Power generated by harnessing the wind, including electricity generation. Drawbacks include the inconstant nature of the wind, construction difficulties, and finding a suitable site; see Wolsink (2006) TIBG 31, 1. ‘Installed wind energy capacity has been increasing rapidly worldwide over the last 5 years and now exceeds 70 GW. Wind energy contributes up to 18.5% of electricity consumption in Denmark and about 3% in Europe. Wind energy is economically competitive at good wind sites, can be rapidly deployed compared to conventional sources, and contributes to the goal of meeting increasing electricity demand while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases’ (Barthelmie (2007) Geog. Compass 2). Globally, wind power had the fastest rate of growth of any source for electricity (Heiman in S. Majumdar et al., eds 2000). See also Heiman and Solomon (2004) AAAG 94, 1. See Bassi et al. (2012) on the case for and against onshore wind energy in the UK.

www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute The London School of Economics/Grantham Institute pages on Climate Change and the Environment where Bassi et al. can be accessed.