June 10, 2012
Letters, Rhode Island

If you really back wind power, go ahead and pay for it

The Westerly Sun | www.thewesterlysun.com 9 June 2012

Here is a sample of recent headlines from the UK Daily Mail.

Jan. 12, 2012: Wind power “does not give value for money” as it is unreliable and requires back-up

July 11, 2011: Households would be saved £550 by scrapping wind farms in favor of nuclear and gas power

Feb. 28, 2011: Why the £250bn wind power industry could be the greatest scam of our age

Sept. 28, 2010: Revealed: Wind farm power is twice as costly as gas or coal

I could source hundreds of similar headlines from Europe about wind energy. The point of the headlines is that Europe has figured out that wind power is more far more expensive than conventional power.

Spain hitched its economic future to “green” energy and found the only things created were higher taxes, high subsidies for the green energy companies and much higher energy cost. Additionally, the green energy polices of Spain caused the loss of millions of jobs. As a result of their green energy policies, Spain’s economy is teetering on the brink of insolvency.

My department at EB recently hired an engineer from an Iowa utilities company. According to him, when they are generating more power than the grid needed, they shut down wind turbine farms because they are more expensive to operate than conventional power.

When it comes to liberalism, failure isn’t just an option, it’s the only option. And the solution is to keep on throwing good money after bad. Here’s the prime example of what I mean.

The Dept. of Energy was formed in 1977 to find an alternative to conventional power. Their total budget expenditures so far total almost $1 trillion. The results were predictable. Almost forty years later, we are no closer to finding a real, cost effective, alternative now than we were then.

The point I am making is that not only is green energy costly and inefficient, it’s a total scam designed with one intention – separating taxpayers from their wallets.

The Town Council is considering the use of wind turbines to generate power. The Dept. of Energy’s own web page identifies our area as marginal for the use of that type of power. Based on their analyses, any cost benefits from a wind turbine to the Westerly taxpayers would be many years down the road, if ever.

Naturally, the local wind power supporters are waving the “green” flag extolling the virtues of wind power. It really doesn’t matter to the what the cost is. Wind power is nice, clean and it’s “green.” For liberals, it’s all about the agenda. The fact that it will be costly and inefficient is totally irrelevant.

Still, I would be all for wind turbines in Westerly under one condition. When the total operating costs and cost per kilowatt hr of electricity generated by the wind turbines exceeds the operating costs and generating costs of electricity from conventional power, the local supporters pick up the tab, not the taxpayers. They want it. Let them pay for it.

Prior to approving the wind turbines purchase, I recommend that the town solicitor write a contract that all the wind turbine supporters can sign. That contract would make them personally responsible for any costs incurred to the town by wind turbines that are above the cost of conventional power.

Instead of forcing all of us to suffer, just once I would like to see liberals put their own money where their keyboards and their agenda are.

According to wind power supporters, there is zero risk. Wind power is the answer, isn’t it? Come on, guys, sign up! What could go wrong?

Phil Gingerella
Westerly


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/06/10/if-you-really-back-wind-power-go-ahead-and-pay-for-it/