Spotlights
345 - A Wind Power Primer: Emission reduction negligible for land-intensive, unreliable, noisy, ugly bird-killing turbines

March 10, 2008

Key facts:

• Wind power is generated through large groups of massive industrial wind turbines, sometimes as tall as 50-story skyscrapers.



• Like the wind itself, wind power is intermittent and extremely unreliable. The wind must be strong enough, but not too strong, to generate power. So wind cannot be used for baseload generation nor to meet peak demand. For example, to avoid a blackout, a Texas grid manager recently had to cut off electricity to some customers, in large part due to a sudden drop in wind power.



• The National Academy of Sciences has reported that wind power would not significantly reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide or sulfur dioxide. Its impact on carbon dioxide emissions would be miniscule.



• Wind power would have no effect on energy independence. Electricity generation accounted for only 1.5 percent of all petroleum consumption in the United States. With respect to electricity, the U.S. already is energy independent.



• Wind power plants take up to 88 times more land than coal plants. To generate 1,000 MW of electricity would require acreage the size of Fayetteville, Raleigh, and Wilmington combined. Placed in the mountains, it would require 300 miles of ridgeline.



• Wind power plants have proven to be exceedingly deadly to wildlife, especially birds and bats, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that recent efforts to mitigate bird and bat deaths have failed.



• The noise effects of wind power plants are potentially so severe to people that both the French National Academy of Medicine and the United Kingdom Noise Association recommended against building wind turbines within a mile of residences, at least until further research has been conducted.



• North Carolina’s legislature should develop a “Coast Law” to prohibit the construction of industrial wind turbines on the coast. Both the coast and the mountains should be protected from this unreliable form of electricity that would permanently ruin local landscapes, harm wildlife, and pose potential health risks to residents.

Download PDF file: A Wind Power Primer: Emission reduction negligible for land-intensive, unreliable, noisy, ugly bird-killing turbines (148 k)

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