April 25, 2011
Illinois, Letters

Can’t find the benefits from wind energy

Jim Milligan, Kings, www.saukvalley.com/ 25 April 2011Jim Milligan, Kings, www.saukvalley.com/ 25 April 2011

Commercial wind energy is less efficient than other sources of energy; it’s unreliable, unpredictable and uncontrollable. It must have a backup energy source 70 to 80 percent of the time when the wind doesn’t blow hard enough or blows too hard and industrial wind turbines must be shut down. Therefore, the cost of energy to the consumers is driven substantially higher by adding commercial wind energy.

Isn’t the extra cost worth cleaner energy? No. Wind doesn’t always blow; it requires a backup with conventional gas or coal-fired generators to offset wind’s unreliability.

Wind energy doesn’t substantially reduce CO2 emissions. The reduction is in the 2 percent range. We could obtain greater reductions while spending less money by putting resources into making our conventional energy sources less polluting. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on wind energy, and we’re not getting much bang for our bucks.

Considering the side effects on people, livestock and wildlife caused by commercial wind energy systems, wind energy is even less attractive and not an efficient use of our dollars. Quality of life/health are significantly impacted by environmental and landscape changes – by noise, sound, shadow flicker, and television and communication systems interference. Large amounts of precious, tillable farmland are taken out of production, driving up food costs to consumers, decreasing our bounty for export. Huge wind turbine towers interfere with the ability to apply treatments to fields by airplane, resulting in crop loss.

At this time, commercial wind energy systems don’t make good sense. The public and legislators have been sold a bill of goods by wind industry lobbyists and big financial bankers, who benefit by raking in huge profits and receiving enormous taxpayer subsidies – free money to them.

I can’t find the benefit to the taxpayer, citizen and resident that’s worth the cost of commercial wind energy systems.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/04/25/cant-find-the-benefits-from-wind-energy/