Wind Turbine Technology

Course Team Project

Daniel Williams

Team E

DeVry University Student

Technology, Society, and Culture

Professor Noah Horwitz

Wind Turbine Technology

Economic Questions and Considerations – Daniel Williams

There are economic and social advantages to using wind turbine technology for harnessing electricity. Giant wind turbines don’t build themselves and when they are being built the construction can bring profits for the communities the turbines are erected in. The wind industry is responsible for bringing tens of thousands of jobs to the United States alone. Employment can be from any area of wind development like manufacturing, transportation and construction. Much of the funding comes from the private sector but large tax credits help continued growth in employment from wind harvesting. So how important is wind energy to the United States?

Currently tax credits for wind energy are at risk of going to the way side. The Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit are used in tandem by the wind industry. This provides a 30% investment credit for manufactures who in capital equipment for wind energy production. (Department of Energy, 2012) As of 2011 nearly 70% of all material used to build turbine structures came from the United States. In 2013, tax credits for wind turbine manufacturers will expire. President Obama is currently working to assure the manufacturing jobs stay in America and don’t get outsourced to other countries. He is doing this by extending the tax credits to December 31, 2013. (Geothermal Energy Association, 2013) This will give manufactures the push they need to bring more wind energy to America.

American manufacturers of wind energy have taken America to the fore front of the fast growing technology. According to the Department of Energy in 2011 wind power represented, “32 percent of all new electric capacity additions in the United States, and accounted for $14 billion in new investments....