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Why Wind?

- High Potential - The US has four times as much wind power off its coasts than every power plant in operation today - Department of Energy.
See Large-Scale Offshore Wind Power in the United States at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

- Job Creation - A 500 MegaWatt (MW) wind farm would create 400 permanent jobs and 2,000 construction jobs for residents of the areas near the wind farm - Department of Energy

- Financial Benefits - All costs included (health impacts, environmental degradation, economic harm), coal costs the US between $140-242 billion annually. These hidden costs more than double the average cost of coal-fired electricity. - Harvard Medical School

- Price Stability - Wind energy is free and abundant.

- Offshore Wind is Clean - No greenhouse gas emissions, no health costs, no harm to the environment.

Policies to Promote Wind

- In 2010 NJ's Offshore Wind Economic Development Act (OWEDA) created financial incentives in order to produce 1,100 MW of renewable energy by 202 - enough energy to power 300,000 homes.
See Sierra Club Press Releases 2010, 2013

- OWEDA established the Offshore Renewable Energy Certificates (OREC) program to finance the first offshore wind in NJ.

- The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auctions leases for the development of wind farms. New Jersey wind developers have to wait for state financing regulations before purchasing leases.

- The Department of Energy has a goal to install 54 GigaWatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030. This would create 220,000 jobs over five years and sustain 43,000 permanent jobs.

Wind Power Facts

- New Jersey's offshore wind farms are usually between 8 and 15 miles from the shore. From that distance, wind turbines will create minimal impact on shoreline views. At 15 miles, the distance where most of NJ's turbines will be located, the wind farm will be barely visible on the clearest of days.

- Studies show that offshore wind has negligible effects on seabirds and marine life. Wind power is responsible for less than 0.003% of human caused bird deaths. Offshore wind structures also create artificial reefs for marine life.

- The development of 1,100 MW of offshore wind, a fraction of New Jersey's wind power capacity, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent to taking 376,000 cars off the road - Environment New Jersey

Source: Christine Guhl - Beyond Coal New Jersey

See also:
Wind | Beyond Coal | sierraclub.org/coal/wind
Offshore Wind here