First Wind provides clean, renewable energy with a wide range of environmental benefits, including:

Generating power without air or water pollution
Wind farms generate clean, renewable energy without the environmental or health risks of other primary energy sources, such as coal and oil.

Reducing harmful fossil fuel emissions
First Wind generated TK MW of power in 2007. A similar amount of oil or coal power would burn 632,000 barrels of oil or 178,000 tons of coal.

Power produced from wind has zero emissions. Wind power has the potential to produce three times the total electricity generated in the U.S. today, while emitting no pollutants into the environment*.
*SOURCE: AWEA (view PDF) 

No greenhouse gas emissions
Based on data recently published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database (E-GRID), traditional generation sources producing an equivalent annual amount of electric energy as First Wind's operational wind farms would emit greenhouse gases (GHG) consisting of nearly 180,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and 540 tons of nitrogen oxide (NO_x). To put this in perspective, 180,000 tons of CO₂ is equivalent to the annual emissions of over 31,000 cars or over 22,000 SUVs. In addition, equivalent energy production from traditional sources would produce approximately 668 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO₂). Both SO₂ and NO_x cause acid rain, which harms our lakes and rivers.

Conserving valuable water resources
Wind energy uses no water in energy production and emits no mercury, a leading cause of contamination of our rivers, lakes, and oceans from conventional electricity production.

Preserving local lands
Wind farms enable local property owners to maintain the current use of their land, such as farming, grazing cattle, or logging, while creating a new source of clean energy.

Reducing health risks
By offsetting the need for fossil-fueled generation, wind energy may help decrease particulates and pollutants in the atmosphere, urban smog, and toxic heavy metals found in fish.