Even if we trusted Florida Power & Light, and we would be fools to, how do you think FPL’s industrial wind turbines could possibly be “exactly what the doctor ordered”?
What exactly are they supposed to do for this county?
Lower your FPL bill? No, wind power costs three times nuclear power. We see from the Sunshine Energy program you may not even get what we think we are paying for.
FPL says, “Sunshine Energy provides 150 kw of PV installations for each 10,000 customers who sign up. If commercial wind installations were used, we would need 100,000 customers per wind turbine to achieve a similar ratio.”
They’re only short 510,000 volunteers. We’ll pay more.
Lower gas prices?
Free us from foreign oil? Electricity has almost nothing to do with those things. Less than 2 percent of electricity in America comes from oil and it’s not imported. It’s residual fuel, a byproduct of the refining process. It can’t be turned into gasoline; it’s truly the “bottom of the barrel.”
Fight global warming? No fossil fuel plant has ever been replaced by turbines. They may make things worse since conventional plants have to power up and down like a loaded truck in traffic to accommodate the fluctuating input, increasing greenhouses gases.
Help carry the load when power plants are maxed out?
The turbines will produce the least when we need the most. Summer has the least wind, but the highest demand. Turbines can’t be used to supply either base load or peak load.
Why are we considering endangering eagles, osprey, other wildlife and our beaches for a net gain of 1/1,000th the current generating capacity in a county that exports 500 percent more than we use?
Believing FPL’s bought-and-paid-for polls and studies is just begging to be lied to again.
Capt. Thomas Steinruck
Fort Pierce
4 July 2008
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2008/07/05/wind-turbines-offer-little-for-st-lucie/