How wind energy can help save the planet l GMA

our extensive coverage is taking us on a whirlwind adventure this morning for our gma cover story we’re now heading to the top well ginger’s heading to the top of a wind turbine and that’s where she is standing she’s climbing it’s there and roaring branch pennsylvania to bring us a closer look at how wind energy can help save the planet and create jobs good morning again ginger good morning to you rob and i think it’s don’t look down with what i was told but we are of course safely up here and there’s really no better way to feel the power of the wind and yes it is a very windy morning here the energy that is being harnessed is something we’ve done from thousands of years but not quite like we are today now at this point wind energy is cheaper cheaper than nuclear and coal it is the same price as natural gas it only makes up eight percent of our power grid in this nation for now but that’s about to change coast to coast there are 69 000 wind turbines churning out clean electricity in our nation they’re almost like towering troopers in the effort to slow global warming according to the bureau of labor statistics wind turbine service technician jobs are going to increase by 68 by the year 2030.

That makes them the second fastest growing occupation in the united states for eva gonzalez working on a wind farm in leifer texas has been a windfall the reason i made the transition from the oil and gas industry because i realized that i wanted to start taking care of the environment fueled by the biden administration’s plan to deploy enough new offshore wind farms to power more than 10 million homes by the end of the decade the wind business is booming one study finds that the expansion of offshore wind farming could pump more than a hundred billion dollars into the global economy they are doing it because it’s an area that they can make a profit so it’s good business as well as as good for the environment so when you talk about the size of a wind turbine the average one is about 300 feet high that’s like the statue of liberty and from blade to blade they can be more than a football field wide even though these look like huge wind turbines and they are but they’re kind of babies in the industry 2.3 megawatt they’re now putting in five and six megawatt and these are nothing compared to the behemoths that are going in offshore we visited the country’s first operational offshore wind farm in rhode island and governor daniel mckee believes the state will transition to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.

the other revolution wind is on the table right now with 50 wind turbines that will be up and operating by 2023 270 000 homes will be powered by that wind farm about 15 miles off the new england coast seven new and far bigger offshore wind farms will break ground or rather break water in the next three years that should create 80 000 new jobs and enough electricity to hit that biden administration goal of powering 10 million homes with wind plus all that clean energy cuts carbon emissions big time the equivalent of taking nearly 17 million cars off the road for an entire year i love my job i get up every morning i love what i do and i don’t see myself doing anything else i want to leave a better tomorrow for my family we’re up here with wind technicians it’s amazing what they do every day and i got to tell you that every part of a turbine is recyclable except the blades and whenever i post about this that’s the first thing people see there have been a lot of articles saying hey but these are going to fill up landfills and now that we’re putting more in where do those go that is a huge issue right now the good news the national renewable energy laboratory has created a new resin that can make a 100 percent recyclable reusable blade not only is it going to be reusable but they’ll be able to make them on site that’ll take away all the transportation issues and i’m sure many of you have seen them kind of down the highway on these big trucks it’s going to make it a whole lot better and i will say guys i have to tell you too there’s no elevator up here so we did climb it’s pretty intense get a workout on top of everything else both you and matt this morning okay ginger thanks very much well hey there gma fans robin roberts here thanks for checking out our youtube channel lots of great stuff here so go on click the subscribe button right over right over here to get more of awesome videos and content from gma every day anytime we thank you for watching and we’ll see you in the morning on gma