Wind Energy is a cure worse than the disease.
PV (Photovoltaic Solar panels) is one of the two most benign major power generation technologies. PV installed on roof or parking lots imparts almost 0 additional environmental cost. PV is also taking the Suns energy directly and converts solar radiation it into electricity. The conversion losses are very low! PV can be installed anywhere, works in any climate and is very robust. It is also exceedingly cheap and lasts (go with name brands) a very long time (30+ years) with little maintenance.
Whereas wind uses that same solar radiation converted in heated air, converted in moving air, converted in rotating mechanical energy, converted in electrical energy ( this later part at a max efficiency of about 50% ). Wind energy has consequently very poor efficiency overall.
But the worst is its huge footprint; the largest windturbines block more air (greater surface area) than the empire state building. Their foundations are made of thousands of tons of concrete blocks of concrete to counteract the wind forces. They require heavy duty permanent access roads (on land). They require constant maintenance and cleaning. They kill Millions of tons of insects and birds. No cars kill birds higher than 2 m of the ground wind turbines block disks of 150 m (450 feet) diameter to birds, insects and bats with blades moving at higher speeds than cars. Don’t be fooled by the apparently slow moving blades - they actually move at 300 km per hour (it deceiving in a similar fashion as we perceive a Jumbo jet as slow).
Cats don’t kill California Condors or eagles, they don’t kill flying insects. Buildings are static and they are don’t impede the air as much as the hundreds of thousands of wind turbines do. They cause flicker and low frequency noise and they are unsightly.
They can (for many reasons) not be employed near the users. Nobody wants them installed on half dome in Yosemite or the Versailles Palace yet they are only viable where wind speeds are high, far away from the energy users.
Wind turbines in the sea kill birds (think about the graceful Frigate birds) just as well as on land, they require even larger foundations in seabeds and thousands of miles of cables in the sea.
And, in the huge numbers envisioned will change the climate enough to make large parts of the earth uninhabitable (note that the Artic will chill but the effects on the rest of the world (likely heating) were not simulated.
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Thank you For Reading
~Be a Nature Lover~
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