Big worries over impacts
December 6 2023 - theadvocate.com.au
I am concerned about the impacts of climate capitalism on the environment and costs of living.
Evidently a wind turbine can use about 30,000 tonnes of iron ore from coal coking, about 30,000 tonnes of concrete from shale and limestone mining, about a tonne of rare earth neodymium with uranium and thorium waste, cobalt mining using child slave labour, and balsa wood from deforestation of the Amazon.
Then there is the transportation.
Also there is deforestation, erosion and sedimentation, plus tens of thousands of kilometres of transmissions from deforestation or farmland that are an ongoing limiting factor for endangered raptors.
Wind farms are functional habitat loss for migratory birds, seabirds, shorebirds, raptors, bats, and marine life, with infrasound a similar frequency to whale and dolphin sonars.
Wind turbines are not recycled, creating a mammoth landfill problem.
In addition they rely on coal power to get the turbines turning and power stations [for backup and balancing] given the intermittent energy, driving worldwide fracking transition fuel.
Less known is the Betz limit of a wind turbine: almost 60 percent of kinetic energy of the wind is used to generate electricity.
As high as the Empire State Building and hundreds of square kilometres, the friction and pressure differentials in the boundary layer affect atmospheric flow and moisture with measured warming effects. The wind is the greatest equaliser of the air.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2023/12/06/big-worries-over-impacts/