WIND MYTHS CORRECTED

A noted science writer set himself the task of saving NewEnergyNews some trouble. Science writer Michael Schriber corrected some persistent myths about wind energy. But first, why are these myths so persistent?

Business is competitive and wind energy is in the process of taking business away from some of the most powerful, established energy industries in the world. Doing so inevitably breeds opposition.

Example: Suppose you own coal mines and coal-burning power plants. You read that there is something called global climate change and it is changing the world and it is caused by coal plant emissions.

Two people approach you. One says he can build something onto your coal plant to make the coal you burn “clean.” The other says coal can never be “clean” but he can build a wind turbine installation on your land to produce clean energy.

Which do you listen to?

You listen to the guy who will make your plant burn “clean” because there seems to be tons more money in it for you and the thing you're familiar with is coal. The wind has never been much more to you than a direction.

A neighbor who doesn’t own coal mines or coal plants decides to put up wind turbines. Pretty soon he is generating clean energy.

The guy who is going to make your coal plant clean comes back about the same time and says he’s almost got the problems with the technology worked out and needs some more money.

You look over at the wind installation, mutter, and give him the money.

You read that global climate change is getting worse.

A little later the “clean” coal guy comes back and says he’s almost got the problems with the technology worked out and needs some more money.

You look over at the wind installation, mutter, and give him the money.

You read that global climate change is getting worse and the government is planning to start charging for coal plant emissions.

A little later the “clean” coal guy comes back and says he’s almost got the problems with the technology worked out and needs some more money.

You look over at the wind turbines. The guy who owns them is building more.

Suddenly, noise from the turbines you hadn’t noticed before starts irritating you.

You notice that a few errant birds flying through have hit the blades and you start thinking the worst about it without asking if the bird fatalities are the exception or the rule.

You wonder if the turbines are producing energy as cheap as the coal you burn without considering how much you are paying to make the energy you produce clean (though you haven’t actually produced any clean energy).

Meanwhile, the guy down the road with a 30-year-old nuclear plant phones and gloats because he is producing clean, cheap energy and tells you should have built nuclear when he did.

You hang up on him and smile because you know he still doesn’t know what he’s going to do with all the nuclear waste piling up at his plant. You smile bigger when you imagine him glowing in the dark. That’s when you remember why you didn’t build a nuclear plant 30 years ago: Publicity.

You pick up the phone and call the best public relations guy in town. “Let me tell you about the all the noise from wind turbines, and the way they kill birds. And how expensive they are…”

The direction the wind is blowing: Wind presently produces 1-to-2% of U.S. power. By 2030, it is expected to produce 20% of U.S. power. Coal presently produces 48-t0-49% of U.S. power. Its share falls yearly.

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5 Myths About Wind Energy
Michael Schriber, September 24, 2008 (Live Science)

WHO
Michael Schriber, science writer

WHAT
Schriber picks apart 5 untruths that plague wind energy in the popular press: (1)Wind is cheap. (2) The U.S. is behind the rest of the world in developing wind. (3) Wind turbines are loud. (4) Wind turbines kill birds. (5) Any house can own a windmill.

At 2008 costs, almost any form of new generation, and certainly wind, is less expensive than new nuclear. Wind may be expensive but other forms of new large-scale generation are more expensive. (click to enlarge)
WHEN
- 1982: The first U.S. wind installation went online.
- 1985; 1,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
- 1999: 2,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
- 2003: 5,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
- 2006: The U.S. wind energy industry reached the mark of 10,000 megawatts of installed capacity.
- 2008: The U.S. wind energy industry reached the mark of 20,000 megawatts of installed capacity. (September 2008: 20,152 megawatts)
- December 31, 2008: The production tax credit (PTC) expires.
- 2008: Total capacity added for the year is expected to be ~7,500 megawatts, bringing the U.S. total installed capacity by year’s end to ~24,300 megawatts.

WHERE
- Myth (2) The U.S. is behind the rest of the world.
Denmark gets 20% of its power from wind. Germany has the biggest number of turbines. China will double its capacity this year. But, because of strong U.S. winds, it produces the most megawatts of wind energy of any country in the world.
- Myth (5) Any house can have a turbine.
A turbine needs a lot of space or the wind will be interrupted and less productive. The small turbine market, however, grew 14% in 2007.

WHY
- Myth (1) Wind is cheap.
Initial investment for commercial-scale turbines is a few million dollars/megawatt for purchase, installation and grid connection. They also require maintenance over their 20-year lifetime. In spite of intermittencies and other factors, however, a rough estimate is 4 cents/kilowatt-hour (DOE), slightly more than already-built coal but cheaper than new coal or new nuclear.
- Myth (3) Wind turbines are loud.
Old turbines were noisy, newer designs not so much. The myth was generated by one turbine built in 1978. It’s low-frequency sound waves that rattled windows and made some people sick in nearby Boone, N.C. The industry doesn’t use turbines anymore. New rotors turn slower and are mounted in front of the towers, dramatically cutting noise (Pat Moriarty, National Renewable Energy Lab). And designs are being further refined.
- Myth (4) Wind turbines kill birds.
Not so much anymore. The first installation (1982) in California’s Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area is placed in a migratory bird pathway, has 4,800 small, older turbines with the wrong kinds of towers and are packed close together with rotors low to the ground. As a result of all these mistakes, 1,000 birds (half raptors) die there each year. New installations are carefully sited, use taller, more widely spaced turbines with a different type of towers and now more birds are killed by cats, by tall buildings and by cars than are killed by turbines.

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QUOTES
- Schriber: “Wind energy might be the simplest renewable energy to understand. Yet there are misconceptions about what makes the wind industry turn.”
- Schriber: “No one owns the wind…”