Offshore Wind Power: America's Golden Opportunity 5 Reasons America Needs Offshore Wind Power
National Wildlife Federation is committed to protecting wildlife in a rapidly changing world.
Our goal is harnessing America’s largest untapped clean energy source: offshore wind.
Our approach is promoting a local, wildlife-friendly energy choice that will create jobs and economic growth for our communities.
Our values focus on collaborating with a broad, diverse coalition of partners to make it happen.
1
Reduce Pollution & Dangerous Warming
Offshore wind power offers an unmatched opportunity to help meet the challenge of climate change by reducing our reliance on one of its primary drivers: carbon-polluting fossil fuels. Far off our shores lies a massive clean energy source that could produce more than twice the amount of electricity we currently use every year. Tapping into just a fraction of it could replace dirty fossil fuels that endanger public health, contaminate our lakes and streams with mercury and other toxins, destroy precious ecosystems that we rely on, and change the climate with increasingly catastrophic impacts. LEARN MORE!
Photo Credit: Sue Cullumber
2
Protect Rapidly Diminishing Wildlife
In addition to reducing pollution that directly harms wildlife, offshore wind power also offers an alternative to new transmission lines and pipelines that degrade our country’s remaining healthy wildlife habitats. Most importantly, wind power can be built far offshore to minimize conflicts with birds and constructed with strong protections for sensitive wildlife such as the North Atlantic right whale. LEARN MORE!
3
Provide Affordable Power
For over 25 years, Europe has been producing electricity from offshore wind with over 3,500 turbines currently spinning around the world. This booming global industry has sparked investments in technology and manufacturing facilities that have dramatically brought down costs by over 30% in only two years! That’s a stark contrast to volatile fossil fuel markets where electricity prices fluctuate greatly from year to year, and add costs in public health, water scarcity, and land pollution that are becoming unbearable to humans and wildlife. Offshore wind isn’t new, just new to us, and we can no longer afford to ignore this opportunity.
4
Supply Power Where It's Needed
Over 80% of the U.S. population lives in crowded coastal areas, where space is limited for large-scale renewable energy. Offshore wind power is uniquely positioned to serve this market, which is currently served by expensive and pollution-heavy power plants that only run during high-demand times like heat waves and cold snaps – just the times when winds are strongest. This immense source of pollution-free electricity is right at the doorstep of where it is needed the most. And, as we transition to more electric vehicles, offshore wind power can offer a pollution-free way of charging them.
Photo Credit: Aaron Kindle
5
Create Jobs
A strong commitment to domestic, inexhaustible energy will increase America’s energy independence while fostering long-term economic growth. Offshore wind power currently supports over 80,000 jobs across a range of sectors overseas. The U.S. Department of Energy projects that a robust offshore wind industry will support 160,000 local construction, operation, and maintenance jobs – opportunities that cannot be exported. That’s more than all of Google, Apple, and Facebook’s employees in the U.S.! LEARN MORE!
Let's Make it Happen
We need people like you to join us in calling for bold leadership to advance American offshore wind power! Action is needed at all levels of government to launch this new clean energy chapter that will reduce pollution, protect wildlife, and create jobs all along the coast. TAKE ACTION! → For more information or to get involved, contact:
Nicole DiPaolo – hewetta@nwf.org – 401-440-0665