Wind energy growth stunted

The number of new wind energy farms installed in the U.S. plummeted in 2013 compared with the year before, according to a new report.

Figures released by Navigant Research reveal that just more than 1 gigawatt of new wind capacity came online in 2013, down from 13 gigawatts of new wind energy in 2012, according to Grist.com.

At the end of 2013, Congress let a wind energy tax credit expire that had been established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992. The report blamed a “politically divided Congress” that “failed to extend tax incentives in time to positively impact the 2013 development and construction cycle.” The credit was worth 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour; a one-year extension would have cost $6 billion.

Meanwhile, the U.S. subsidizes fossil fuels to the tune of $502 billion per year, according to a report from the International Monetary Fund.