Wind doesn’t pay
January 14, 2013 | www.jsonline.com
Tom Content’s Journal Sentinel Business section story Jan. 11 on the Port of Milwaukee’s wind turbine is exemplary of the thinking that surrounds that industry and is perpetuated by its owners, investors and unrequited environmentalists (“Wind turbine provides savings”).
The $587,000 project – financed one way or the other by taxpayers (government stimulus, Focus on Energy, We Energies) – generated $5,000 income for the port in nine months, replacing electric costs of about $9,500. Generously, if that rounds to about $19,000 income and cost savings per year, it would require about 29 years to pay back. Since the life of a turbine is 25 years or so, the numbers don’t add up.
This economic consideration does not address the growing concern of many about the medical implications of turbine-generated infra-sound and low frequency sound on nearby residents.
Thomas C. Murphy
Green Bay
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/01/14/wind-doesnt-pay/