Publication: Greening the Wind : Environmental
and Social Considerations for Wind Power Development
Loading...
Published
2011-12-01
ISSN
Date
2012-03-19
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report identifies good practices for managing the key environmental and social issues associated with wind power development and provides advice on how best to address these issues in project planning, construction, and operation and maintenance. It provides detailed background information on wind power, with special focus on two emerging themes of growing scientific and public interest: namely the biodiversity-related impacts and the broader socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of wind power development. Like wind power itself, the scope of this report is worldwide although special attention is paid to the issues characteristic of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. While the principal focus is on land-based wind power, it also briefly addresses the environmental and social impacts related to off shore wind development. Wind power today is widely regarded as a key component of an environmentally sustainable, low-carbon energy future because it is renewable, requires almost no water, and generates near-zero emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. In many parts of the world, wind power has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electric power generation, thereby helping to limit the severe environmental and social consequences of human-induced climate change. The growth of wind power has also occurred due to its other positive attributes, including growing economic competitiveness. The adverse biodiversity-related impacts of wind power facilities mainly involve birds, bats, and natural habitats.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Ledec, George C.; Rapp, Kennan W.; Aiello, Roberto G.. 2011. Greening the Wind : Environmental
and Social Considerations for Wind Power Development. World Bank Studies. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2388 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Wind Power Development : Economics and Policies(2009-03-01)This study reviews the prospects of wind power at the global level. Existing studies indicate that the earth's wind energy supply potential significantly exceeds global energy demand. Yet, only 1 percent of the global electricity demand is currently derived from wind power despite 40 percent annual growth in wind generating capacity over the past 25 years. More than 98 percent of total current wind power capacity is installed in the developed countries plus China and India. It has been estimated that wind power could supply 7 to 34 percent of global electricity needs by 2050. However, wind power faces a large number of technical, economic, financial, institutional, market, and other barriers. To overcome these barriers, many countries have employed various policy instruments, including capital subsidies, tax incentives, tradable energy certificates, feed-in tariffs, grid access guarantees and mandatory standards. Besides these policies, climate change mitigation initiatives resulting from the Kyoto Protocol (e.g., CO2-emission reduction targets in developed countries and the Clean Development Mechanism in developing countries) have played a significant role in promoting wind power.Publication Hydroelectric Power(Washington, DC, 2015)Worldwide, hydropower is a crucial power supply option for several reasons. First, it is a renewable energy resource that can contribute to sustainable development by generating local, typically inexpensive power. Second, hydropower reduces reliance on imported fuels that carry the risks of price volatility, supply uncertainty and foreign currency requirements. Third, hydro systems can offer multiple co-benefits including water storage for drinking and irrigation, drought-preparedness, flood control protection, aquaculture and recreational opportunities, among others. Finally, hydro can allow more renewables, especially wind and solar, to be added to the system by providing rapid-response power when intermittent sources are off-line, and pumped energy storage when such sources are generating excess power. For more publications on IFC Sustainability please visit www.ifc.org/sustainabilitypublications.Publication Handshake, No. 13 (April 2014)(Washington, DC, 2014-04)This issue of Handshake, focused on public-private partnerships in the power sector, brings diverse expert voices together to discuss how to increase access to energy in developing countries. Features on hydropower and renewables together with examples from Africa and Latin America provide an up-to-the-minute look at one of the most important and rapidly evolving sectors today. This issue includes the following headings: power and mining: digging deep to power up; market mover: intraday electricity trading; timeline to transformation: Nigerias privatization; energy for development: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MITs) new research; and interview: United Nation (UN) sustainable energy for all (SE4ALL) special representative Kandeh Yumkella. Whats it like to be energy-poor? Kandeh Yumkella, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Sustainable Energy for All, answers that question and many more in this issue of Handshake. Yumkella recalls his own experiences in Sierra Leone to illustrate the link between energy poverty and income poverty and explains how PPPs can help.Publication Handshake, No. 2 (July 2011)(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2011-07)This issue includes the following headings: renewable energy: wind and solar; energy efficiency: green building; and green finance: infrastructure finance.Publication India : Policy of Notes on Power(Washington, DC, 2013-05-14)The Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) is a high-level global forum to promote policies and programs that advance clean energy technology, to share lessons learned and best practices, and to encourage the transition to a global clean energy economy. At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference of parties in Copenhagen in December 2009, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that he would host the first Clean Energy Ministerial to bring together ministers with responsibility for clean energy technologies from the world s major economies and ministers from a select number of smaller countries that are leading in various areas of clean energy. Currently, the 23 governments participating in CEM initiatives are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and collectively account for 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and 90 percent of global clean energy investment.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.