Geography Department Associate Professor Christian Brannstrom and Assistant Professor Wendy Jepson are collaborating with researchers from Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth and Oxford University in the United Kingdom in a groundbreaking initiative to study the ecological and socio-economic impacts of wind farms in Texas.

Brannstrom, Jepson and colleagues from TCU will focus on key questions related to the socio-economic impacts of wind farms and the wind-power economy at local and regional scales. This five-year, $2 million study is privately funded by FPL Energy, LLC, the largest wind and solar energy producer in the U.S.

FPL Energy is an energy supplier that utilizes natural gas, wind, solar, hydro and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It leads the nation in wind energy development, operating 55 wind farms in 16 states, with California and Texas having the most respectively. All field research will be conducted at these wind farms, starting with the 12 located in Texas and then spreading to other locations across the country.

These farms harvest wind energy with giant windmills that typically stand as tall as a 20-story building and have three blades spanning 200 feet across. This study will evaluate the impact of these giant turbines on the bats, birds, and people who live near them. Researchers will also evaluate how much the use of wind power reduces carbon in the atmosphere, and how the farms fragment the habitat, local movement and regional migration of other species.

A&M researchers Brannstrom and Jepson will conduct a study on the economic geography of wind energy at multiple scales, examine the environmental governance structure within the wind power sector in Texas, and examine perceptions of wind-power economy by regional and local stakeholders.

“This project is ahead of the curve in its holistic approach to assessing the impacts of wind farms and wind-energy economies for communities and regions,” Jepson said. “Indeed, this interdisciplinary project is unique in that it equally considers the local and regional ecological, social and economic impacts of wind power.  I envision that this partnership will provide the necessary assessments of wind energy to move towards a sustainable energy future for Texas and the nation.”

Brannstrom’s interest in the project stems from current work he is doing in Brazil and his resurrection of a course on the geography of energy. “This project will incorporate a method I am using currently in research funded by the National Science Foundation on environmental governance in Brazil,” Brannstrom said. “It also will enhance my teaching since I now teach a long-abandoned Geography of Energy course which former Dean of Geosciences Earl Cook created in the 1970s.”

The wind farm study is being coordinated by TCU’s Dr. Michael Slattery at the Institute for Environmental Studies and Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, a world leader in analysis of lower carbon futures and climate change.

The research partners hope the information generated from this effort will shape responsible future development of wind generation and transmission of energy. They believe that for wind energy to play a major role in mitigating climate change, science-based strategic planning is needed to maximize environmental benefits. This research effort will provide specific guidelines for Texas, but also more general guidelines for renewable energy development throughout the carbon constrained world.

Additional information is available online at www.FPLEnergy.com and http://www.newsevents.tcu.edu/1080.asp .