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Entry bubble Will Wind Power Work?

By: Nancy | July 10, 2008 | Category: General

I know to expect them. But I still gasp in awe as I round the bend, the trees clear and I catch sight of the wind towers when I drive through Thomas, West Virginia. In groups and rows, the towers seem like synchronized swans, perpetually flapping, but never able to take off from their perch on Backbone Mountain.

wind farm

The 44 wind turbines on Mountaineer Wind Energy Center's wind farm sure don't look like the grain grinding windmills that Don Quixote went after. But these tall, white poles with three-blade rotors are the kind of wind machines that are at the center of a new energy plan for America that oil billionaire and philanthropist T. Boone Pickens proposed this week. He says the key to getting out of the country's oil woes is to focus on renewable energy forms like wind power.

In a typical day, wind power facilities nationwide produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 4.5 million homes. That's about 1% of the US electrical supply. But in a recent report, the US Department of Energy promoted the concept of as much as 20% of America's energy coming from wind power by the year 2030.

Wind power's not without its environmental concerns. Bats by the thousands are being killed by wind towers and many people don't want wind farms near their homes because their construction causes land disturbance and the towers change the view. As an alternative to wind farms located on land, America's first offshore wind farm has just been approved to be built off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Could a wind farm be coming to your town? Take a look at this map and see and then tell me what you think: is America's energy future really blowing in the wind?

| Post a Comment | View Comments [8] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: energy   nancy   wind  

Comments (8):

blue comment bubble Posted by JH on July 10, 2008 at 10:59 AM EDT

I believe the wind towers also do a hatchet job on migrating birds. I emailed my concern about this issue several years ago to our local supplier, but never received an answer. Does anyone know if this problem is being addressed?

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blue comment bubble Posted by AS on July 10, 2008 at 02:14 PM EDT

We returned to the US last summer, after a tour in Europe, where these windmills are quite common. When we first arrived to Germany my youngest was 3 and she would get so excited when she saw them. Now, barely 7 she still gets a thrill when we pass them during our travels. I wish more people were just as excited about renewable energy.

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blue comment bubble Posted by d2k on July 10, 2008 at 03:20 PM EDT

Personally, I do not see wind turbines as a viable option for renewable energy. (1) Environmental concerns (2) Costly vs. amount of energy supplied (3) Visual appearance unappealing and I do not want it in my backyard. I am also in favor of finding sources of renewable energy. I feel there are many options to explore at this time that are much less intrusive. Unfortunately, there appears to be no quick solutions. Our government continues to ponder that which is on the minds of most Americans. These are the "Leaders Of Our Country”. What a joke...

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blue comment bubble Posted by Matrix8thfloor on July 11, 2008 at 06:05 AM EDT

The most important question has not yet been asked. What (generally) is the cost per tower, how much energy do these produce in a year, and how long befor one of these can actually pay for itself.

The question of how these look is rather mute, as I don't see people complaining about the millions of telephone poles and ugly wires that web every city in the U.S. By comparison they are considered rather gracefull and elegant, and can be confined to areas less populated. In many areas they may be "bunched" up instead of spread out everywhere.

Consider looking at a few hundred of these rather than an entire industrial complex burning toxic fuel to perform the save job.

As a side note - a mini version of these can be placed along highway divider walls (3 foot tall vaned cylinders that spin) that capture the wind generated by passing vehicles. A single cable connecting them can lead to bridges where they can hook into an individual city grid to power street lights and other uses.

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blue comment bubble Posted by drbb01 on July 12, 2008 at 12:16 AM EDT

If we think about wind energy as one part of the energy puzzle, we can probably work out or minimize most of the drawbacks. But if we don't consider those drawbacks and jump head first into wind--or any other form of energy, renewable or not--we'll wind up where we did with ethanol: with hogs--the porcine and energy types--competing with starving people for limited supplies of corn.

Think, try, and evaluate, then think and try some more. Then evaluate. But let's remember to think first.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Residential Wind Power on August 11, 2008 at 08:41 AM EDT

[Trackback] Great Post! Keep up the good work.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Amanda on February 19, 2009 at 03:05 PM EST

I would certainly rather look at these graceful contraptions rather than a nuclear plant or coal field...what's more attractive?

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blue comment bubble Posted by Lee Spain on April 21, 2009 at 07:25 AM EDT

The person who has made comment about the dangers to migrating birds through wind farms, have you found out what the dangers are to the same birds from high rise buildings and are you going to start a campaign against them.
An obstacle is an obstacle, no matter what way you look at it.
In Europe, wind farms are being used with great success. In Spain we have mountain ranges full of them supplying a good part of the countries power needs and since they are in areas of high wind, there are very few inhabitants there to complain about the damaged views.
Wind farms are the way to go for cheap renewable energy with very low impact on the environment.

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