Environmental Leader

In an effort to raise consumer awareness of wind energy’s potential, Vestas has budgeted $100 million over the next two years to bring its “Vestas, No. 1 in Modern Energy” campaign to U.S. living rooms, Vestas’ CEO Ditley Engle told Clean Technology Insight (via CNNMoney.com).

This is the first time the company has come out with consumer-targeted ads for print, online, radio and TV.

At a time when Congress hasn’t extended federal tax credits to alleviate the tax burden for wind-energy producers, it makes sense to aim ads at consumers who influence government and politicians.

It seems the renewable energy industry in general is getting better at sending its message across to politicians.

Last year, American Wind Energy Association ran radio spots asking voters to contact their representatives about specific issues relevant to wind. Earlier this year T. Boone Pickens spent $58 million on an advertising blitz for his plan to turn Texas into the Saudi Arabia of wind. Both Vestas and Pickens are singling out wind from a broader theme of climate change.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, U.S. wind capacity for 2008 is expected to increase by 7,500 MW, or up 45 percent from a year ago.