WindMade Introduces Wind Energy Made Consumer Label For Products

Ever wish you could know what kind of energy was used to make the products you buy? Well, now wind energy is getting its own product label. According to the WindMade website, it will be the first global consumer label to display which corporations and products utilize wind energy.

The label was unveiled Tuesday at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, notes USA Today. It has the support of some very big names, including the UN and the WWF.

In order for companies to attain the label, they will have to undergo a certification process that entails the verification of how much wind energy they use.

The initiative is so dedicated to this cause because its members believe that it is essential that products embrace clean and renewable energy sources. They state that "one of the most important ingredients in a product is the energy used to produce it." They desire to educate consumers about corporations' use of wind energy. WindMade hopes to increase the demand for products that use sustainable energy sources.

In WindMade's press release, Ditlev Engel, CEO/President for Vestas Wind Systems and pioneer of the WindMade initiative, said:

"We want to build a bridge between consumers and companies committed to clean energy, and give consumers the option to choose more sustainable products. We hope that this will create a strong element of consumer pull which will accelerate the pace of wind energy development globally. We strongly encourage forward-looking companies to join us in this effort."

WindMade suggests that wind is a much more viable alternative than other types of energy because it emits a very small amount of greenhouse gas, less than a tenth of what oil and coal-powered plants produce. It also consumes very little water and has a low, continuously decreasing production cost.

WindMade stresses that we cannot continue to consume products that are made at such a cost to the environment. Their label is a step in progress towards raising consumer awareness and displaying the importance of sustainable, renewable energy. Using a physical entity, a label, ensures that the public cannot simply ignore the effects that their purchases have on the environment.

Below is the label you can expect to see on products that are made utilizing wind energy:

Comments

[esquilax]

09:10 PM on 01/22/2011

These are great ideas. In Australia we've been pushing for a life-cycle energy cost label on appliances. It's an indicator of quality and the likely energy use of the device over it's life.

[anastomosis]

04:10 AM on 01/22/2011

I can't find any statement of the logo's design cost.
Recent design costs, like the bizarre, (to put it mildly), 2012 Olympics, were quite outrageously gross.

[anastomosis]

04:26 AM on 01/22/2011

Sorry.
Got tangled up in commas.
Didn't mean to say that the 2012 Olympics were bizarre.

Recent design costs, like those for the bizarre logo for the 2012 Olympics, were quite outrageous­ly gross.

[Mahi Joe]

08:44 AM on 01/21/2011

Congratulations to FatCow internet service provider. They just went 100% green with wind power energy.

[Chel Ramsey]

11:32 PM on 01/20/2011

More wind energy please!

I still don't understand why we can't fit every house & business with solar panels and a couple wind turbines to power them and rely on the grid only when neither of those are sufficient. Can you imagine the wind power sky scrapers could generate for themselves?

[Edward Standley]

10:40 AM on 01/24/2011

Agree. It's going to take a while for costs to come down, but the more local energy conversion is, the better. Transmission only eats up $$ and efficiency. The economies of scale needs to catch up, though.

[Sara Andrews]

08:39 PM on 01/20/2011

Too bad this logo is *rampant* these days. Every other contemporary church uses it for their logo (trinity, crown, etc.) I've seen it in other industries as well.

[FTracy3]

04:51 PM on 01/20/2011

I wonder if they make a wind powered room cooling fan?

[Rucio]

04:56 PM on 01/29/2011

Yes, it's called the wind.

[lightningbolt]

04:44 PM on 01/20/2011

This is a great idea.  There should be a label for solar as well.

[Jean2K]

04:42 PM on 01/20/2011

The runner-up in the choice of who gets to use this logo was U.S. politicians. For them, the symbol represents all-wind, and circular logic.

[yournext865]

04:32 PM on 01/20/2011

the location of the factory this product was made in would influence my buy.

[ziggythedog]

03:56 PM on 01/20/2011

CAUTION ! BLACK HOLE

[boblauer]

03:18 PM on 01/20/2011

this is a lot of hot air

[CaptainFrogbert]

03:17 PM on 01/20/2011

As a logo, it's not that bad. But I wonder, HOW MUCH or a company's energy will have to come from wind to qualify and who's going to keep track? They say there's going to be a "qualification" process, but how transparent and trustworthy is it likely to be? And finally, energy is fungible. There is no way to track where the electricity coming out of you wall began. Electrons are electrons. Just because a company pays a wind generator a fee does not mean they are actually USING wind energy to manufacture.

My trust of any corporation is non-existant at this point.

[Rucio]

05:04 PM on 01/29/2011

More information about it from Windpower Monthly: 'Asked about the difficulties of proving a product had actually been made from wind energy, a GWEC spokeswoman said: "What is important is we drive development of new wind farms. It doesn’t matter where you get your electrons as long as you drive wind power development."' And: 'In principle, a company will need to invest in wind projects if it wants to use the WindMade logo on its products or communications.'

In other words, it's a sticker you get for donating money to wind developers. Since you're on the same grid as everyone else, there's no way you are actually using more wind power than anyone else.

[Artos]

03:12 PM on 01/20/2011

 Makes me think of Water Recycling.

[CaptainFrogbert]

03:19 PM on 01/20/2011

Yeah, with the headline tease my first thought is the logo is about septic-tank-safe materials. It's flushable!

It does look more like swirling water than swirling wind.

[janie@atthelake]

02:58 PM on 01/20/2011

cool!

[clearthinker16]

02:31 PM on 01/20/2011

reminds me of a cyclone