The Three E’s: Energy, Economy, Environment
Industrial wind power fails basic criteria
Environment
- Wind facilities fragment valuable wildlife habitat and alter watersheds.
- Wind facilities destroy prairie grasses, plants, and woodlands which play an important part in converting CO₂ into the oxygen we breathe.
- Wind facilities destroy scenic vistas and natural ecosystems.
Economy
- Federal subsidies pay for two-thirds of the value of a wind project, thus transfering millions of dollars from taxpayers into the pockets of companies that own "wind farms."
- In some states, industrial wind plants do not pay taxes, so the taxpayer makes up for what wind plants do not pay.
- When the power company pays $0.08/kilowatt-hour at wholesale prices for wind energy, the company has to add in the cost of integrating the intermittent power and passes the additional costs along to the ratepayer.
- Conventional energy plants must continue to provide the base load for energy supply. Thus there will be NO reduction in those emissions.
- Wind plants do not provide free energy.
- In most cases,construction workers and materials are not from the local region.
- Denmark and Germany have residential electricity prices that are among the highest in the world and are experiencing many problems due to their use of wind energy.
Energy
- Wind supplies intermittent and variable energy into the grid system.
- Wind is largely unpredictable and cannot be counted on when energy is in demand.
- Wind energy will not replace any conventional power plant.
- Industrial wind facilities produce an average 20-40% of their rated capacity because of the variable wind.