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Wind farms not the answer
Credit: The Windsor Star, www.windsorstar.com 15 October 2011 ~~
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Translate: FROM English | TO English
All this hype about wind turbines being safe, efficient and producing jobs is simply not true. If we take the time to do a little research, we will discover the truth before it is too late.
Let’s look at what is happening around the world. There are physical dangers to wind turbines. Short circuits, friction and lightening can produce fires that firefighters cannot reach because their ladders are too short.
The height of the turbines makes them expensive and difficult to maintain. Insurance statistics reveal that wind turbines run into problems frequently despite manufacturer claims that they should function problem-free for 20 years.
There are health dangers with wind turbines. Living too close to wind turbines can cause wind turbine syndrome (WTS). Symptoms include tachycardia, heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, sleep deprivation, nausea, visual blurring, irritability and migraines, according to studies conducted in the U.S., UK, Italy, Ireland and Canada.
New wind farms do not bring jobs. More than 80 per cent of the money spent on wind energy goes to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines. In the U.S., a study found that more than 6,000 jobs have been created overseas while only a couple hundred have been created in the entire U.S.
It gets worse. A-power, a Chinese company, plans to build a massive $1.5-billion wind farm in west Texas. The company will get $450 million in stimulus money. It will provide a mere 300 domestic jobs and over 3,000 jobs in China.
So why are we falling for all this hype? Foreign companies make billions from us and produce thousands of jobs overseas. We get a handful of jobs, increased health risks, ruined landscapes and broken turbines. This is not the answer.
KATHRYN MacDONELL
Windsor
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