking 417 cars off the road or planting 10,000
trees.
Further information on wind power
is available by visiting the Canadian Wind Energy Association:
