Friday, June 15, is the Global Wind Day, which signifies the importance of wind as a reliable source of energy.

Latvia has all the rights to celebrate this day as well, because wind energy production output increased two times in 2011, reaching 72 GWh. It allowed saving around 56 000 tons of CO2 emissions – an equal amount produced by 28 000 cars in one year, according to the information compiled by Enefit electrical energy trading company.

The total power output of Baltic wind turbines reaches 393 MW. Estonia produces most of this energy (184 MW).

«If we compare the situation elsewhere in Europe, wind is a largely unused natural resource in the Baltics. Even though it is not possible to base the entire electric energy production on wind alone, it is clear that this resource has several largely ignored advantages – unlimited availability and the opportunity to prevent the influence of different external factors on the price of the produced electrical energy,»- notes Chairman of the Board of Enefit Janis Bethers.

Currently, 2.5% of the global electricity consumption is provided by wind energy. It is expected that this figure will increase twofold in the next five years, making it so that in 2020, 8-12% of the global electricity is produced by wind turbines. This tendency is also evidenced by the price increase on energy resources, which makes wind energy even more competitive.

Interesting facts about wind energy:

-Every Gwh produced by wind turbines in Europe, saves around 780 kg of CO2 emissions. Wind energy production helped save at least 140 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2011.

-The leading European country in terms of use of wind energy is Denmark, where wind energy provides up to 26% of yearly energy consumption.

-Wind turbines produce up to 80 times the amount of energy required to power them.

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