Originally written October 10th, 2011
I hear the howl of the wind that brings
The long drear storm on its heavy wings.
~ William Cullen Bryant
I. Introduction
In the last decade there have been
several debates on whether or not we as a worldwide society have achieved peak
oil. Add to this the fact that most of
the electricity in the United States is fossil-fuel based, and one can see that
need for new, sustainable alternatives.
Out of all of them, one that seems to be under-appreciated is wind
power.
Turk & Bensel describe wind
power as a “form of renewable energy (2011).”
The key here is the word renewable.
How do we define it? Turk &
Bensel define it as such, “renewable energy energy generated from natural
resources such as sunlight, wind, and water, which are naturally replenished
(2011).” For the purposes of this paper,
we will use this definition. So, is wind
power green? Is it the answer to this
country’s (indeed, the world’s) sudden need for new energy alternatives?
It is this paper’s position that yes, it is; with a
caveat. It is not the final answer to
the energy issues we face but it can be a start. This paper will go over the reasons why wind
power is a force for the future and what issues might arise in the transition
from our current energy system to one that uses wind power as a multi-thronged
approach to creating a sustainable and green energy market.
II. Wind Power - Explanation
Wind is such a prevalent part of
our lives that we can forget how it comes to be. National Geographic’s website gives us a
small reminder: “Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to
an area of low pressure. In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats
the surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the
void. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind
blows, people will harness it to power their lives (Taylor, n.d.).” So, we can see that unless our sun’s life
cycle is grossly over-estimated, we have in our grasp, the ability to power our
lives using the wind. And this is
something that is happening right now.
Around the world, energy companies
have been starting to harness the power of the wind. Wind farms and wind turbines have started to
become more commonplace than 15 years ago.
“In the U.S. the wind power industry has accelerated dramatically in the
past five years, with total generating capacity leaping 36 percent to 9,100 MW
in 2005. Although wind turbines now produce only 0.5 percent of the nation’s
electricity, the potential for expansion is enormous, especially in the windy
Great Plains states. (North Dakota, for example, has greater wind energy
resources than Germany, but only 98 MW of generating capacity is installed
there.) (Turk & Bensel, 2011)” Our
ability, and the ability of companies to transition to wind energy, is rapidly
becoming mainstream, with the Department of Energy subsidizing it with tax
breaks.
Yet, this alone is not the whole
story. One can question whether or not
we have the technology to tap into this old, yet new, energy source. “If the U.S. constructed enough wind farms to
fully tap these resources, the turbines could generate as much as 11 trillion
kilowatt-hours of electricity, or nearly three times the total amount produced
from all energy sources in the nation last year. The wind industry has
developed increasingly large and efficient turbines, each capable of yielding 4
to 6 MW. And in many locations, wind power is the cheapest form of new
electricity, with costs ranging from four to seven cents per kilowatt-hour
(Turk & Bensel, 2011).” The ability
to convert wind into energy exists now, and can be done economically and
efficiently. So, why has wind energy not
taken off completely? The answer to this
lies in looking at both the pros and cons to this energy source.
III. Pros of Wind Power
The benefits to wind energy are not
just the fact that one can get electricity from a renewable source. The many benefits to the environment, and the
pocketbooks of consumers, are many-fold.
The most obvious of these benefits
is that fact that not only is wind energy renewable but it is also a green
source of energy. What this means is
that there are no pollution and global warming effects being added to
atmosphere. “Wind Turbines does not lead
to pollution which is one of the biggest advantages of Wind Energy. Note there are costs associated with the
equipment used to build and transport Wind Equipment but the running of Wind
Energy leads to no pollution (Green World Investor, 2011).” It is pretty much universally accepted that
wind energy does not pollute. There are
some environmental issues raised by those against wind farms that shall be
looked at later. But fact that wind
energy does not pollute in another way as well is key. “Wind Energy does not require any fuel like
most other sources of renewable energy.
This is a huge advantage over other fossil fuels whose costs are
increasing at a drastic rate every year (Green World Investor, 2011).” These environmental positives of wind energy
are important but the economic ones can convert any skeptic to a believer.
Wind power is becoming a very
lucrative option for investors.
Investment advisors highlighting ‘green’ companies are highlighting
several key point, the first being that the costs for wind power are low
compared to other sources of energy.
“The Costs of Wind Energy has reached the level of Gas powered Energy
and can be generated at extremely low rates of around 7-8c/KwH in favorable
conditions (Green World Investor, 2011).”
To compare with an energy source like coal, “Roby Roberts is an
executive with Vestas turbines. He says the cost of five to nine cents per
kilowatt hour will gradually drop to two cents - about the cost of coal power
(Foden-Vencil, 2009).” So, not only is
wind energy already a low alternative to fossil-fuel based energy sources, it
has the potential to being lower than other “green” sources. “Wind power advocates tell us that new wind
turbines are highly competitive and cost less than nuclear power, which claims
to be the cheapest electrical energy resource known (Energy Consumers Edge,
2009).” It is becoming a fact that wind
energy can be a cost-effective alternative to the current status quo, yet these
are not the only economic reasons to embrace it.
Jobs are a hot topic from Wall
Street to Main Street. When industries
start to see higher costs, like the fossil-fuel energy industry, the first cuts
to be felt are jobs. With the growth of
renewable sources of energy like wind, job training and new jobs are also
growing. “Alternative energy resources,
such as wind and solar energies, can be a part of the energy mix to meet human
needs and reduce the undesirable impacts of fossil fuels. As we move toward the
future, we will see new jobs on the horizon that complement the alternative
energy field (Deal, 2010).” These jobs
and the opportunities they create can help increase the economic impact of
communities in which wind farms exist or can exist in. As most of these would be rural, the wages
for these new workers would be higher than most industrial jobs found there.
