A friend of mine and I were recently debating the feasibility of going green on Facebook. It was one of those debates where you know exactly where your opponent stands: he is conservative and doesn’t believe greening our energy sources would do much good. It’s not to say he doesn’t support it eventually. He simply believes that we don’t have the necessary technology to do it efficiently. I, on the other hand, believe we’ve had this technology for years and forces have conspired against using it until now. This got me to thinking: do we really have that technology? Would it cost more in dollars and environmental sacrifices to create a green infrastructure?
One of the sources of green energy he argued against is wind energy. He mentioned the usual talking points: health issues, wildlife hazards, environmental contamination. Let’s play devil’s advocate, then, and see just how bad wind energy is.
Opponents of wind power cite some valid issues. Those issues are:
Production and Installation Issues – The amount of mined metals that goes into making just one wind turbine. Many of them are 200 to 300 feet tall, with 100 to 150-foot blades that chop through the air. Often times the mining, transporting, and manufacture of these turbines involves a lot of fossil fuels to generate the energy necessary to create them.
Installing wind turbines sometimes involves blasting down to the bedrock, which causes a disruption in surrounding wildlife, and has the potential to contaminate local water supplies. The installation process can also cause erosion in some places.
Human Health Problems – Some folks have reported health issues when within close proximity to wind turbines. This could have to do with the magnetized generators and the low, throbbing humming they generate when in use. Reports of nausea, increased anxiety, and livestock reacting negatively are common among people living among wind turbines. While the sound may not be detectable while standing right under the turbine, people who live near the turbines have reported hearing a low, rumbling noise which causes a disruption in their daily lives.
Efficiency Issues – Wind energy isn’t very efficient, and no locale that uses it ever turns off traditional power plants. When not enough wind is produced, traditional power plants must be ready at a moment’s notice. Thus, no real fossil fuels are spared, and the same amount of energy is still consumed.
Risk to Birds – Wind turbines create a threat to birds and other animals in the area. Between 100,000 and 440,000 birds and bats are killed every year by wind turbines. If wind turbines continue to grow as an energy source, the number could grow. This is especially troubling in areas where protected species live.
Now that we’ve touched on the problems with it, let’s take a look at the proponents’ argument.
Installation – While initial manufacture and installation do use fossil fuels, the energy the turbines will eventually emit have the potential to displace traditional sources of fossil fuel energy. The less fossil fuels are used, the less greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen, are released into the air. That is, the more the turbines are in use, the healthier our air can become. Wind turbines are getting smaller and more efficient. They are starting to take up less space, making them less of an environmental hazard during the installation process than before.
Bird Collisions – Proponents of wind energy use common statistics to show that turbines are a small portion of the total bird and bat fatalities. Regular power lines and window collisions account for millions more bird and bat deaths than wind turbines. Compared with wind turbines, the risk to birds colliding with turbines and relatively low.
Health Issues – In a recent publication, the Boston Globe published the findings of a study investigating the claim that wind turbines are causing the people who live near them health problems. The panel of scientists studied existing studies of people living near the turbines who had reported seizures, depression, dizziness, nausea, and anxiety. They found little to no evidence that the turbines, which can generate 45 megawatts of energy. However, the scientists did no original research and relied on existing information from which to draw their conclusions. Regardless of the validity of the findings, the state of Massachusetts (which commissioned the study) should have requested original research to complement the existing studies already.
No matter which type of green energy you advocate, there will always be some form of environmental cost associated with it. The issues aren’t cut and dry as most people would have you believe. That being said, I fully believe that if we make every effort to increase the efficiency of green technology, we could find ourselves relying even less on fossil fuels, even for the most rugged of manufacturing processes.
Little by little, when we replace equipment that runs on renewable energy that is more efficient and doesn’t belch out black soot, the healthier our world will be. We can’t do it overnight, but with a concerted effort to replace the old with the new, we can assure a healthier plant for our children, and our children’s children and beyond long after we are gone.