Green Energy Has Its Ugly Costs Bird Mortality Noise Pollution
Human/Property Danger Scenery Implications
Slide 4
Externalities What are Externalities? Externalities are the
benefits or costs of a product or its manufacture that affect
people external to the market for the product. A positive
externality is one that has beneficial effects, such as the low
cost and high performance of wind energy which can benefit the
whole economy. A negative externality has negative effects, of
which the most common example is noise pollution. Wind turbines
have both, I am going to focus on the negative externalities in
this presentation.
Slide 5
Wind turbines across the U.S. kill an estimated 33,000
migratory birds a year U.S. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Tens of
thousands of birds are killed by wind turbines every year. The
Altamont Pass wind farm (Pictured) kills far more birds than any
other farm in the United States. The total at this single wind farm
with 4,000 turbines is 4,700 fatalities. The total for all wind
farms in the United States, with more than 25,000 turbines in
operation at any given time, is 10,000 to 40,000 per year. -How
Stuff Works: Do wind Turbines Kill Birds
Slide 6
What is being done to prevent these bird fatalities? AVSNWCC:
The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife co-founded the Avian
Subcommittee of the National Wind Coordinating Committee, working
to reduce bird strikes with wind turbines. US Fish & Wildlife
DESIGN: Turbine designs have changed dramatically in the past
couple of decades, They are now solid, meaning no lattice structure
to attract birds looking to perch. Also, the blades surface area is
much larger, so they don't have to spin as fast to generate power.
Slower-moving blades mean fewer bird collisions. How Stuff Works:
Do Wind Turbines Kill Birds LOCATION: Smarter placement of wind
turbines, combined with a more bird- friendly design are a couple
of ways to further reduce the number of bird deaths. Altamont Pass,
is in the process of replacing its turbines with newer more
bird-friendly models. How Stuff Works: Do Wind Turbines Kill
Birds
Slide 7
Are Wind Turbines NOISY? This seems to be a very controversial
topic, some people are saying The noise is ruining their quality of
life, and making them miserable - The Telegraph: How Noisy Is a
Wind Farm Others say that the turbines make very little noise
compared to other types of outdoor background noises. Placement of
the towers seems to be the biggest issue when it comes to how loud
the noise is. If the towers are placed far enough from the
residences. Click on the icon on the next slide and decide for
yourself. The closest that a wind turbine is typically placed to a
home is 300 meters or more. At that distance, a turbine will have a
sound pressure level of 43 decibels. To put that in context, the
average air conditioner can reach 50 decibels of noise, and most
refrigerators run at around 40 decibels. GE Reports: How Loud is a
Wind Turbine
Slide 8
Slide 9
What do you think? -Recordings of Nature: Wind turbine sound
field recording This sample was taken with high quality microphones
placed 50 meters from the tower on a moderately windy day.
Slide 10
Wind Power Is Also Dangerous For Humans Statistically wind
power is more dangerous per kilowatt hour than coal, oil and gas.
On a million-megawatt-hour basis, the wind-energy industry has
averaged 0.0220 deaths compared with 0.0147 for coal over the years
2003-2008. Even adding coals share of fatalities in the
power-generation industry, which brings the rate up to 0.0164,
still leaves wind power with a 34 percent higher mortality rate.
For the record, the workplace fatality rate for wind also exceeds
that for oil and gas on an equivalent-energy basis. -
NebraskaHeritage.org article: Wind Power is More Dangerous than
Coal and Oil by David Kreutzer
Slide 11
How is the scenery affected? -Adams County Wind
Slide 12
Other Negative Externalities -Google Images: Wind Turbine
Issues
Slide 13
References NebraskaHeritage.org article: Wind Power is More
Dangerous than Coal and Oil by David Kreutzer
(http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/26/wind-power-is-more-dangerous-
than-coal-or-oil/#idc-cover) U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife:
Many Human Caused Threats Affect Bird Population
(http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf)http://www.fws.gov/birds/mortality-fact-sheet.pdf
The Telegraph: How Noisy Is a Wind Farm
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8621266/How-noisy-is-a-wind-
farm.html)http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/8621266/How-noisy-is-a-wind-
farm.html Recordings of Nature: Wind turbine sound field recording
(http://recordingsofnature.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/vind-turbine-sound-field-
recording/)http://recordingsofnature.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/vind-turbine-sound-field-
recording/ Adams County Wind: Advocates for Responsible Energy
Development
(http://www.adamscountywind.com)http://www.adamscountywind.com How
Stuff Works: Do Wind Turbines Kill Birds By Julia Layton
(http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-
birds1.htm)http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/wind-turbine-kill-
birds1.htm GE Reports: How Loud is a Wind Turbine
(http://www.gereports.com/how-loud-is-a-
wind-turbine/)http://www.gereports.com/how-loud-is-a- wind-turbine/
Google Image Search: Wind Turbine Issues
