Renewable Energies- Wind Turbines

photo courtesy of Colourbox

 

     Renewable energies are a leading means of improving environmental stability, and have been on the rise around the world over the past several decades. With the invention of Wind powered energy came both the positive impacts it had on the environment and economies of nations that adopted its use, and the controversy surrounding its convenience.

     A few primary things that hold people back from supporting wind energy would be the price, appearance, and bird deaths.
     Although the amount of money spent on purchasing, transporting, and assembling wind turbines is quickly made up for by the amount of energy generated, a portion of people believe that the initial cost of purchasing a wind turbine is too much, and that wind energy is too inefficient. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has made the claim before that "wind turbines are an expensive, inefficient source of electricity" despite all of the science going against him.

     Politicians around the world have argued that having wind turbines propped up ruins the visual appeal of landscapes and, while good for the environment and the economy, take too  much away form the landscape. When the Obama Administration approved Cape Wind, an idea for an offshore wind park which would cleanly (without pollution or other emissions) generate 75% of the energy for all of Cape Cod, the Islands of Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, protests began. Citizens believed that the wind park would take away from the "visual impact" of the area, with the support of figures such as environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. and Senator Scott Brown who liken the park installment to placing wind turbines in the Grand Canyon. According to a study done by researchers Bohumil Frantal and Josef Kunc in the Czech Republic though, while Wind Turbines are eyesores to locals, a majority of tourists (65%) are reported to find wind farms interesting, going so far as to say that if there were visitor centers or tourism opportunities, they would go! The primary issue people are having with wind turbines is personal convenience and comfort...
     Bird deaths caused by collisions with turbines have been roughly estimated to range anywhere from 140,000 and 328,000 per year, according to the Smithsonian. Although this is only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of birds killed by buildings, pesticides, fossil-fuel power plants, and other human causes, it is still a concern to both citizens, and power company leaders. In an attempt to reduce the amount of bird casualties, several wind turbine companies are better siting the turbines, setting up radar detection, changing turbine shapes and colors, and adding Ultrasonic Acoustic systems to repel birds.
     Overall, wind energy is extremely beneficial to national economies and to the environment, but is not strongly supported by

Sources: Not on my Beach, Smithsonian article, 8 Ways Wind Power Companies Are Trying to Stop Killing Birds and Bats, Frantál, B., & Kunc, J. (2011). Wind turbines in tourism landscapes Annals of Tourism Research, 38 (2), 499-519 DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2010.10.007