Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth. Wind turbines can capture the solar energy stored in wind and convert it into electricity or use the mechanical power directly. The Babylonians and Chinese were using wind power to pump water for irrigating crops 4,000 years ago, and sailing boats were around long before that. New technologies to generate electricity are very cost competitive. Small turbines are used by homeowners and remote villages to help meet energy needs.

Wind energy is the fastest growing source of electricity in the world. Wind energy will generate over 17 billion kilowatt-hours in the U.S. in 2005, enough electricity to power 1.6 million homes. A single wind turbine can provide $4,000 - $7,000 each year in farm income and only use 2-5 percent of the land for the turbine and access road. Each megawatt (MW) of wind energy capacity installed in the U.S. provides 2.5-3 job-years of employment. In 2006, U.S. wind farms will be saving over 0.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. To generate the same amount of electricity as a single 1-megawatt (MW) wind turbine, a traditional fossil fuel or nuclear power plant requires, on average, withdrawing about 60 million gallons of water per year from a stream or river. To generate the same amount of electricity as today's U.S. wind turbine fleet (6,740 MW) would require burning 9 million tons of coal (a line of 10-ton trucks 3,437 miles long, from Seattle to Miami) or 28 million barrels of oil each year.

Wind energy could provide 6% of our nation's electricity, or about the same as hydropower, by 2020. Up to 2,500 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy capacity will be installed in 2005. Wind energy installations in 2005 will result in a $2-3 billion investment in our economy. A New York study found that if wind energy supplied 10% (3,300 MW) of the state's peak electricity demand, 65% of the energy it displaced would come from natural gas, 15% from coal, 10% from oil, and 10% from electricity imports. As many as 215,000 new jobs would be created by adding 50,000 MW of new wind installations in the U.S. - a $50 billion investment that could provide electricity for as many as 15 million homes with 39 million people.