Taking aim at wind power

Re: Renewables: Still not cheap, Lawrence Solomon, April 27

As usual, Lawrence Solomon has skewered the reputation of renewables with the facts, which are that the rush to renewable energy in the form of solar power and wind turbines has had a huge downside. In several countries, it has failed to produce longterm employment and resulted in skyrocketing hydro prices, often accompanied by little or no reduction in overall GHGs, since wind turbines do not come without a GHG penalty.

Although he focused on Germany, similarly devastating results are being reported from the U. K. and Australia, where the local citizenry in many communities are fighting to have existing wind turbines removed and petitioning for no new “beasts of the wind.” In the U. K. alone, there are more than 120 anti- wind turbine organizations protesting current installations and fighting future developments.

Moreover, in the U. K, many wind turbines are reaching the same end-of-life period as those in Germany, and in a number of U.K communities, the move is on to decommission and not to reemploy them.

The claims of reducing pollution or greenhouse gases appear to be greatly exaggerated.

Wind is a diffuse and fickle resource that does not follow demand. Despite decades of experience and substantial installations in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Spain, often successful in generating reasonable electrical energy contributions to the grid, these giant turbines have not been shown to meaningfully reduce the use of other fuels on the electric grid — such as natural gas, coal, and nuclear — let alone oil for transport and heating. For this reason, their ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change or pollutants that cause acid rain and health problems is doubtful, despite the vast number of installed wind turbines worldwide.