Trump vs Windmills

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about windmills -- from causing cancer to decimating bird populations to producing air-polluting fumes. Today, Lexi chases down a few of those windmill rumors to see which ones are nothing but hot air. https://greenswrm.com/   / greenswrm   https://greenswrm.com/join-the-waitin... No Wind = No TV Let’s start with a very important distinction: Windmills are NOT wind turbines. Windmills convert wind energy directly into mechanical energy for tasks like milling grain – which is where the name comes from – or pumping water. The earliest known windmills date back to 500 AD. Wind turbines, on the other hand, convert wind energy into electricity which is stored in batteries or transmitted over power lines. The first wind turbine was invented in 1888. Because wind is indeed intermittent, when wind energy output decreases, utilities simply draw more power from other sources—including solar arrays and hydroelectric dams—to maintain consistent electrical service. So yes, if the wind stopped blowing, a wind turbine would stop converting wind energy into mechanical energy. However, since turbines make up only a portion of how your energy is generated, your tv will not, in fact, turn off on a windless day. Windmills Lower the Value of Your Home Do wind turbines negatively affect the value of your home? In some cases, yes, they do. If a property’s value depends on the view, wind turbines negatively affect value. And that negative effect increases the closer a property is to a turbine. But where a property’s value does not depend on the view, the impact can be negligible. Currently, there are no recent completed studies available that suggest devaluation in the 50-75% range mentioned. Noise from Windmills Causes Cancer According to the American Cancer Society, there is no credible evidence linking the noise from windmills to cancer. There is, however, plenty of evidence linking air pollution from coal production to heart disease, respiratory problems, and lung cancer. Critics have linked wind turbine operations to electromagnetic fields, shadow flicker, audible noise, low-frequency noise and infrasound. These could disrupt sleep, cause headaches or even cause mild nausea. But researchers have examined a number of health studies related to wind farms and concluded in a 2014 report posted on the National Institutes of Health website that turbines pose no threat beyond that. And they suggested those problems could be remedied by placing turbines in a way that minimizes exposure to surrounding homes. Windmills Are Graveyards for Birds Yes, wind turbines do kill birds, with some estimates as high as half a million per year. To put this in perspective, though, cats kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds, collisions with glass buildings kill another 600 million birds, collisions with vehicles 214 million, and collisions with power lines and electrocution from power lines around 30 million. It would seem wind turbines are the least of our feathered friend’s problems. Studies suggest that deaths by turbine can be significantly decreased by simply siting farms out of migratory paths, and testing is underway to determine if different colors, lighting, and reflective paints will ward off birds in flight. Windmills Are Very Expensive and Not Made in the USA According to the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, most of the components of wind turbines installed in the United States are manufactured here. There are 500 wind-related manufacturing facilities located across 41 states, and the U.S. wind industry currently employs more than 114,000 people. As for price tag, wind power is more expensive than power from old, established power plants, but is cost competitive with any new power plant, and technology innovations and market-building incentives have helped to dramatically lower costs over the last 20 years. Most of the commercial scale wind turbines today cost between 3 and 4 million dollars installed, which sounds like a lot, but when you consider that wind is free, operational costs are nearly zero once a turbine is erected. Manufacture of Windmills Releases Fumes It’s true that wind power isn’t a zero-emission energy source. Greenhouse gas emissions are produced when wind turbines are manufactured, built, maintained and decommissioned. However, wind power’s carbon footprint is among the smallest of any energy source. Coal’s carbon footprint is almost 90 times larger than that of wind energy, and the footprint of natural gas is more than 40 times larger, according to the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Well, we hope we’ve answered some of those windmill questions blowing through your minds. Have any others you’d like us to tilt at? Comment below and don’t forget to subscribe to the swrm!