Sunday Morning Blog

December 26, 2005

Countering Irrational Opposition to Wind Technologies

NEWS FLASH -- A recent report* urged officials to take a more active role in weighing the impact of power transmission lines, radio towers, TV towers, lighthouses, cooling towers, windows, buildings, airport ceilometers, and domestic cats on bird and bat deaths, saying wind farm opponents are far too caught up in fighting wind power to focus on real, present dangers.

AGAINST THE WIND: “Wind turbines are awfully attractive since they are prominent 'symbols' of an attempt to do just that [push toward renewable energy], are paid for mostly by private enterprise and subsidized by the consumers.”

Where are those who would make such statements about modern wind technology coming from? If your answer to that question was that I don't get it, then you are right... I don't get it. To reduce wind turbines to the status of “prominent symbols” of renewable energy efforts is just thick skulled ignorance. Although there obviously are and will be arguments about the exact siting of such projects, it is impossible, by any stretch of the imagination, to deny wind power's critical importance to current renewable energy efforts.

First, wind turbines are the single most viable, renewable energy technology available. The U.S. Department of Energy, many scientists, most environmental advocates, many countries, and uncountable numbers of concerned citizens have come to terms with the importance of lessening our reliance on carbon-based fuels, and reducing our production of greenhouse gas emissions. There is nothing “symbolic” about wind technology's ability to reduce both of these. Every kilowatt produced by a wind turbine, is a kilowatt that was not produced by a dirty, fuel burning, power plant.

Second, the claim that wind farms are “subsidized by the consumers” is bogus. A subsidy is government financial assistance given to people or a group that is considered to be in the public interest. Tax credits or incentives are not subsidies. If I receive a tax credit for purchasing a Toyota Prius (a hybrid vehicle), are you subsidizing my purchase? No, you are not. If I receive a tax credit, I am simply keeping money that was mine to begin with. Would you deny that by giving people tax credits, the government is encouraging them to invest, save or spend it? By offering a 1.9-cent per kilowatt hour tax credit for eligible technologies during their first 10 years of production, the government is creating an incentive to invest in clean power technologies that would otherwise be rejected for more cost effective carbon based fuels. We are not paying for it as consumers. The investments are being made through private enterprise, and the wind farms will be constructed by private companies, as they very well should be.

Wind technologies have come a long way in the last twenty-something years. Previously justifiable fears brought on by earlier, 80's vintage wind farms should be confronted. The only way to fight such lingering fear is to learn the facts, escape the past, and embrace positive change. In debates about wind power and other current issues, it has become apparent that many of us are slowly becoming the victims of lazy, modern, American habits. We are fast becoming shallow, one-dimensional human beings. It seems we are so caught up in the whirlwind of our daily lives, that we have become too exhausted to think for ourselves. Our leisure time is increasingly filled with television, disconnected, meaningless chatter, and the mindless parroting of borrowed opinions. Even our fears can no longer be claimed as our own.

A recent post in Against the Wind said, “It makes no sense to destroy the planet while attempting to save it.” I wholeheartedly agree, as most rational, concerned citizens would. To suggest that viable technologies, produced, studied and created for the sole purpose of protecting the environment, will somehow “destroy the planet” is scaremongering at best. Proposing that technologies which could potentially help save the planet would be doing the opposite is interesting logic indeed. We should carefully consider why such technologies are necessary in the first place. Clearly, we should acknowledge that clean power technologies are intended for the purpose of reducing our reliance on carbon-based fuels and reducing dirty power plant emissions. Without these technologies, wind power being the most viable of these, our environmental problems will undoubtedly increase and cause more harm.

*report does not exist (but it should)

Posted by capecodcyclist at December 26, 2005 12:19 PM