Wind Power News: Editorials
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
State’s change in policy in taxes on wind turbines hurts Gratiot County
It’s an ancient joke that ran, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” People are no longer laughing. If the joke is about the state government, they’re likely to cringe. New laws, some good ones but most vague and ambiguous, new rules and new demands made on everyone who isn’t part of the state government, have generated frustration, confusion, fear and more work for less money. Some are left with nothing but a bad taste in their mouths. . . .
City ponders windmills, again
Windmills make some of us feel good, for better or worse. Turbine supporters consider wind a “green” source of electricity that is renewable, sustainable and less damaging to the environment than fossil fuels. Those considerations are up for debate. Windmill farms substantially alter the landscape. Giant turbine blades, which weigh up to 12 tons each, are notorious for attracting birds and pulverizing them. The Caithness Windfarm Information Forum, a Scottish organization that encourages renewable energy, found that windmills have caused . . .
Honesty needed in case for renewables
Who are the winners and losers from Scotland’s dash for wind? The Scottish Government insists it is a win-win situation and dangles the prospect of secure, affordable, clean green electricity powering a prosperous independent Scotland. Very conveniently for the SNP, it is feed-in tariffs from the UK Government that are currently footing the bill for building up green energy capacity. With wave and tidal power as yet unproven on a commercial scale, limited scope for further expansion of hydro-power, and . . .
Turbines slow to pay off cost
One year after installing two wind turbines, Lordstown saved $645 powering its administration building. That means it will take a little more than 20 years to recoup the $13,170 spent on the turbines. That’s a pretty bad return on taxpayers’ investment. The turbines, though, actually cost $131,700, with the federal government picking up the difference. So actually, it will take 204 years to recoup the cost. That’s a downright horrible return on taxpayers’ investment. This proves two points. One, federal . . .
Upstate too populated to accommodate huge wind turbines
Do you get wind-power regret once in a while? Harnessing wind to create power. What a great idea, harnessing a natural phenomenon that’s as ubiquitous as the air we breath. Replace fossils fuels, free us from the Arabs. What’s not to like? It’s been five years now since Community Energy/Iberdrola retreated from a 70 Turbine project on a ridge north of Otsego Lake, and since Reunion Power abandoned plans for 24 turbines in Cherry Valley. Did opponents – this editorial . . .
It’s time for wind to fend for itself
How much are you paying for those wind turbines down the road? Idaho Power claims it’s a lot. The electric utility has asked the state Public Utilities Commission for a number of changes to how Idaho interprets the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act — federal law that requires electric utilities to buy energy from small-scale renewable energy projects that want to hook up to their systems. Since 2009, wind projects hooking up to the company’s system under the law have . . .
Time to assess bird damage
Facing a choice between renewable energy and more bird deaths, Palm Beach County commissioners will decide today whether to approve plans for Florida’s first wind farm on farm land near Belle Glade. Commissioners should move the project along but require more study of the proposed turbines’ effect on endangered species and insist that the wind farm track and mitigate bird deaths. The project calls for more than 100 wind turbines, standing 500 feet tall, on 12,000 acres of farmland. The . . .
Doing right can be hard
Doing the right thing can be ever so difficult. Just ask Dalton McGuinty and his Ontario government colleagues. Going green in a polluted world should have been easy. Recognizing first nations’ right to protect their traditional lands ought to have been a cinch. Both conclusions suppose a clear path to a logical conclusion. Instead, they lead to thickets of conflicting realities. On both fronts, McGuinty and his ministers have been accused of being in too much of a hurry. On . . .
Altering clean energy law highlights its many flaws
The Legislature’s decision to expand the definition of renewable energy was a good move for Washington’s distressed timber industry. But it doesn’t begin to fix the flaws in the “green” power initiative that voters approved in 2006. If anything, the legislative adjustment underscores Initiative 397′s failings. The new bill broadens the measure to make electricity produced from older biomass facilities, such as pulp mills, eligible for the initiative’s renewable energy mandate. It should help keep some mills running and save . . .
Commissioners vote unanimously to support wind farm resolution
Monday’s (3-12-12) Beaufort County Board of Commissioners meeting was phenomenal. We’ll report on it in a series of articles. There was way too much, both obvious and not so obvious, to report on to give it short shrift. The first phenomenon was the board taking less than a minute and a half to dispatch the issue of wind turbines in Beaufort County. And they did so unanimously. So much for conservatives (Richardson and Deatherage) sticking up for conservative principles. Even . . .
