Wind facts and facts about winds, from the Random Facts shelf.
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In 2002, the following amount of electricity, in gigawatt-hours, was generated from the following sources of fuel:
Coal: 1,925,792 GWh
Nuclear: 779,461 GWh
Gas: 695,226 GWh
Hydro: 255,077 GWh
Fuel oil: 91,629 GWh
Biomass: 71,534 GWh
Other (geothermal, non-wood waste, wind and solar): 22,737 GWh
The U.S. Department of Energy expects wind power to supply at least five percent of the nation's electricity by 2020.
In 1990 in California alone, wind power offset the emission of more than 2.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide and 15 million pounds of other pollutants - the same amount of air quality provided by more than 150 million trees.
Technological innovations have brought the cost of wind power down from more than 30 cents per kilowatt-hour during the 1980s to less than six cents per kilowatt-hour today.