Wind power is not all it’s cracked up to be
Credit: January 1, 2013 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | www.post-gazette.com ~~
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Regarding the Dec. 3 article “Pa. Wind Power Depends on Tax Credit”: It states that “the continued growth of wind energy in Pennsylvania depends on reauthorization of the federal renewable energy tax credit.” Quite to the contrary, I think it depends not on any tax credit, but rather the availability of the wind itself, which studies have shown blows roughly about 35 percent of the time. This means it’s not blowing at all or at times too strong to allow the turbines to operate.
It should also be remembered that no process is 100 percent efficient, so some of the power is lost (or unavailable) and that unavailable energy is called “entropy.” As a matter of fact, it is common for scientists to say “that the entropy of the world is forever increasing.”
The article I refer to also points out that three wind power projects in Pennsylvania were canceled this past summer. Locating, building and erecting these turbines is also costly and could well be a good part of the reason for deciding not to go ahead with them.
L. ARTHUR LASSMAN
Oakland
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