Texas on the Brink of a Major Wind Energy Milestone
Texas is on the brink of a major milestone for wind energy in the U.S.
In 2013, wind accounted for 9.9 percent of the state's generated electricity, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state's grid operator. That mark has nearly doubled in just five years. Wind came in at 4.9 percent in 2008.
The rise in wind energy accompanies an increase in overall electricity consumption by Texas residents. They used about 2.1 percent more power in 2013 than in 2012. ERCOT carries about 85 percent of the state's energy demand, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"Texas has added coal- and natural gas-fired capacity since 2011," according to the Energy Information Agency, "however, the largest share of capacity growth has been from wind generators, mostly located in western Texas. Texas leads the nation in wind power generation and was the first state to reach 10,000 megawatts of wind power generating capacity."
The most recent figures from the American Wind Energy Association back that up. While Texas ranked first in total megawatts installed, it finished second in amount of utility-scale turbines—7,690—only to California.
Additionally, six of the 10 largest wind farms in the U.S. are in Texas.
Texas is the site of a study where researchers are exploring if micro-windmills could power small electronics like smart phones. The state is also part of a strong month of wind-related developments for Google, which announced that it will invest $75 million in the Panhandle 2 wind farm project near Amarillo, TX.
Visit EcoWatch’s RENEWABLES page for more related news on this topic.
At first glance, you wouldn't think avocados and almonds could harm bees; but a closer look at how these popular crops are produced reveals their potentially detrimental effect on pollinators.
Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p>
Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>
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