I have recently read a bit more about this new fight over wind power…It appears that there are now three or so arguments being used against offshore wind. Let me see if I can encapsulate some of these arguments….

1. Wind Turbines and the building process is killing whales – This is an ongoing mantra with no supportable evidence. That is sad. Each of the dead whales appear to be the victims of ship collisions or other issues related to their coming closer to shore due to warming seas…This has now been taken up as an “environmental” mantra by the fossil fuel industry and every party that is opposed to renewable energy. I say this again…those environmental organizations making unsubstantiated claims are hurting marine life in the long run…not helping…based on my best read of the pertinent facts. Sadly, it appears that these groups being used.
2. The Carbon footprint of wind turbines belies their environmental benefit due to concrete use – This is a new argument and I almost don’t know how to respond. First, yes, concrete has a very large carbon footprint…ie, embedded carbon. The total embedded carbon numbers have not been postulated by any organization…(To the wind industry, you may want to provide these numbers)….but at the same time, the lifecycle offset of wind power generation has been ignored. On a sub – note, there are a number of comments made regarding the emissions due to transmission technology…however, not one comparison to fossil fuel embedded carbon, or release of carbon from extraction, transportation, and transmission is provided…
   I will argue that it would be helpful to see such lifecycle numbers…I hypothesize that it is much lower with wind power…especially if we consider more than 100 years of fossil fuel extraction and use. But I am open to an analysis….My point is stop throwing up unsubstantiated claims of environmental harm to stop something you simply don’t want.
3. Total environmental impact – My goodness, these claims become more and more outlandish. First, while it is true that blades have a useful life, recycling technologies are already being developed and are in use in multiple locations..It took an act of law to get oil companies to recycle oil. Come on, renewables are way ahead of the curve. I do not excuse putting the cart before the horse..that is, developing a technology without the end of life issues resolved, but this process has been much faster with renewables than ever before.
4. Visual pollution – Almost not worth answering. The loudest opponents to wind turbines off shore are those with homes at the shore. Homes I point out, that I and every other taxpayer subsidize with discounted insurance..and many of which should not be there to start with for a multitude of environmental reasons. These claims are NIMBY at its worst.

The long and the short of this is we need renewables…All energy generation has negative environmental impacts. I have a book written on this that is decades old and there is nothing new being mentioned. The reality is, delay is much more dangerous and those opposed to this technology have offered nothing more than innuendo and limited facts…

We have just experienced the hottest day on this planet in over 125,000 years based on the best science available. Should we wait some more?

Thoughts?

Read The Full Article Here:
The dirty details of offshore wind’s ‘clean energy’ | Opinion