The Future of Wind Power - invest in Wind Energy stocks

Wind energy - The best green, renewable energy of the future

The Wind Industry has been growing at the rate of about 20% annually in the past few years (at least if you exclude the years of global recession). One can try to expect similar growth figures in the future. But what this article does is to present (with rigorous support of facts) that there will much greater growth in wind industry by 2015-2020. In other words, the coming decade will witness a BOOM in wind energy. Is Wind power 'the next Big thing?'. Continue reading the post and if you have any more insight to offer, please share it in a comment with the readers.

Fossil Fuels - A predictable end

The addiction of Human kind to Fossil Fuels is very disturbing. There are two problems with Fossil Fuels. First, it is highly polluting, environmentally damaging - and as oil companies dig deeper and deeper for more oil reserves, the chances of devastating oil spills like the one caused by BP in the Gulf of Mexico will increase. However there is also another big problem with Fossil Fuels and Oil - they are simply not going to last !. If you look at current oil reserves , you will notice how most oil reserves will last only for the next 50-100 years. Of course, new reserves are being found and there are also some even more environmentally damaging alternatives like heavy crude oil. But clearly, all these are not enough to meet the growing requirements of the world economy. Currently more than 50% of the worlds power is generated by Fossil Fuels (including coal). These non-renewable energy sources, although may not get 'finished' very soon, will become more and more expensive. A glimpse of this was seen at the end of 2007, when oil prices reached $140 per barrel. Thus Fossil Fuels are heading towards a very predictable end - slowly they will get more and more expensive and there will be a 'tipping point' when investments in alternative energy sources like wind energy, solar energy, bio fuels will attract a lot of attention. Fossil Fuels are supposed to remain dominant until 2030, but slowly their importance will be reduced.

Wind Energy Facts

Wind energy is one of the best, abundantly available renewable energy source on this planet. Here is a list of Wind Energy Facts which will convince you why this is the best green energy that human kind should start investing in.

1. According to a wind study done in 2005, the total quantity of wind energy on earth is roughly five times our total energy requirement ! Wind energy is abundant, convinced?
   
2. Energy required to construct and install wind energy equipments (like turbines, towers etc.) is paid off back in less than 9 months of time. Thus this is truly a green energy.
   
3. The current wind power usage (as of 2009) shows that the wind energy accounts for only 2% of the total power generated in this world. Thus plenty of room for a 'big boom' in wind energy.
   

Before explaining how to financially benefit from this possible future boom of wind energy, let me first list some of the advantages and disadvantages of wind energy.

Wind Energy - Pros and Cons

Wind energy advantages -

1. Renewable, plentiful available energy source.
2. Wind turbines operate 24/7, unlike solar energy which can only produce power during the day.
   
3. Zero pollution - completely environmentally friendly, green energy.
4. Wind farms can also be built in the sea (offshore wind farms).
   

Wind energy disadvantages -

1. Building large on shore wind farms may require a lot of land, thus it is usually not economically viable to build wind farms near big cities.
   
2. Visibility- some people complain that wind farms do not look very pleasant (minor disadvantage - from my viewpoint).
3. Wind farms, wind turbines, occasionally kill birds when they pass through the blades. (but the number of birds killed by fossil fuel pollution is much greater than this)
   

In the next post, I will list some of the best wind energy stocks, along with their analysis.