Why are we spending any time on nonrenewable energy? Haven’t we proven that humans as a race are incapable of conservation even if our lives depend on it? We are not to be trusted with resources. We as a race are gluttonous. So why don’t we simply focus all of our attention and efforts on renewable energy? Renewable energy provides us with a limitless well of energy that will satisfy all our needs. For me, it is a no brainer. So why isn’t it happening? Greed! Yes, there are powerful, greedy people in our world that care more that their pockets are full than for their families and our environment. Some may say they are taking care of their families but I disagree. If a person’s actions are selfish and destructive to our planet, they cannot care about what their children, grandchildren and so forth inherit.
One of my favorite renewable energy sources is the wind. Here are a couple benefits from harnessing wind energy. First and foremost, it is renewable. Unlike raw materials such as coal, natural gas, and oil, wind is infinitely renewable. Harvesting wind resources does not deplete future wind capacity or reserves.
It is clean energy. Turbines driven by wind energy emit neither pollutants nor greenhouse gases associated with conventional electricity production. Conventional electricity sources are a major source of air pollution. In addition, no water is necessary. Unlike conventional power plants, wind energy facilities do not require vast amounts of freshwater for cooling, thereby avoiding thermal and physical pollution of rivers, lakes and watersheds.
When you strip away the effects of federal subsidies and credits, wind energy is the cheapest energy source we have. After the turbines are built, wind energy has no fuel cost, unlike its competitors. Sure there are maintenance costs, but doesn’t every machine? Current unsubsidized wind energy costs the consumer range from $48-$95 per megawatt-hour (depending where it’s located). It looks very good when you compare it to unsubsidized natural gas in a combined-cycle plant that recycles waste heat, which costs from $61-89, coal costs $62- $141, and simple natural gas industrial turbine system comes in at a whopping $200-$231. Wind power in Australia is already cheaper than coal and natural gas — even when the price Australia charges polluters to emit carbon is discounted. Wind is looking pretty good now, but wait there is more.
The majority of the manufacturing, construction and operation jobs are made in America. There is a huge job market opening up for wind farms and wind-turbine companies. The wind industry is a source for brand new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. with more than 400 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. across 43 states making components for wind turbines. Iowa is a hot spot for wind industry and continues to grow. Depending on the amount of wind installed in Iowa between 2016 and 2030, the state could average 500 to 5,500 new wind related jobs each year. During peak installation periods there could be as many as 11,000 wind related job. In a struggling economy, wind energy creates a large reservoir of possibilities for a sluggish workforce and opportunities for training.
Many high wind opportunities in the USA are in rural areas, which can provide new sources of income to these areas. More than 98% of wind projects are located on private land leased from the landowner. Typically, a landowner signs a contract granting the developer the right to use his/her land and the wind above it for wind development, receiving compensation from the developer in the form of lease payments. A landowner’s annual income from a single 1.5-MW wind turbine can range up to $6,000 per year depending upon how much electricity is generated.
As with all industrial changes, there are cons to them. Many people are concerned with possible bird and bat deaths along with destruction of viewsheds. Nothing is perfect. Although poor design and placement killed many birds in the early years but after decades changes have been made. Now, when we compare wind energy’s threat to wildlife to other man-made events, it is rather trivial. In 2007, the National Research Council found that turbine collisions accounted for only 3 out of 100,000 human-caused bird deaths. It seems that collisions with buildings, power lines and poisoning from pesticides or predation by domestic cats posed a greater threat. Turbine operators have become very sensitive to bird migration routes and are shutting down the turbines when birds are seen during migration season. As for destroying beautiful vistas, yes they do change the natural beauty as with most man-made buildings. Everything is a trade-off. If I have to choose between, mountaintop removal, nuclear power plants, oil slicks, mercury polluted water, air and land – a landscape with wind turbines is fine with me.
Sure, it is not reasonable to switch over to 100% wind energy. Nevertheless, it does make sense to run the country on a mix of fuels while dialing down our fossil fuel habits. Of course, it must be done incrementally. Basically, we need to focus our attention on renewable energy and wean ourselves off dirty nonrenewable energy sources. Wind energy continues to get cheaper and turbine construction is becoming more energy efficient, so it really is a no brainer for me. How about you?
