The other day I took the opportunity to get caught-up with my reading of back issues of National Geographic. The April edition featured a split- image report with both and optimistic and pessimistic report of the future of planet earth. If you can get your hands on that issue it's a thought-provoking read. I learned some things too.
The state of Texas produces one-fourth of all of the wind-powered
electricity in the United States – the most of any state. If Texas
were a country it would rank fifth globally in renewable power
generation. Texas is also a leader of the profit-driven
commercialization of renewable power.
Texas farmers can lease a
footprint on their land for either a set rental per turbine or for a
small percentage of gross annual revenue from power generation. This
provides an additional revenue stream to agribusiness with little or no impact on traditional grazing or farming practices. Royalty payments
for a lease can range upwards of $5,000 a year for each turbine.
Jobs development is impressive too with more than 24,000 new jobs
created in the renewable energy sector - without pirating jobs from the fossil fuel industry.
Wind power is so cheap that
ExxonMobil has contracted to purchase most of a single farm’s
338-megawatt output in order to power more fracking for oil and
gas.
Who knew?
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