Watch a GIF map of U.S. wind power growing like crazy.

< < Courtesy of the Natural Resources Defense Council >>

Over the past 10 years, the country has shifted from pale to dark blue, representing an increase in the gigawatt hours we’re capturing from the breeze.

Though wind power only supplied 4.7 percent of U.S. electricity in 2015, we’re getting better at harnessing energy from the zephyrs blowing overhead, especially in the West and the Great Plains. And those turbine blades are poised to keep on turnin’: Renewable energy generation is on track to double from 2015 levels by 2021.

By the looks of this map, the Southeast has some catching up to do!

Source: http://grist.org/briefly/watch-a-gif-of-u-s-wind-power-growing-like-crazy/

By Marla Pisciotta, State Journal, September 15, 2016

Installing solar panels on the rooftops of a business or residence is just plain common sense, according to Colin Williams, vice president of sales and marketing for Mountain View Solar.

Williams said solar power isn’t just for businesses; it’s for residential homes, churches and schools. MVS does installations throughout West Virginia and is licensed in five other states and currently employs 20 people. 

MVS has installed the largest solar array in the state on a university and is the first energy company to install more than 300 panels on a roof of a hotel in Harpers Ferry. The company installed more than 1,600 solar array panels at the American Public University in Charles Town, which is the state’s largest project.

Other installations include churches, funeral homes, schools, a beer distributor in Martinsburg, a wastewater treatment plant in Hurricane and the Morgan County courthouse. The 100-room Clarion Hotel and Conference Center was fitted with 289 solar panels. “The length and cost of installation depends on the size of the project,” Williams said.

The Clarion received a USDA REAP grant, which covered 25 percent of the project cost, Williams said. The Clarion project took two weeks to install. A typical residential array may take a day or two to install and could cost between $15,000 and $25,000.

Williams said 30 percent of that is a federal tax credit, which helps offset the cost of the system. “It takes about 10 to 12 years to recoup the cost,” he said. “Equipment is warranted 25 years. It’s an excellent long-term investment.”

“Commercial projects will see a return on their investment in about six years,” Williams said.

Williams said back in the 1970s solar panels heated hot water and had a short life span. Solar photovoltaic, also called PV, is the technology required to convert solar energy to electricity.
“Solar photovoltaic, means light/power, taking light and turning it into electricity,” Williams said. “Electric instead of water — electric can be used for anything.”

Williams said the solar industry is experiencing rapid growth.
“The company becomes busier in the fourth quarter of the year when people start making home improvements before the end of the year,” Williams said.

He said it’s one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. Williams said West Virginia gets 95 percent as much sunlight as Florida, and gets far more sunlight than Germany. Right now Germany is leading the world in solar deployment.

Richard Heinberg’s new book, which can be read online free, called Our Renewable Future, surveys what it would take to transition to a 100% renewable world.

A zillion major challenges…it’s not just producing electricity, there’s also the transport sector, the agriculture sector, the things oil is used for aside from energy like plastic and fertilizer–there are potential solutions to most of these hurdles but accomplishing all of them at once, immediately (which is when it needs to be done) well–seems a bit unlikely.

Mary Wildfire, Spencer, WV