The US Sees Surge in Wind Farm Production, Japan to Follow Dylan Duarte January 18, 2013 Extras It’s the weekend, so kick back, open a book, and enjoy the breeze from a giant wind turbine. The United States installed a record number of wind farms in 2012, which total up to 13.2 gigawatts of possible energy. And to think, Doc Brown freaked out over just 1.21 measly gigawatts. The aggressive wind farm production was thanks to both decreasing costs for wind power and a tax credit that was set to expire on December 31st. The country now produces 60 gigawatts of wind energy, or six percent of the nation’s total energy output. That may be a drop in the bucket, but Texas sees as much wind energy as the energy produced from natural gas. California and Kansas make up the rest of the top three wind energy-producing states. Unfortunately, this surge in wind farm production isn’t likely to continue into to 2013. Even though the tax credit was extended into the new year, companies weren’t sure if that was going to happen and put a halt on further production. Across the globe, Japan is planning to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm, with production slated to start in July off the coast of Fukushima, the site of the nuclear reactor incident from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Fukushima hopes to be running completely on renewable energy by 2040. via The Verge Share This With The World!
