Wind worries
Credit: Carleton College Voice, Fall 2010 ~~
Translate: FROM English | TO English
Translate: FROM English | TO English
The hope that renewable energy will meet more of our energy needs is understandably on the rise [“Life in 2030,” summer]. Regarding wind, however, we can not overlook the fact that it’s a diffuse, highly variable, and intermittent resource, requiring massive installations, supporting infrastructure, and conventional backup to extract and deliver its energy to any useful degree. The balance of impact versus benefit is not in its favor.
Nevertheless, Senator Ellen Anderson’s vision of Minnesota using wind not only to provide its own electricity but also to export it is already well on its way to industrializing rural and wild landscapes worldwide. H. G. Wells described the result in his dystopian “A Story of the Days To Come” (1897): “And all over the countryside … the great circular shapes of complaining wind-wheels blotted out the heavens.”
Eric Rosenbloom ’82
Hartland, Vt.
This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.
The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.
Wind Watch relies entirely on User Funding |
![]() |
![]() |
Share: