By Kevin McCauley
The wind power industry unveiled the “Windmade” eco-label today during the World Economic Forum in Davos as the first consumer label to identify products produced by wind energy.
The initiative comes from Global Wind Energy Council, Lego Group, United Nations Global Compact, Vestas Wind Systems, Bloomberg, World Wildlife Fund and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The label is designed to capture the eyes and dollars of consumers who consider renewable energy as a way to fight global warming. Its widespread acceptance could boost the global development of wind systems.
Steve Sawyer, secretary general of GWEC and nterim head of Windmade, claims that a survey of 25,000 people found that 92 percent of them would buy a renewable energy produced- product, even if it carried a premium price.
A key problem: consumers currently have no way to identify goods produced by alternative energy.
Windmade members are currently developing standards for certification. Those standards should be ready in March. PricewaterhouseCoopers serves as “verification partner” of the consortium.
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