Wind energy's swift growth, explained

  
Wind energy's swift growth, explained
Source: American Wind Energy Association. Credit: The Conversation

The wind industry is growing quickly around the world, especially in China and the U.S., where the total amount of electricity generated by wind turbines nearly doubled between 2011 and 2017.

All told, about 25 percent of global electricity now comes from renewable sources like hydropower, wind and solar energy.

As a wind energy researcher, I realize it will be hard for the industry to keep up this pace. Yet ample evidence supports widespread predictions that the volume of wind energy will continue to grow quickly – here and abroad, on land and offshore – for reasons that most electricity consumers can support.

Explore further: Wind output in Denmark last year was a record-setter