Global wind resources exceed current electricity demand, Pryor said, and the cost of energy from wind turbines has declined sharply. "It makes perfect sense to rapidly deploy wind energy as a key part of decarbonizing the electricity supply," she said.
The global wind energy industry has been growing. Since 2005, the total installed capacity of global wind energy shows a 14% annualized growth rate for Asia, Europe and North America. Global wind energy electricity production expanded from 104 terawatt-hours (one trillion watts for one hour) in 2005 to 1,273 terawatt-hours in 2018, the paper said.
In 2019, wind energy generated approximately 6.5% of 26,600 terawatt-hours of global electricity demand. Six countries are generating more than 20% of their demand, while the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain are close to achieving 20% of electricity demand with wind energy. China has reported about 5% of its electricity supply from wind energy.
The United States generates 8.4% of its electricity from wind, as of 2020, with six states (Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, California, Kansas and Illinois) containing more than half of wind energy capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Wind turbines are now deployed in 90 countries, Barthelmie said, generating about 7% of global electricity, and the expansion of installed capacity of wind energy continues.
Sectors like solar and wind have become less expensive than fossil fuels. "So there really aren't any arguments anymore for not making this kind of change," Barthelmie said. "Both technically and economically, advanced deployment scenarios are feasible. It needs more political will."
The research, "Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Wind Energy," was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Barthelmie and Pryor are faculty fellows in the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.