Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The light won't come in

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

George S. Patton

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Industrial-scale wind energy is widely promoted as a clean and sustainable source of energy. It brings, however, many adverse impacts of its own which are often ignored or even denied. Of most immediate concern for communities targeted for wind power facilities are their huge size, unavoidable noise, and strobe lights day and night, with the consequent loss of amenity and, in many cases, health.

People concerned with the environment are increasingly aware of the negative impacts of the giant machines and their additional supporting infrastructure on birds, bats, beneficial insects, and other wildlife — both directly and by degrading, fragmenting, and destroying habitat for their construction.

Considering these and other impacts, the construction of industrial wind energy facilities — along with their supporting infrastructure, including roads, transformers, and powerlines — cannot be justified in most of the places they are proposed. They do more harm than good.

How much good do they actually do? 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, Germany, and Spain, the giant turbines have not been shown to reduce the use of other fuels on the electric grid — such as natural gas, coal, and nuclear — let alone gasoline for transport and oil for heating. For this reason, their ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming or pollutants that cause acid rain and health problems such as asthma is doubtful, despite their tremendous size and sprawl.

http://www.wind-watch.org/

Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.

Alan Alda

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You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.

Harlan Ellison