Web Letters: Big Is Beautiful

While understandably calling for a move away from fossil fuels, we should determine if technologies such as wind--a highly variable, intermittent and nondispatchable energy source--actually do what they promise. There is no sign that Denmark or Germany have reduced or even slowed their still-growing use of fossil fuels because of wind on the grid.

The assertion that the subsidies for wind aren't generous is belied by the fact that two-thirds of the cost of erecting an industrial wind turbine is covered by the federal government: not just with the PTC but also with tax-avoiding double-declining five-year accelerated depreciation. State subsidies usually cover another 10 percent.

Wind turbines have just gotten bigger, not more efficient. And only their overall rpm has slowed, not the speed at the tips of the rotor blades, which now often cut through two acres of vertical air on each machine.

The truth is not that "the environmental threat of windmills has always been exaggerated" but that the negative impacts have long been suppressed and denied by wind's promoters and apologists. A company-directed study of the first year of the 120-turbine Maple Ridge facility that Parenti finds so beautiful determined that 3,000 to 6,000 birds and bats were killed. The report had to be obtained by a Freedom of Information request.

Other impacts to the landscape, to watersheds, to wildlife and to human health are well documented and grow with every new facility that is built.

Industrial wind at best represents a minuscule change, at worst it is a costly and destructive distraction from making real changes.

Eric Rosenbloom

East Hardwick, Vermont

Christian Parenti seems to be having a jolly time quoting the lies and exaggerations about wind power, no doubt garnered from unreliable sources like the AWEA or industry sponsored web site cheerleaders like www.renewableaccessenergy.com.

That 11000 megawatts, which Parenti religiously and boastfully quotes as wind power's national capacity, is a completely bogus number. Wind turbines can seldom produce at more than 25% of their meaningless stated capacity. Those 1,1000 megawatts of power shrinks to around 2,800 megawatts of ACTUAL power. And total wind output in the US is likewise nowhere near the 1 percent Parenti is claiming. It's actually less than 1/4 of 1 percent. Wind power is an insignificant source of power in this country and what's worse, its output is negatively correlated with peak demand. In other words, when electrical demand peaks when its hot or cold, the wind simply doesn't blow. Texas can educate Parenti about wind's utter unreliability--during peak demand during 2006, Texas wind operated at an insignificant 2.5% of capacity during peak demand. This is a far different picture than the industry-approved lies and exaggerations flowing from Parenti's text. I guarantee you that the windfarm he praised and claimed could produce as much power as several midsized coal plants could do nothing of the sort. It also will not produce power when desired, which a coal plant can do, as a baseload power generator. Wind can't operate WITHOUT those baseload power plants. Thus any wind capacity needs to be duplicated by reliable power plants, amking wind far and away the costliest means of making electricity. It's a shame that wind articles are consistently written by those even les reliable than wind power. For example, winmd power produces 8.8 million megawatt hours of power per year. The total required is 3.8 BILLION megawatt hours.

Replacing incandescent lightbulbs with th enew energy saving models would save around 135 million megawatts per year, and SAVE consumers money, AND reduce during peak demand, while wind is out to lunch during peak demand. Those lightbulb energy savings amount to fifteen times the amount of power wind can produce. Anyone still think errecting all those multimillion dollar eyesores is having any effect worth mentioning?

Wind power truly sucks. It is far and away the stupidest method of generating pathetically small amounts of electricity.

Kent Beuchert

Tampa, FL