It's amazing that no matter what we do to try to produce cleaner energy, the environmentalists are never happy. Today's paper has an article about a proposed wind farm in part of Centre and Blair Counties, including some complaints from environmentalists.
"But environmentalists already have voiced concerns about what they say are the negative effects of fragmenting the forestland. Stan Kotala, president of the Juniata Valley Audubon Society, said Ice Mountain in Blair County, where part of the project would be built, is unique because it has a large expanse of unbroken forest. That interior forest is favored by some species including the bobcat, fisher and scarlet tanager, Kotala said. The county Planning Commission’s Natural Heritage Inventory designated the area a natural heritage area, he said.
“We just feel that it should be protected"
Ya know...we're not talking about a big strip mine or a coal-fired electric generating plant belching out sulfur, soot and whatever (personally I always liked the smell of burning coal.) We're talking about one of the cleanest and most renewable sources of power there is. BUT THEY'RE STILL NOT HAPPY! The windmills might kill some birds. Wow. I'd really rather have a few dead birds than a $1000 electric bill...or no electricity at all. I'm willing to bet that fewer animals will die or be displaced in the long run as the result of a wind farm than as the result of a strip mine or coal-fired power plant. Other people are afraid of noise. Again, I'll bet that a wind farm is quieter than a strip mine (with all the equipment and trucks coming and going) or a conventonal power plant.
Nothing is perfect, but I think wind power is a lot better than some other alternatives.
So Sayeth The Shack
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9 comments:
You say that you'd rather have a few dead birds than a $1,000 electric bill. How are these 2 connected? How will an industrial windplant at Sandy Ridge affect your electric bill?
Pennsylvania has 5 nuclear plants that produce enough electricity to serve 7,000,000 homes while producing no air pollution. The Sandy Ridge Wind Farm will (according to its developer) produce enough electricity to serve 15,000 homes. 3,000 industrial-scale wind turbines would be required to create enough electricity to meet just 10% of PA's electricity demand. This would require the sacrifice of 500 miles of ridgetop to create industrial windplants.
A good article about the Sandy Ridge Wind Farm proposal is at http://www.tyronepa.com/news/article.php?id=10692
and
http://www.windaction.org/news/12740
and
http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/502014.html?nav=742
About 80 pages of information are at http://cafe.tyronepa.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=699&start=1170
The CDT article about this issue was extremely poor.
Admittedly the wind farm would serve rather few people. My point is though that any amount of energy that we can produce without relying on foreign oil is a good thing.
You say "My point is though that any amount of energy that we can produce without relying on foreign oil is a good thing."
Are you aware that less than 2% of the oil we use is used to produce electricity? Are you aware that the US exports more oil than it uses to produce electricity?
Industrial windplants produce only electricity and have no effect on our consumption of oil, foreign or domestic.
Are you aware that 2/3 of the cost of EACH $3,000,000 turbine is subsidized through tax credits and other handouts from the federal government? This is money that could be spent to expand the capacity of existing nuclear plants. Nuclear power is the only power source we have that can meet our increasing demands for electricity and not cause air pollution. This money also could be spent to increase energy efficiency.
Juniata Valley Audubon is right. There is no justification for ruining a County Natural Heritage Area that is described as "unique" in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory to build an industrial windplant. I'm not opposed to windplants as a supplementary source of electricity, but they should be sited in areas where they cause the least ecological harm, such as agricultural areas and reclaimed strip mines.
Please see
http://jvas.org/cc_lwfbc.html
and
http://jvas.org/cc_iiwstpr.html
Clearly I am not aware of everything and perhaps not aware enough to speak intelligently on the subject. I do realize that most of imported oil is not used for electricity but rather for gasoline and other stuff.
Looking at it at a smaller scale though, would it not be good if communities and even individuals generated at least some of their own power...through wind farms and solar panels maybe rather than having it all brought in over high tension lines from a distant power plant? In an "ideal world" perhaps, each home could, through solar power, generate much of its own electricity and/or many communities could generate some of their needed power with wind farms.
I agree with your point on nuclear power. But we don't seem to be building any more of those (am I wrong here?) (Maybe it's an electric company conspiracy to drive up prices like the oil companies not building more refineries). Anyway I'll bet that more people would rather live next to a wind farm than a nuclear (or even a cold-fired) power plant.
Why is it necessary to sacrifice a County Natural Heritage Area that is certified in the Blair County Natural Heritage Inventory as being "unique" and "of exceptional conservation value" to build an industrial windplant?
You said "Looking at it at a smaller scale though, would it not be good if communities and even individuals generated at least some of their own power...through wind farms and solar panels maybe rather than having it all brought in over high tension lines from a distant power plant?"
You need to distinguish between personal wind turbines and industrial windplants. The electricity generated by personal wind turbines can be stored in batteries and used by homeowners, farmers, businesses, etc. The electricity generated by industrial windplants, such as that proposed for Sandy Ridge, cannot be stored and is "shipped" via the same "high tension" lines as the electricity generated by coalplants and nuclear plants.
You're really dead set against this thing, aren't you? OK if it is only going to generate enough power for some 15,000 homes and that power would not be used locally then I agree, it pretty much isn't worth it.
Thanks for listening. Just one more thing, though: You said "I'll bet that more people would rather live next to a wind farm than a nuclear (or even a cold-fired) power plant." You thereby implied that windfarms can replace coalplants or nuclear plants. That's not the case, because the electricity from windplants is intermittent and unreliable. Every windplant needs to be backed up by a reliable source, otherwise, people will have to go without electricity when the wind's not blowing. That's why windplants actually drive UP the cost of electricity: You'll pay for 2 systems of electricity production, a reliable one and an intermittent one.
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