Wind Power News: Letters
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Letter didn’t address reality
In an April 24 letter to the Herald, UND Professor Dexter Perkins thoroughly bashed the usage of coal for generating electricity. However, he erroneously claims that solar and wind generating sources are non-polluting. Spent wind turbine blades, after only 15 years of service, are being quietly landfilled by the thousands out on the lone prairie. We are never allowed to see the real costs of turbines, land leases, transmission line conductors, horribly expensive maintenance costs, turbine lives of only 25 . . . Complete story »
Cost of green energy
Re: “Put damaging fossil fuels in the past,” Other Views, Tuesday: It appears that the ability to use rational thought is not a requirement to be a professor at Texas A&M University since Andrew Dessler states, “Energy sources like wind and solar whose price – zero! – is set by nature.” Wind and solar are definitely not free sources of energy. The costs to build and maintain wind farms and solar farms are astronomical. The reliability of those sources is strictly weather . . . Complete story »
Blow back the ill wind
These wind farms are getting fat at the public trough and blowing their own brand of ill wind. This isn’t the first time. Ill winds really don’t benefit anyone except for the generator. We need to blow them back to make sure we get what was bargained. Beginning in the 1980’s, burner boy tried to impregnate our brain with the hotter than hell mentality for trash disposal. Instead, air-borne induced toxins found their way into wildlife populations and burner boy’s . . . Complete story »
Wind energy cost increase a sign of what’s to come
Utility company Dominion recently reported a $2 billion increase on the price of their offshore wind project. The price increase was largely blamed on “commodity pressures” (inflation, i.e.: Shipping has more than doubled. Steel more than tripled.). Dominion also admitted initial cost estimates were based on incomplete design documents. This sounds alarmingly similar to the explanation Kosta Diamantis and the CT Port Authority gave in attempting to explain how costs to remake the State Pier in New London jumped from . . . Complete story »
Sweeteners?
On Wednesday 27 October, during Portfolio questions, Oliver Mundell MSP asked Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, about reports that wind farm developers are offering payments to local residents in return for signing non-disclosure agreements and not objecting to planning applications. Anyone taking a “financial incentive” would be in a difficult situation should they encounter problems such as noise nuisance or pollution of private water supplies once construction is underway. The Minister refused to be drawn . . . Complete story »
Western Maryland ‘littered with wind turbines’
In response to Dan Rodricks’ column on coal, I would have to say I finally agree with something he wrote. Dan should cheer up, though. Any visitor to Western Maryland will notice that the entire mountain range in Western Maryland is now littered with wind turbines. They were, of course, built and installed by a company outside Maryland, so our state’s economy did not benefit much from their installation. In order to build those turbines, however, we had to clear . . . Complete story »
Points to ponder for the public
A 2.5 megawatt tower, operating at a 40% efficiency rate, can generate a revenue of approximately $640,000 per year at $0.07 cents per kilowatt. In Washington County, the current building permit for an entire wind farm is under $1,000. A new building permit schedule of .02% of the cost each tower has been proposed, paid for by the wind companies. The moratorium needs to be extended long enough to implement this new building permit schedule. If it is not, wind . . . Complete story »
Slaughter of the seabirds
Could mankind be any more destructive in its vain attempts to “save the planet”? Ever-more alarming articles inform us about climate change causing the death of seabirds, including today’s Issue of the Day feature by Vicky Allan (“Mystery of the 1,000 dead seabirds”, The Herald, September 30). At the same time, we are carpeting almost the entire country, plus much of our pristine seascapes, with what has been described as the new “apex predator” – hugely-destructive, lethal, industrial wind turbines. . . . Complete story »
Wind turbines are still made of harmful plastic
In the ’60s, the idea was to save the rain forest, so we switched from wood to plastic (vinyl siding & laminated flooring). Today our food comes wrapped in it, our cars are built with it, and we wear clothes made of it. After all plastic is made to last and it does. Every step of its lifecycle, plastic creates greenhouse gas emissions. The world now produces 380 million tons of plastic every year. Public hearings are scheduled on installing . . . Complete story »
6,241,502 reasons why the turbine is a bad idea
The proposed wind turbine deal is hideously bad for residents and business owners of Ipswich. But a few, to use the accepted social lexicon, “radical extremist” green ideologues seem determined to press ahead. Put aside the manifold issues attendant to wind power including health impacts on those living nearby, issues with birds and wildlife, total net carbon impact of manufacturing, transportation and disposal, etc. There are at least 6,241,502 other reasons why it’s undesirable. 1 – We’re in the current . . . Complete story »
