Natural Entrepreneur: Refuting Misinformation About Wind Energy

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It's not about 'My Backyard'

Those of us who oppose wind energy are NOT self-centered, misguided NIMBY'ists(1) intent on saving our backyard view sheds. If this were the case, we would not get any traction. We have done our homework and we know a few things.

Specifically, industrial wind sites produce minuscule amounts of electricity and will have no measurable impact on our use of fossil fuels or our production of green house gases. Put another way, no coal, gas, or nuclear plant will be displaced by a 30 mega-watt (MW) industrial site such as that proposed for Lyman, NH last year and now being considered in Lempster.

Industrial wind sites cause destruction to the forested ridgelines upon which they are built and yes, they really do kill bats and migratory birds in huge numbers.

It's about tax breaks and green credits

And finally, the wind companies are sustained mainly by federal and state tax policies that pay their investment bills. Traditional electricity companies who buy the green power are tickled pink that they can preen around as "greenies".

If you ask anyone in the energy business, they will tell you wind power is not a viable source of electricity since it is, and always was intermittent and unreliable. You can't run a hospital on it. You can't run a community on it -- not alone, and as part of the energy mix on the grid, it is inconsequential.

Wind turbines are inefficient

Since wind is intermittent and largely unpredictable, we can expect average output to be around 25%. So a 30 MW site will produce, on average, 7.5 MW. Doing the arithmetic, the number of kilowatt-hours of electricity produced would be less than 1% of what we get from Seabrook and around 1% of the electricity produced by the gas-fired plant in Londonderry, NH. (One side point: The 720 MW co-generation gas plant in Londonderry went on-line in 2003 and was bankrupt in 2004 due to an oversupply of lower-cost electricity in New Hampshire, thus no market for the plant's product).

And less than 2.5% of electricity in the US is generated from oil, so wind power will have no impact on our dependence on foreign oil.

So what?

Okay -- so the next logical response is "So what! At least wind is clean and every little bit helps." This could be an acceptable counterpoint if wind plants posed no economic or environmental risks to the community. In fact the risks are high.

Footprint, Deforestation, Habitat, Erosion

For a power source that is unreliable and offers limited savings on greenhouse gases, the facilities are huge. When was the last time you saw an energy plant tower 320 feet into the air and require a 100-acre footprint? Access roads leading to the ridgelines are up to 70 feet wide and the cleared area per tower is 3-to-5 acres to permit construction of the structure on site as well as limit ground turbulence that could interfere with the winds. The total area impacted including loss of interior forested habitat ranges between 10 and 15 acres per tower. Documented cases of severe erosion and flooding have been attributed to the deforestation of the ridge.

Property values, noise, wildlife

In Lyman, NH, two prominent realtors went on record stating the detrimental impact a plant would have on property values. These "in-your-face" wind sites create uncertainty in the market, detract from the beauty of the natural surroundings, and yes - they are noisy. The "whomping" can be heard from far away and the low frequency creates a drumming noise that penetrates walls. The decibels are low, but the sound is real. Claims that property values increase in the vicinity of wind towers are nonsensical and based on flawed studies prepared by wind proponents.

The wind companies sneer at impacts on bats and migratory birds, but here too, the effects cannot be ignored. The blades spin at only 15-50 rpm, but translate that spinning into miles-per-hour for a structure the size of a Boeing 747 (240 foot diameter) and you're looking at speeds of well over 100 mph. That's a law of physics, which the wind developers cannot deny.

False promises of tax revenues, jobs

Promises of tax revenues and economic development consistently remain unfulfilled. For the smaller wind sites of 30 MW or less, the developers may employ a few locals to cut trees and clear for roads. After that, the installations are largely handled by foreign labor skilled in this type of construction. Once on-line, the company may again hire a few token locals to do security detail; otherwise, the plant is automated. The real kicker comes when the developer, who touts the tax benefits to a community before approvals, comes seeking rebates after the facility is constructed and fully depreciated to $0 value. There are documented cases where the developers stated the towers were temporary structures and should not be taxed like traditional power facilities.

There are great ecological and economic risks to communities that accept the ideal of wind power, without understanding the realities. It is critically important for rural America to stand up and protect its interests.

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(1) NIMBY - acronym for "Not In My Back Yard". It loosely refers to individuals or groups trying to keep unpleasant development out of their neighborhood.

Lisa Linowes, a pragmatic environmental activist, is also an editor of Natural Entrepreneur of NH. Listen to Lisa as she serves as a panelist on a recent New Hampshire Public Radio debate on wind power. And for more information, see www.GardnerMountain.org

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