Home Automation and Energy Management

Green: For Devotees of Wind Power, a New Product Label
Jan 19, 2011 New York Times
JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF

Consumers already face a blizzard of labels on store shelves appealing to the better angels of their nature, from “fair trade” coffee and “dolphin-safe” tuna to chocolate bars whose makers pledge to devote part of their profits to saving endangered species.

WindMade

A growing number of goods in Britain and Japan even feature “carbon labels” that inform shoppers of the carbon dioxide emissions — and global warming impact — tied to their purchases.

Now, a group of companies and environmental organizations, including the wind turbine maker Vestas and the World Wildlife Fund, have unveiled a new label that they hope will tug at consumers’ heartstrings by detailing to what extent wind power was used to make various products. Called “WindMade,” the label will be run by a nonprofit foundation and will require participating companies to undergo certification.

Exactly how the certification process will work has not yet been decided, and further details will be announced this month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the group behind the initiative said.

A major aim of the label is to harness consumer preferences for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels to help stimulate demand for turbines, Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Vestas, the Danish turbine maker, said in a statement.

“We hope that this will create a strong element of consumer pull, which will accelerate the pace of wind energy development globally,” said Ditlev Engel, Vestas chief executive.

The wind energy market could certainly use a boost. After a record year in 2008, the wind industry has struggled with declining demand as a result of the global recession and an unexpected glut of cheap natural gas in the United States.

The slump caused turbine orders in the third quarter to plunge 27 percent from a year earlier, Vestas said in its latest quarterly report. To cut its losses, the company said it planned to close several turbine factories, mostly in Denmark, and eliminate roughly 3,000 jobs.