Wind energy has always trailed behind coal energy in Texas. In 2003, as reported by CNN, wind power generated .08%, while coal-generated 40% of the state’s electrical usage. Thankfully, that has now changed—substantially.
Earlier this month The Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released a report showing wind power generating 22% of the state’s electrical needs to 25 million people—with coal trailing behind at 21%. This is the first time in history for the state, and a positive sign for the rest of the country, too. Remember: Texas is the largest producer of consumer of energy in the United States.
A new report was released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that shared more statistics:
As of the beginning of 2019, 41 states had at least one installed wind turbine. Of these 41 states, Texas had the largest number of turbines, with more than 13,000, and the most installed wind capacity, at 24.2 gigawatts (GW). As wind technology has advanced, turbines have grown larger in the United States, and the capacity of individual turbines has increased with size. States where wind adoption occurred early, such as California, have a high number of turbines relative to their wind generation capacity compared with states where wind was adopted later, such as Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois.
To give more comparison, Texas has over 13,000 wind turbines. California, the second-largest in numbers, has 7,000 wind turbines.
Cheers to Texans for leading the way in energy conservation via wind. Hopefully, other states will look to Texas to make changes to their own energy sources.
ERCOT recommends seven things we can do to help conserve energy, especially between the hours of 3 pm and 7 pm.
· Set thermostats 2 to 3 degrees higher; set programmable thermostats to higher temperatures when no one is home.
· Use fans to feel 4 to 6 degrees cooler.
· Set pool pumps to run early morning or overnight; shut off from 4 to 6 p.m.
· Turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances.
· Avoid using large appliances (i.e. ovens, washing machines, etc).
· Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.
· Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes.
What are you doing to conserve energy in your daily life?