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There are important lessons to be learned before going ahead with wind power
Credit: Mansfield News Journal, www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com 15 December 2010 ~~
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There have been two front-page articles concerning wind farms in the News Journal in the last two weeks.
On Nov. 13, a group of sixth-graders in Lexington conducted an experiment by creating a wind farm on the school lawn with handmade wind whirligigs. But Mother Nature took over the classroom and delivered an unintended but painful lesson concerning wind power … when the wind doesn’t blow, there is no power.
A large fan had to be plugged into a conventional source of electricity to power the wind farm, hence another brutal lesson learned. All wind farms must be backed up with another power source for those times when the wind is not sufficient. Were these lessons learned or just swept under a rug?
Then on Thanksgiving Day, the front page gave a recap of the current plan for Richland and Crawford counties. This should remind us all that these projects are very heavily subsidized by the taxpayers and will only serve to increase, not decrease, the amount we pay for electricity.
One only needs to consider other states, such as California – or other countries, such as Spain, Denmark or Germany – that have already been down this road to see what it has done for their employment, economy and electric rates. Is that what we want for Ohio? If there is a power shortage on the horizon in the next couple decades, shouldn’t we be considering power sources that provide clean, reliable electricity 24/7?
Wind power may have something to offer in the future, but its time is not now. Not when it costs far more than other available resources and not when it requires tax dollars we don’t have to subsidize the development phase and still end up paying double or triple rates for our electricity.
Karel Davis
Shelby
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