I see it as a sign of acceptance and maturity when we can discuss the plusses and minuses of a proposal. But Rocky Barker’s Aug. 25 story about wind development in Idaho was fairly boosterish and carefully avoided mention of the tradeoffs of the energy source he was writing about.
Before anyone labels me as anti-wind, I’d like to clarify that, like the majority of Americans, I’m an “all-of-the-abover.” Our country needs niche sources such as wind, solar and biomass, as well as baseload power (power that is predictable and reliable, which includes fossil, nuclear and, sometimes, hydro). Everything has a role and deserves our support. Since April 2007, our PR firm has been a public relations consultant for Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. , giving us the opportunity to intensively research different energy types.
In the public policy area, however, support needs to follow careful consideration of the tradeoffs of each source – and each source has tradeoffs. Fortunately, we are well-informed about the tradeoffs of traditional power sources, but here are some for wind that may come as a surprise:
- According to Wikipedia, 60 to 80 percent of the time, wind farms produce little or no power (tinyurl.com/windoutput). They may provide power when it’s not needed and not provide when it is needed, making wind difficult to integrate into a power grid that demands reliability. Barker’s story mentioned the new wind farms will power for 40,000 homes, but should have added, when the wind blows enough.
- Wind farms need huge areas; about a tenth of a square mile per megawatt, according to the American Wind Energy Association (tinyurl.com/windareas). A 600 megawatt farm would need about 60 square miles but if it produces power just 25 percent of the time, you would really need four times that area (240 square miles) to produce 600 mw with any reliability. A typical baseload plant reliably produces that much in a couple of square miles.
- According to many news reports worldwide, wind turbine neighbors, mostly farmers, report sleeplessness, irritability and depression due to infrasound and light flicker (windturbinesyndrome.com).
- Industrial wind turbines may be 450 feet tall and 650-foot models exist. By comparison, the tallest building in Idaho (U.S. Bank Plaza) is 267 feet. Barker’s Aug. 25 story didn’t mention the acreage of the project or the heights of the 122 towers.
- According to the National Academy of Engineering, wind farms require high energy input, 11 times the steel and 5 times the concrete of a comparable nuclear plant, as well and hundreds of miles of access roads and transmission lines (tinyurl.com/windinputs).
- According to the American Bird Conservancy, each wind turbine kills up to 7.5 birds per year, or 40,000 nationally, mostly songbirds and raptors. (tinyurl.com/birdkills)
- According to the Caithness Wind Farm Information Forum, wind energy has killed 63 people due to blade and ice throws, turbine fires and accidents (tinyurl.com/winddeaths); by comparison, dam collapses have killed about 75,000.
- According to the National Academy of Sciences, renewables receive much more subsidy than baseload sources (tinyurl.com/energysubsidies), given the amount energy produced.
- Wind energy often faces strong opposition from citizens and environmentalists. To his credit, Barker has reported on this. The Snake River Alliance, for example, is famous for spouting its would-support of wind development, but it is too timid to testify at local meetings in support of embattled wind developers.
Balanced reporting should consider these facts alongside the great advantages of wind power, as it will result in a better-informed public. We can’t rely exclusively on renewables to power our civilization. Intermittent sources have an important role to play, but we need baseload to back them up. We really need it all.
As wind becomes less exotic, news stories will report the full picture, as it should with any legitimate and useful energy source. Our support for wind will become stronger when we fully understand its limits as well as its tremendous benefits.