In the end, the positives of wind
energy are many. These few that have
been highlighted show that there are not only environmental reasons but also
economic ones to pursue a sound wind energy policy.
IV. Cons of Wind Power
As reviewed above there are many
good reasons for wind energy being pushed as the future of energy. Yet there are many reasons to take a step
back and critically look at wind energy.
“It's good that wind power has now "gone mainstream" and is
mature enough to take honest criticism and put it to good use. The reality is
that wind has pluses and minuses that must be carefully incorporated into
pragmatic considerations of cost, reliability, and siting issues (Peltier,
2006).” With wind power a political tool
as well as an environmental and economic one, it is important to look at the
negatives in order to improve from them and better build the source.
The first complaint by those who
live in areas where wind farms are located is not a large one but yet shows the
hurdles wind energy companies need to work on and overcome. “There have been a large number of complaints
about the persistent level of low level noise from the whirring of the blades
of a wind turbine. There have been cases
reported about animals on farms getting affected by wind turbine noise (Green
World Investor, 2011).” With continuing
innovation, these can be overcome by wind turbines manufactures.
There
are plenty of environmentalists who are against wind farms. One would think that this juxtaposition would
seem strange at first but with further research it is an important position
that needs to be investigated fully. “Although
wind power is local, sustainable, affordable, and carbon free, mounting public
opposition to the landscape changes it produces threatens its expansion
(Pasqualetti, 2011)”. Not only is there
an effect on the scenic outlook of certain areas, but there is another impact
on the environment that cannot be ignored.
“The slowly rotating blades can also kill birds and bats, but not nearly
as many as cars, power lines, and high-rise buildings do (Taylor, n.d.).” There is some that consider the collateral
damage to this green energy source to high of a price to pay.
The most important argument against
pushing a wind energy policy via tax rebates and other political means is
simply the one that shows that the wind does not always blow when one wants it
to. “Wind Power is intermittent in
nature as it generates energy only when the wind blows (Green World Investor,
2011).” Not only is this an issue when
it comes to the energy generated by the turbines but it also pushes the usage
of fossil-fuel based plants in the area to high levels due to the
downtime. This problem can be solved
with energy storage however this leads to additional costs and storage
technology has not caught up to the needs of consumers. So, at this point in time, wind energy is in
most cases not suitable for providing a base load of energy.
V. Impact on a Sustainable World
Keeping both positives and
negatives, how does wind energy impact the push to having a more sustainable
world? In utopian terms, wind energy
would be at the forefront of technology and wind turbines would be pushing out
hundreds of kilowatts when operating.
Also, they could be used as “the excess electricity to pump water
uphill. So when it’s needed, the water can be released through a turbine --
like behind a dam (Foden-Vencil, 2009).”
This is the goal for the immediate future.
Currently, the developed world is
using wind farms to generate electricity.
And while the percentage of the energy generated compared to the overall
usage is small, it is consistently growing.
“Denmark already gets 15% to 20% of its electricity from windmills, and
it is projected that wind will provide almost 5% of the UK's power supply by
2010 (Peltier, 2006).” Also, wind
turbines are being created for home use, allowing consumers to supplement solar
and geo-thermal means to power their homes.
VI. Conclusion
Wind power has a bright future. With all the issues currently in view, there
still exists the potential to generate enough energy to power the world’s
needs. “A Stanford University Wind Power
Study gives us the following numbers: Total annual global Btu consumption:
7,000-10,000 Mtoe; Total global economically feasible wind generation capacity:
54,000 Mtoe (Energy Informative, 2011).”
While wind power can be a force for good, there are several points that
need to be studied and discussed amongst communities in order to get everyone
behind this green trend.
References
Turk, J. & Bensel, T. (2011). Contemporary Environmental
Issues. (Bridgepoint Education, Inc.) San Diego, CA.
Deal, W. F. (2010, September). Wind power: An emerging
energy source. Technology & Engineering Teacher, 70(1), 9-15.
Peltier, R. (2006, November/December). Speaking of power.
Power, 150(9), 4-1.
Pasqualetti, M.. (2011). Opposing Wind Energy Landscapes: A
Search for Common Cause. Association of American Geographers. Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, 101(4), 907. Retrieved September 26, 2011, from Research
Library. (Document ID: 2413709861).
Energy Informative (2011, June 11). Wind Energy Pros and Cons EnergyInformative.org Retrieved from:
http://energyinformative.org/wind-energy-pros-and-cons/
Green World Investor (2011, March 13) Pros and Cons of Wind
Power,Turbines and Farms– The Advantages outweighs the Disadvantages | Green
World Investor Retrieved from:
http://www.greenworldinvestor.com/2011/03/13/pros-and-cons-of-wind-powerturbines-and-farms-the-advantages-outweighs-the-disadvantages/
Taylor, M., (n.d.) Wind Power. NationalGeographic.com Retrieved from:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/wind-power-profile/
Foden-Vencil, K. (2009, May 4) Wind Power: A Very Green but
Very Intermittent Source of Power.
Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Retrieved from: http://news.opb.org/article/wind-power-very-green-very-intermittent-source-power/
Energy Consumers Edge (2007) Pros and Cons of Wind Power:
Not so free Energy from the Air.
Energy-consumers-edge.com
Retrieved from:
http://www.energy-consumers-edge.com/pros_and_cons_of_wind_power.html
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