Something In the Wind

Obama is taking a bold presidential step toward tackling climate change and addressing energy concerns this Earth Day. Today, he touched down in Newton, Iowa with plans to open dialogue and outline plans for wind farm expansion and wind power growth. Citing job creation and environmental preservation as clear motivation for embracing new energy sources, he's making his mark on a growing trend.

Clearly he's not alone. The American Wind Energy Association published its annual energy report last week, and the news is good for wind-power enthusiasts.

The new report shows that nearly half the states had new wind turbine programs announced, expanded or launched last year, while wind industry professions jumped by 70 percent to 85,000 total jobs. In such tough economic times, many local governments are taking active measures to lure wind energy companies (and the accompanying jobs) to their states.

Texas, whose native son T. Boone Pickens is an outspoken wind energy supporter, leads the country by generating over 7,100 megawatts of power, up nearly 2,700 megawatts from the year before. Surprisingly, Iowa added 1,600 megawatts to its energy portfolio, which allowed the state to leapfrog California as the nation's second-largest wind power generator. Iowa and Minnesota now get over 7 percent of their electric power from wind energy. Indiana also stood out as the fastest growing wind state by percentage, going from zero to 131 megawatts for the year. Michigan and Utah followed with growth rates of 48 and 21 percent, respectively.

The report also noted the top companies in the wind power industry. NextEra Energy Resources is the leading wind farm company with ownership of about 25 percent of the nation's projects, while GE Energy stood out as the leading wind turbine manufacturer with 43 percent of all newly installed capacity.

"The wind energy industry today generates not only clean energy for our economy, but also hope and opportunity for American workers and businesses," said AWEA CEO Denise Bode in a statement regarding the report. "Whether it is building or maintaining a wind project, or producing wind turbine components, you'll find people employed in wind power in nearly all 50 states today."

Though greater energy gains are expected this year, the country started 2009 with enough capacity to serve 7 million U.S. homes on wind power alone.