Be Educated About Energy Policy: Windmills Aren’t Very Effective
There is currently a lot of hype around “green energy,” sources of energy that are environmentally safe. Green energy is an especially valuable concept in crowded urban areas with high pollution. However, it is very important for supporters to be educated about different types of energy and their actual efficiency. Rather than blindly supporting wind energy, be wary of those who are backing the construction of windmills and be mindful of other available types of energy.
William Tucker is an author who has been writing for over two decades about environmental and energy concerns. He published Terrestrial Energy in September 2008 about the advantage of nuclear power over other alternative sources of energy. I first became aware of his work when I read an article he wrote in the August, 18 2008 issue of National Review. It is titled “Tilting We Will Go?” and describes how “windmills are not an energy policy.”
William Tucker analyzed energy sources, namely wind and nuclear energy, in terms of “energy density,” which is how much energy can be produced from a specific measure (size, weight, etc.) of a source. He notes that energy obtained from fossil fuels (ex. coal) ranges from 5 to 50 times stronger than solar power, wind, water and biofuels. The early dream of green energy was idealistic. In reality, it takes a lot of space to produce a fraction of the energy produced by oil. The typical wind farm takes about 125 square miles. A coal mine just takes a few square miles. (I acknowledge that those are a few dangerous miles, as coal mining is not a safe job.) Further, wind is sporadic and unpredictable, and wind farms only produce a fraction of their ideal capacity. The erratic nature of wind causes another major issue. The energy grid in America is designed so that energy must be immediately used (cannot be stored). So the output of energy must be very close to the demand. The energy grid must be very carefully managed. Tucker writes, “Now imagine introducing a power source that is constantly fluctuating…Putting windmills on the grid is a little like the Flying Wallendas’ hiring a new crew member to shake the wire while they are doing their balancing act.”
Why do so many people support wind energy? One obvious answer, Tucker points out, is the government requirements and subsidies. Many states require the use of green energy, including wind energy, without truly measuring its benefit. Investors in wind energy (such as T. Boone Pickens) earn tax benefits and can make a profit on their wind farms.
If not wind energy, what sources of green energy are effective? Tucker and many others support nuclear energy, which is splitting the nucleus of an atom to release energy. Nuclear reactors take much less space than wind farms, run much closer to their ideal capacity, are much more stable sources of energy, and produce relatively little waste.
I find the phenomenon of wind energy support an example of how people can easily be swept up by glitzy ideals. It is important as citizens to be educated about the realities of policies. Yes, green energy is an important concept in modern America. But not just any type of green energy deserves support, government funding and investment.