On wildlife
Industrial wind turbines impact wildlife by causing habitat loss (reduced nesting densities, loss of grasslands, increased nest parasitism and predation), and impacts on water quality. As IWTs increase, so do wildlife deaths. By 2012, IWTs caused an estimated 573,000 bird deaths, of which some 83,000 were raptors. [22]In 2012, IWTs killed at least 888,000 insectivorous bats--based on 51,630 MW of installed wind capacity. Bats are killed by blade collisions and barotrauma (changes in air pressure). [23] A bat can eat 1000 insects per hour. When bat populations decrease, insect populations increase. Crop yields decrease. So can human health. [24]
Blades fail
Turbines have thrown whole or parts of blades as much as one mile (1.6 km). Hurled blades can cut through roofs and walls of nearby structures. (Should regulators require a minimum of 1.2 miles (2 kms) between turbines and residences, schools and work places?) [25]
Fire hazards
Every industrial wind facility can expect one to two fires during
its operational lifetime. One turbine fire can cost $4.5 million.
Because turbines are so tall, firefighters can do little but watch fires
burn themselves out. In stormy or dry weather, risks increase. Turbines
fling burning debris, endangering people, wildlife and nearby property.
[26]
End of usable life
Wind turbines do not biodegrade. To date, there's no way to recycle
the blades when their usable life (typically 10 - 20 years) ends. One
wind facility may have 90 turbines, each with three blades. What are the
long-term ecological impacts of burying thousands of (oil-coated?) wind
turbine blades, each weighing 22,000 pounds? [27]
If an IWT facility is proposed in your area
President Biden, given your plans for developing industrial wind-turbine
facilities around the U.S. (and European politicians have similar
plans), I want common citizens to know about the Alliance for Wise
Energy Decisions, www.wiseenergy.org.
"The Basic Steps to Winning an Onshore Local Wind War" includes a model
report for any town to estimate the net annual financial impact of a
proposed wind project. With installation of an IWT complex,
municipalities can expect substantial losses in agriculture (from lost
bats and weather changes), property devaluation and reduced tourism--as
well as adverse effects to health, wildlife, drinking water and wells.
May this report help local legislators see IWTs' sobering economic
impacts. [28]
For wind-turbine-accident data, visit the Caithness Windfarm information Forum 2020. Click Here.
Sir, to inform yourself and Congress members about IWT hazards, could you host a film series? I recommend Laura Israel's "Windfall" and Jeff Gibbs and Michael Moore's "Planet of the Humans." Julia Barnes' "Bright Green Lies" will premier April 22nd. [29]
New designs
New industrial-scaled wind designs include "floating" turbines. One proposal would install 50 industrial wind turbines in
Lake Erie. Decades ago, steel mills and other factories dumped so much
toxic waste into Lake Eric that it caught fire. How will 50 industrial
turbines affect the lake's marine life--and 11 million people's water
supply?
"Bladeless" turbines claim to provide bird safety. [30]
I still wonder: do professional engineers conduct due-diligent evaluations on industrial wind turbines?
Moving forward
Greenwashing our dependence on electricity and the fact that every fuel
source--including wind and solar photovoltaics [31]--has harmful
consequences does not reduce those consequences. Who benefits when we
call wind "clean" and "carbon neutral"? Who benefits when legislators
vote on spending billions on industrial wind without due-diligent
evaluations? With due diligence on our table, what solutions (to energy
demands, climate chaos and biodiversity loss) could emerge? [32]
ENDNOTES
1. Click Here
2. "Energy portfolio diversification," ExxonMobil Fuels &
Lubricants. Lesinski, "Synthetics to Protect the Wind Turbine and the
Environment," Wind Systems Magazine, January 2013.
3. Ben Ishai, Paul, "The Green Dilemma of 5G Densification," April 3, 2021. Click Here
4. Click Here
5. Click Here
6. "Repower 5M," Database of turbines and manufacturers, The Windpower Wind Energy Market Intelligence. Click Here
7. Lee, Jordy and Morgan Bazilli, "The U.S. is worried about its
critical minerals supply chains--essential for electric vehicles, wind
power and the nation's defense," The Conversation, April 6, 2021.
8. https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics
9. Click Here
10. Maughan, Tim, "The dystopian lake filled by the world's tech lust," BBC Future, April 2, 2015. Click Here
Click Here
11. Alonso, Elisa, et al., "Evaluating Rare Earth Availability: A Case
with Revolutionary Demand from Clean Technologies," Env. Sci. &
Tech., 2012. Click Here
12. Click Here
13. Click Here
14. See Laura Israel's 2009 documentary, "Windfall."
15. Click Here
16. Miller, Lee M. and David W. Keith, "Climatic Impacts of Wind Power," Joule, 2018.
17. Click Here
Wang, Chien and Ronald G. Prinn, "Potential climatic impacts and
reliability of large-scale offshore wind farms, Env. Research, 22 June
2011.
18. Click Here
19. Linyue Gao, et al., "A field study of ice accretion and its effects
on the power production of utility-scale wind turbines," Renewable
Energy, vol. 167 April 2021.
20. Click Here
Click Here
21. Click Here
22. Smallwood, K. Shawn, "Comparing bird and bat fatality-rate estimates
among North American wind-energy projects," Wildlife Society, 26 March
2013;
23. ibid.
24. Manville II, Albert M., "Impacts to Birds and Bats Due to Collisions
and Electrocutions from Some Tall Structures in the United States:
Wires, Towers, Turbines, and Solar Arrays-State of the Art in Addressing
the Problems," Springer International Publishing, Switzerland 2016.
F.M. Angelici (ed.), Problematic Wildlife: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach, Springer, 2016. Click Here
25. Click Here
26. Click Here
Click Here
Click Here
27. Click Here
Bloomberg, Chris Martin, "Wind turbine blades can't be recycled, so they're piling up in landfills," Feb. 6, 2020. Click Here
28. Click Here
29. Click Here
30. Click Here
"Six innovative wind turbine designs: One of them is a bladeless design for bird safety," Inhabit; 11.05.16.
31. www.ourweb.tech/letter-14/ www.ourweb.tech/letter-12/; www.ourweb.tech/letter-16/
32. For historical perspective on industrial wind, please see B. Blake
Levitt's op-ed, "What is the Real Risk/Benefit of Big Wind?" published
April 6, 2011 in The Litchfield (CT) County Times. https://tinyurl.com/45eyhwdj
Katie Singer writes about the energy, extractions, toxic waste and greenhouse gases involved in manufacturing computers, telecom infrastructure, electric vehicles and other electronic technologies. She believes that if she's not aware that she's part of the problem, then she can't be part of the solution. She dreams that every smartphone user learns about the supply chain of one substance (of 1000+) in a smartphone. Her most recent book is An Electronic Silent Spring. She currently writes about nature, democracy and technology for Wall Street International Magazine. Visit www.OurWeb.tech and www.ElectronicSilentSpring.com.
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