Wind Energy and Environmental Ambivalence

Electric generation by wind turbines is one of those progressive environmental measures that everyone likes in theory, but that most have second thoughts on once the issue of how many and where to put them comes up. My musings on this are prompted by an LA Times article today describing objections that locals have to placing a wind farm near the California State Poppy Reserve in the Antelope Valley, California.

I lived in Tehachapi, California from 1994 - 2000, one of the centers of wind energy in the US, with approximately 4500 turbines placed on local hillsides. The picture above was taken there. So I have lived around wind farms and developed opinions and a fund of knowledge about them. Like most environmental issues, there are good things and bad things things involved, and occasionally some ugly ones, too. As a result, many environmentalists have mixed emotions about wind energy.

Good
Free - the source of energy is essentially "free" once your facilities are in place. And there are LOTS of windy places in the country to put them. However, with the cost of the facilities and mechanical efficiency, the rates for this generation still have to be subsidized.

Non-polluting - no argument here as the turbines do not emit pollutants

Bad
Visibility - modern turbines are big. They obstruct views and are placed in large groups. When wind energy first got going in the late 70s, towers for turbines were about 30 ft high. Now, most are over 300 ft in height. The photo above shows the contrast between a new GE model 1.5 mW turbine with a 70.5m rotor and some older ones. There are large fields in the Tehachapi area where rows of the obsolete towers have been tipped over on the ground. The people in the LA Times article are objecting to the large towers affect on seasonally spectacular views such as this:

And this:
So you have to admit there are some legitimate concerns there.

Bird Strikes - there are ongoing issues with birds being killed when flying into the rotors. I am not a biologist but have been led to understand that the larger turbines with slower rotor speed are easier for birds to deal with. I also saw this on bat strikes the other day, which was an issue I had not seen before.

Noisy - these things make a fair amount of noise, something that doesn't get mentioned much. I have been in wind farms on gusty days and been astonished at the noise.

Land Use Issues - some locals in the Tehachapi area for example have problems with the fact that the BLM leases out large tracts of land for wind farms and locals are excluded for hunting and other recreational use.

Unpredictable - though placed in windy areas, essentially their generating periods are unpredictable. This makes it an issue to balance their input into the overall power grid.

Timing - in Southern California, peak electrical usage is during summer daylight hours. Temperatures are high, air-conditioners are running and commercial/industrial usage is highest. Summer days are generally calm wind periods, with breezes finally kicking up at dusk. The power isn't there when you need it. This is the opposite of solar power timing, which is being looked on more favorably.

Ugly
Well, what I think is the ugly of wind energy is the rampant NIMBYism of high profile environmentalist such as Robert Kennedy Jr., who is all in favor of wind energy, as long as he doesn't have to look at the turbines.