THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 176, September 23, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WIND-DRIVEN DELUSIONS
By Alan Caruba
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT, & WIND FARMS: POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS AS WIND POWER ADVOCATES PUSHING
FOR MORE & MORE WIND FARMS TO REPLACE BURNING COAL AS THE PRIMARY MEANS OF PROVIDING ELECTRICITY --
WIND FARMS AS ONE OF THOSE TRENDY ENVIRONMENTALIST FAIRY TALES ABOUT "ALTERNATIVE" ENERGY SOURCES
THAT WILL SAVE US ALL FROM HAVING TO USE FOSSIL FUELS, WHICH POLLUTE THE ENVIRONMENT -- INCONVENIENT
TRUTHS ABOUT WINDMILL FARMS: THEY ARE UNSIGHTLY, RUINING THE SCENERY. THEY REQUIRE VERY LARGE
TRACTS OF LAND. THEY PLAY HAVOC WITH RADAR THAT IS USED FOR COMMERCIAL & MILITARY FLIGHT CONTROL.
THEY CONSTITUTE A DANGER TO WILDLIFE, KILLING LARGE NUMBERS OF BIRDS. THEY ARE ARE AN EXTREMELY
EXPENSIVE MEANS OF PRODUCING ELECTRICITY. AND THEY PRODUCE VERY LITTLE ELECTRICITY.
FULL STORY:
“Wind-Power Surge” was the headline of an article by Newhouse News Service reporter, Gail Kinsey Hill. “Demand
for Turbines Generates Higher Prices” was the subtitle, and the article noted: “The supply shortage comes as New Jersey
officials have begun planning a windmill farm off the South Jersey coast.”
Now it’s worth keeping in mind that New Jersey is one of the East Coast states that is on record as not wanting to permit
any drilling for oil or natural gas on its part of the continental shelf, presumably because the sight of any rigs might dampen
property values or pose a hazard to the “pristine” environment. So, let’s see, a few oilrigs are bad, but miles of wind turbines
are good.
Each one of the 1.5-megawatt turbines, the most popular size, will cost $2.5 million, including all turbine components and
installation. How will utilities pay for them? They will “recover the expense through rate increases, but they first must ask
state regulators for permission.”
Every megawatt of wind capacity “powers roughly 250 homes annually,” said the article, but failed to mention that only
occurs when the wind is blowing. When it is not blowing, the electricity will have to be supplied by conventional means of
generating electricity. To put it another way, no wind, no power, no really compelling reason to bother building a wind farm.
If you’re expecting the mainstream media to tell you the truth about wind power, I will be happy to come by and read some
fairy tales to you.
Wind farms are one of those trendy, environmentalist fairy tales about “alternative” energy sources that will save us all from
burning coal to provide electricity because, according the Great Big Book of Environmentally Bad Things, coal is “a
fossil fuel” and it “pollutes.”
Okay, let’s build nuclear facilities. After decades of opposing nuclear energy, the Greens have apparently decided it’s okay,
but, first, we have to do one million environmental studies before actually building a new one.
There are a few, teeny-weeny problems with wind farms. First of all, from a purely aesthetic standpoint they are unsightly.
There is nothing pretty or inspiring about wind farms.
A proposed wind farm, Cape Wind, slated to cover 24 square miles of federally controlled waters in Nantucket Sound has
found some powerful opponents such as Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who lives on the Cape. Loath as I am to
agree with anything Teddy says, he’s right when he says the wind farm will destroy some of the most beautiful ocean vistas
on the East Coast, not to mention being a danger to sea and air vessels. Even presidential candidate and former Governor,
Mitt Romney, opposes this project.
Bird lovers hate wind farms. Back in April, 2007, when the issue of federal tax credits for wind energy was all the rage, the
American Bird Conservancy, quoted the National Wind Coordinating Committee, whose own estimates reveal that “this
growing alternative energy source is killing between 30,000 to 60,000 birds a year.”
Yikes! “At the current mortality rate and growth rate of the wind industry,” said the bird folks, “by 2030, a projected 900,000
to 1.8 million birds would be killed per year by wind turbines, unless protective measures are implemented.” Considering how
Greens go nuts over ordinary hunting and fishing, their indifference to this bird Holocaust is fairly astonishing.
Then there’s the problem with the way wind farms play havoc with radar that is used for commercial flight control, and by the
military as well. It turns out that, if you plant a wind farm anywhere within the proximity of an airfield, it “clutters” the signals
needed to guide your flight from Phoenix to a safe landing. This is why the siting of wind farms is subject to Federal Aviation
Agency approval.
Wind farms are quite possibly the dumbest way possible to produce electricity. Coal, uranium, natural gas, and hydro currently
produce 97% of all the electricity used in the United States. Of these energy sources, coal accounts for half of all the electricity
generated. It’s abundant, and it’s cheap. Apparently, that’s a bad thing.
Suffice it to say, to replace one traditional 1,000-magawatt power plant, you need a lot of wind turbines that, in turn, take up a
lot of space, whether on land or at sea.
Picture in your mind that you’re driving along the shoreline of New Jersey, glancing over at the Atlantic Ocean, and seeing
hundreds of wind turbines. These towers can stand over 400 feet into the air, have gigantic blades that make them into bird
Cuisinarts, and, in the winter, they throw off big chunks of ice. In addition, the blades have been known to come loose.
Lightning has a particular affinity for wind towers. Keeping a respectful distance is a good idea.
With wind power advocates pushing for more “renewable energy” by the year 2020, the energy projected would require
between 50,000 and 100,000 towers, occupying some 7,500 to more than 10,000 square miles. That’s an area comparable to the
entire state of Vermont.
So, the “wind-power surge” may not be such a wonderful thing in either the short or long run. It is, like so many other strange
environmentalist ideas, a fantasy, a delusion that sounds rational right up to the moment you begin to look at it closely. When
you do that, the vision of hundreds of wind towers producing miniscule amounts of electricity — and only when the wind is
blowing — seems, well, nuts!
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2007
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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