Wind-Powered Trains

Netherlands Railway recently announced an ambitious energy goal for their 1,800-mile electric train network. Within the next three years, they plan to have the entire system running on 100 percent wind power.

Wind generators currently supply about half of the energy for the network which carries 1.2 million passengers per day. The additional power will come from wind farms in the Netherlands as well as Belgium and Scandinavia.

Since 2000, installation of land-based wind generators worldwide has increased by about 24 percent annually. According to the International Energy Council, current plans for the global expansion of wind power could ultimately result in 18 percent of global energy production being generated by wind farms.