Wind Energy
Photo Source: Charlie Powicki
This windy shot was taken at Barnstable-West Barnstable (BWB) Elementary
School. A wind turbine proposed for installation at Cape Cod Community College
would be visible from BWB and other local viewpoints.
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For more information on local wind energy development issues, visit this
website's Wind Energy and
Community Wind pages. See
Contributor's Guide below.
- Wind energy resources are vast, inexhaustible, and widely
available. Through appropriate turbine siting, design, construction,
operations, maintenance, and decommissioning practices, wind resources
can be harnessed in ways that stimulate local economic development and
enhance local environmental quality while minimizing adverse local impacts.
- Wind power is the world's fastest growing source of energy because
of its economic and environmental characteristics-it is already competitive
with conventional options for generating electricity, and it produces
green electrons without creating pollution or greenhouse gases.
- Some areas rely on wind turbines to meet a significant percentage
of their demands for electricity - they supply 50% of the power in the
Navarra region of northern Spain, about 20% in Denmark, and about 6%
in Germany.
- In the United States, wind energy supplies less than 0.5% of overall
U.S. needs for electric power. According to the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, total wind capacity is projected to increase by a factor
of five between 2002 and 2025.
- Major expansions in U.S. wind capacity could create national security
benefits by reducing reliance on foreign sources of oil and natural
gas.
- Because the wind blows intermittently, wind turbines alone can only
meet a portion of a consumer's, community's, or region's needs for electricity.
- Wind is sometimes referred to as a fuel-saving supply option: Every
wind-powered megawatt-hour means that another megawatt-hour is not being
produced by a dirtier electricity generating technology. This reduces
the level of emissions imposed on communities downwind from where the
dirtier technology is sited.
- Homeowners, businesses, communities, and other electricity consumers
that install wind systems can reduce their electricity bills.
- In Massachusetts, the first modern, commercial-scale turbine began
generating green electrons in the coastal town of Hull in 2001. Because
this 660-kW turbine is owned by the Hull Municipal Light Plant, every
megawatt-hour it generates offsets the need for this municipal utility
to purchase power from the wholesale marketplace in New England.
- In its first 2 years of operation,
Hull Wind I produced about 3,100
MWh and saved the town and local consumers hundreds of thousands of
dollars on electricity bills. On an annually averaged basis, this single
unit meets almost 3% of the total power needs of the community. Local
residents have authorized plans to add more wind capacity. Hull Wind
II is scheduled to begin operations in 2006.
- Land-based wind installations are being considered by communities
and private developers throughout the Cape & Islands region, and the
world's largest offshore wind facility has been proposed for Nantucket
Sound.
- Single commercial-scale wind turbines and large-scale wind facilities
have significant visual impacts as well as extremely localized noise
impacts.
- Wind facilities do not emit pollutants that harm wildlife, and they
do not contribute to climate change, which is expected to alter habitats
and lead to species displacements and extinctions. However, they are
not environmentally benign.
- Wind turbines kill birds. The most obvious problem involves collisions
with towers or turbine blades. Wind facilities can also interfere with
migratory pathways and fragment habitat - unseen impacts with potentially
significant consequences for local populations or rare species.
- Wind turbines kill bats. For example, at a 44-turbine installation
in West Virginia, researchers collected the carcasses of 475 bats from
at least eight different species between April and November 2003; the
actual number of bats that died due to turbine collisions is probably
many times higher. During the first 2 years of operation of a small
wind facility in Tennessee, turbines killed nearly three times as many
bats as birds.
- The adverse impacts of wind energy on wildlife can be minimized.
The best approach is to avoid siting wind facilities in important wildlife
habitats.
- Historical data on wildlife impacts and current assessment and mitigation
practices may not be directly applicable to the modern turbines and
large-scale installations being considered in the Cape & Islands region.
Assessing which species and how many individuals transit or reside in
areas of proposed construction is critical, since the degree of risk
depends on both the types and numbers of animals that may be affected.
- The effects of offshore wind facilities on birds and on marine animals,
such as fish, turtles, and mammals, are not well understood. Experience
with other marine structures and activities indicates that adverse impacts
on marine wildlife may arise from noise during installation and operation,
generation of electromagnetic fields, and fragmentation and/or degradation
of habitat.
Visions
of Wind Energy & Sustainable Development
See Contributor's Guide below.
Contributor's Guide
A taut flag is not the only indicator of wind energy's economic, environmental,
and social potential for local communities. Data, information, art, and
photos are sought that address topics such as the ones listed below:
Facts
on Wind Energy & Sustainable Development
- Local heritage
- Wind energy development proposals
- Resource potential
- National and international wind industry
- Your ideas?
Visions
of Wind Energy & Sustainable Development
- Kites, sails, waves, dunes, and other aeolian images
- Imaginary installations - at home, at work, at the beach, in the
community, etc.
- Wind-powered transportation and heating systems
- Fixed costs
- Wind-driven economy
- Your ideas?
- Your ideas?
Click on Feedback to ask
questions or learn how to submit data, information, drawings, digital images,
etc.
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