The clean air benefits of wind energy
Wind energy is a widely available, affordable, reliable, non-emitting, readily quantifiable and verifiable, and rapidly deployable electric generation method for significantly reducing air pollution, including emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2). Indeed, the current fleet of wind turbines in the U.S. is already reducing carbon emissions by nearly 127 million tons per year. The 167.7 million MWh of wind energy produced in the U.S. in 2013 reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 126.8 million tons - the equivalent of reducing power sector emissions by more than 5% or taking 20 million cars off the road - according to a new white paper from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
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