Windmills in Somerset, PA

Pennsylvania is the fourth largest coal producer and almost all of nation's anthracite coal is located here. Pennsylvania leads the nation in acid mine drainage and in acid rain, due to leaking mines and the effects of coal burning, respectively.

With possibly the 'nation's biggest polluter' tag weighing heavy on the back of this mineral rich state, the focus is now shifting towards clean sources of energy generation. People are willing to pay extra for energy that doesn't pollute.

Somerset County is Pennsylvania's answer to environmentalists crying foul over global warming. The Somerset project and its 10-turbine sister project in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, made up the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River. Only a few hundred yards from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, about one hour east of Pittsburgh, thousands of motorists see six wind turbines every day (exit 10). These are built on private land and the farms are owned by FPL Energy.

However, wind energy still comes at a premium as compared to traditional electricity suppliers. Private players (universities, Giant Eagle etc.) have pitched in with commitments to buy energy over a multi-year period. Its easy to say that winds of change are blowing strong in polluted Pennsylvania.

Fun Facts -

• The Somerset farm serves 6300 homes per year. The carbon offset is over 84 million pounds/year.
  
• The earliest known windmills were in Persia (Iran) and looked like large paddle wheels.
• Today, the largest wind turbines in the world have blades longer than a football field.
• Pennsylvania is #2 in toxic air emissions from coal mining/processing, #3 in toxic air emissions from coal and oil electric utilities (source: Pennsylvania: A Leader in Toxic Releases).
• Pennsylvania leads the nation in acid mine drainage and in acid rain, due to leaking mines and the effects of coal burning, respectively. Pennsylvania's coal plants are #1 in mercury emissions and #2 in sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions (contributing to acid rain). They are also #6 in Carbon Dioxide (CO₂, a greenhouse gas) emissions and #9 in nitrogen oxide (NO_x, another contributor to acid rain) emissions (source: Lethal Legacy: The Dirty Truth About The Nation’s Most Polluting Power Plants).
• India ranks 4th in the world with a total wind power capacity of 6,270 MW in 2006, or 3% of all electricity produced in India.
• In May 2001, Carnegie-Mellon University became the first university in the state to sign up for renewable energy from the wind farms by agreeing to buy 4,778 megawatt hours, or 5 percent of its total electricity needs.
• Somerset County, PA gained worldwide attention in 2001 when a hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed near the town of Shanksville in the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
• This video was shot with both hands off the steering wheel at 70 mph (~112 kmh) this weekend on my drive back from Pittsburgh. One can clearly count the 6 turbines.