True costs of industrial wind
Sterling, Amy
Amy Sterling of Texas Wind Resistance writes:
Now that I live within sight (about 5 miles) of a Wind Turbine Industrial Zone, I would like to comment on some of Mr. Schleede’s points regarding the false economic benefit claims by the wind industry (click here for that paper [1]).
“7. Ignoring the COSTS imposed by the development. In the case of wind energy, these would include but are not limited to (a) the environmental and ecological costs associated with the production of the equipment, (b) constructing and operating the “wind farm” (e.g., site and road clearing, habitat destruction, noise, bird and bat kills and migration interference), (c) scenic impairment, (d) neighboring property value impairment, and (e) local infrastructure costs.”
My personal observations speak first to statement 7.(b): Driving to work each morning over the past 8 years, living where I do, I have watched geese migrations each year numbering in the dozens among each skein. At this point of their migration they are traveling low and are easy to see and count. This year, the first after the construction of the Industrial Zone, I have seen only 2 skeins of migrating birds. One had a mere 7 geese, the other only 3. This is sickening to me. These birds have always migrated precisely over the Zone where the turbines were constructed.
As to 7.(c), there is no question that our once beautiful view has been obliterated by the monstrosities during the day and the red blinking lights at night. Most visitors to our vineyard and winery are disheartened by the view.
7.(d): Having spoken to fellow residents living closer to the turbines, I have heard, “now we can’t ever sell it (the property)”.
“9. Ignoring the ‘backup power’ costs; i.e., the added cost resulting from having to keep reliable generating units immediately available (often running at less than peak efficiency) to keep electric grids in balance when those grids have to accept intermittent, volatile and unreliable output from ‘wind farms’.”
Speaking to point 9, the electric grid operators cannot keep the balance. Since the turbines have been online, we are experiencing DAILY power outages, sometime 2 or 3 in one day. Although we have Uninteruptable Power Sources for each computer and a generator for long outages, this is, as any red-blooded American will say, “unacceptable!” Why should I have to provide my own off-the-grid balance in order to fatten the wallets of the landowners and corporations enriching themselves in the name of the common good?
I would also like to add that the low-frequency noise issue is not an unwarranted claim. A neighbor told me he was awakened last Sunday morning at 3:00 a.m. by the pressure he felt and that his windows were vibrating. My husband said he could hear them as well at that same hour.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/documents/true-costs-of-industrial-wind/
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[1] click here for that paper: http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/?p=1105