wind energy
Wind energy damages the environment, health and prosperity. Wind power is:
Unstable and erratic. This, of course, is the bleeding obvious. It is only in parts of Antarctica that the wind blows constantly. Elsewhere in the world, the wind does not blow constantly. When it blows, it is erratic and it may not blow for days. In periods of high wind, the grid becomes overloaded or the turbines have to be shut down to avoid mechanical damage. German wind turbines put out a miserable 18% of their installed rated capacity. Wind companies claim that their turbines will power thousands of households but fail to state that this can only be achieved when the wind velocity is incessant and at a constant velocity. The wind companies such as AGL feed the public with fraud.
Wind turbines are expensive. The return on investment takes many years, even in places where the wind blows often (e.g. coastal areas, offshore, hill tops). Unless there are generous long-term subsidies paid by consumers and taxpayers, wind projects are poor investments. Because wind projects use subsidies and not wind to generate income, generated electricity is expensive. Governments have been totally commercially naïve and electricity prices have skyrocketed because there is a mandatory feed-in of wind energy.
Excess wind power is very difficult to store. We are a very long way away from being able to store large amounts of electricity. Large batteries are expensive, short-lived, heavy and can be a fire hazard. Pumping water to a higher dam is hopelessly inefficient as is the conversion of water to hydrogen using electricity.
Destruction of the environment. Turbines are in rural, scenic and forest areas. Plants and animals lose their habitats and there needs to be land clearing for the turbines and new access roads. Environmentalists complain about land clearing yet are happy to destroy the environment for wind industrial complexes. Wind industrial complexes require orders of magnitude more land than coal-fired or nuclear power stations.
Birds and bats are slaughtered. Each year millions of birds, especially raptors, and bats are killed worldwide by turbine blades. If environmentalists were really concerned about saving the planet, they would first try to save unnecessary slaughter of wildlife. If killing on such a scale was done by another industry, there would be uproar.
Flying ice. In winter at high latitudes, ice builds up on blades and is later thrown as projectiles. This danger to people and property has been totally ignored by environmentalists.
Aesthetics. Huge towers, spinning blades and land clearing are a blight on the landscape. Many turbines are on the tops of hills. Environmental objections to many projects is often on aesthetic grounds, except for bird- and bat-chomping wind towers. The proximity of these ugly monstrosities to urban areas lowers property values.
Health. Wind turbines produce flickering light and infrasound which can have a profound effect on some people. Infrasound, low frequency sound below the human threshold of hearing, is used as a military weapon because the inner ear pressure pulses is disorienting. Long term exposure damages health. If any other industry besides the wind industry damaged human health, environmentalists would be up in arms. If wind turbines are safe, I see no reason why they can’t be in the middle of cities in order to avoid voltage drop with long-distance transmission.
Increased carbon dioxide emissions. Wind industrial complexes emit monstrous amount of carbon dioxide in their construction and maintenance. Furthermore, carbon dioxide emitting coal-fired power stations need to be operating for when the wind does not blow.
Toxic pollution. Wind turbine blades cannot be recycled. Land fill and incineration emit toxic chemicals into the environment. If a factory emitted such toxins, it would be closed.