October 15, 2010
Letters, Ontario

Wind energy not the answer

The Peterborough Examiner, www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com 15 October 2010

Re “Why this backlash against safe windpower?” (Letter, Oct. 13) –

Perhaps Joan Reeves does not realize the industrial wind turbines are not the quaint, picturesque “windmills” of old. The 460 to 480-foot-tall industrial wind turbines proposed for the Hastings, Millbrook, Bethany and Pontypool areas are not benign “wind generators.”

Ms. Reeves may not realize that industrial wind turbines are not an “environmentally friendly method of generating power in a harmless way.” Due to the unpredictability of wind, to keep the power grid balanced we always have to have another power source to back up industrial wind turbines. Normally the back-up is a fossil fuel burning plant (either coal or natural gas). The back-up plants running at about 80% of their usual efficiency emit much higher amounts of greenhouse gases than they would when running at full efficiency.

The May 2010 Chief Medical Officer of Health for Ontario literature review stated, ” . . . while some people living near wind turbines report symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and sleep disturbance, the scientific evidence available to date does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.” The key phrase is “available to date.” Clearly stated, scientific epidemiological studies have not yet been conducted.

Kelly Campbell, director and project manager for Energy Farming Ontario Inc. was quoted as stating, “Nobody ever claimed that wind was the answer to our energy needs.” Finally, we are given a truthful statement from an EFO representative regarding a proposed industrial wind turbine project.

I agree with Kelly Campbell on this one: wind energy is not the answer to our energy needs.

DEBBIE LYNCH

RR 2, Norwood


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/10/15/wind-energy-not-the-answer/