Economic case for offshore wind

All energy comes from renewable or non-renewable sources. Fossil fuels are an example of a non-renewable energy. Wind, solar, hydro and geothermal are all renewable types of energy.

A world population of 9 billion people is near, and we’ve learned that using non-renewable sources of energy is unsustainable for the health of earth’s ecosystems and people.

Therefore, renewable sources of energy are essential to our economic future. Now, because our planet is warming so rapidly, we must make this transition.

Last December at COP 28 (Conference of the Parties) in Dubai, more than 200 countries signed on to an agreement that signals a rapid and just transition away from the use of fossil fuels. While this does not mean the end of fossil fuels, this agreement means the beginning of the end. The challenge is for all governments and businesses to turn these pledges into real economy outcomes without delay. This goal is to keep temperatures on our planet below a 2-degree centigrade increase above 1890 levels.

Citing information from the National Center for Environmental Information, billion-dollar weather disasters over the past 10 years steadily increased. This trend tells us that the costs of doing nothing to curb the amount of planet-warming greenhouse gases are greater than costs for transitioning to renewable energy.

This is why developing wind energy offshore is important for Delaware. Since wind resources are more plentiful offshore than onshore and the technology for 24-7 capacity to produce energy from wind in the ocean is greater, that makes it worth all the cost differences to develop offshore wind energy.

China is now aggressively pursuing wind and solar energy. The United States and the rest of the world are also now engaged in a race to develop renewable energy. China understands that countries which are developing sources of clean energy will dominate the world’s economic future.

Western countries are also in pursuit of the goal to electrify everything. Because solar energy costs have come down by 90% in the last 10 years, it is cheaper and healthier to heat our homes and charge our batteries from the sun. Now, the problem is how to produce and store energy at night.

Here, the investment in offshore wind shows its value! Electricity to heat our homes, charge our batteries and power our transportation will come even when the sun goes down. Why pay a premium for electricity generated in other states when we have this abundant resource off our own coast?

This vision will create a clean energy future for our posterity. We will be good stewards of the land and water! All faith groups in our world agree on this conservative idea. We must provide our children a better world in which we all can live peacefully.

I will be voting for bold leadership that supports our clean energy future and the hope that offshore wind provides future generations. Our elected officials must support the best interests for Delaware’s economic future.