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Wind energy poses many problems
Credit: Erie Times-News, www.goerie.com 21 May 2011 ~~
This relates to your editorial in support of the proposed North East wind project (Erie Times-News, May 11):
There are many problems with industrial-scale wind energy, the first being it does not accomplish the most stated rationale for implementing it – reduction of carbon dioxide.
Wind blows intermittently (wind turbines get 30 percent or less efficiency in this part of the nation). Thus, wind requires conventional-source backup – coal, gas or nuclear. A coal plant backing up a wind installation would have to be ramped up and down to keep energy supplied to the grid. With this “ramping,” fuel consumption and emissions generally increase. The experience of the nation of Denmark reveals that installing significant industrial-scale wind facilities does not result in CO2 reductions.
If public officials are serious about reducing our nation’s carbon footprint, they need to focus on making the grid more efficient, and put greater emphasis on energy conservation. Taxpayer-funded subsidies to the wind industry amount to the same old paradigm – politicians sacrificing the environment in the name of “development” and the continuation of profligate energy usage.
The Nature Conservancy has issued reports bringing to public attention the substantial natural resource losses we will incur if we implement wind developments in pristine areas. The wind industry has stated that it needs at least 60 acres per megawatt. The proposed 150 MW project for North East will encompass over 7,000 acres, as confirmed by the developer. This constitutes energy sprawl. And for what? A piddle of unreliable electricity.
I urge anyone who thinks industrial wind is a “green” idea to drive up to Wyoming County, N.Y., and witness how its community resource of rural beauty has been transformed to a surreal industrial landscape out of “War of the Worlds.”
Sue Nunn|Edinboro
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