The first blow to the Plan has been the tumble in gas prices. The fall has been so far as to force cutbacks in production at Alberta’s oil sands – it now costs more to extract a barrel of oil from the sands than producers can get selling on the world market. As to wind energy, its capital start-up costs are even higher. In effect, it’s still priced out of the market.
Maybe No Price Is Right
More to the point is the second snag. Detractors of wind turbines have assembled a lengthy inventory of drawbacks which they are using to delay development. These include objections to noise and appearance, the potential for endangerment of birds, and the threat of collapse in severe weather. These deserve a closer look.
When they’re generating power, that is, when the wind is blowing, the turbines do make some noise. While it isn’t deafening, it can be irritating, partly because it is intermittent. This is one of the reasons developers have been obliged to set back the turbines from human habitations.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Apparently, so is ugliness. “Forests” of wind turbines stretching to the horizon are not everyone’s idea of scenic landscape. For example, the prospect of a wind farm on Cape Cod, seaside playground of America’s rich and famous for over a century, is facing powerful opposition because it will mar the skyline. Appearance has become the first bastion of resistance for opponents whenever the looming towers are proposed. The principle of wind energy may be widely accepted as an apt alternative energy source, just “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY).
Fatal Attraction
Apart from often being termed a noisy eyesore, the towers, sometimes 100-200 metres high, can be lethal to birds, including birds which might be on the endangered or rare species lists. This is a concern to naturalists, explaining why developers’ environmental impact studies for new turbine projects now take into account comprehensive data on bird habitat and migratory flyways.
Birds are not the only creatures that may be at risk. One developer in England has found his company obliged to address a possible problem of horses on an historic bridle path being spooked by the sound. This objection is somewhat reminiscent of the introduction of the horseless carriage, when some towns banned these noisy contraptions from their streets because they frightened the horses, which, prior to the automobile, were the principal mode of transportation.
Blowing in the Wind
Industrial sized wind turbines appear very fragile to many people. They can envision the towers collapsing during a gale or the blades flying off to wreak destruction on buildings or people unlucky enough to be in their path. There is also the possibility of a low flying aircraft colliding with one in fog or a skydiver being clipped by a spinning blade.
Since the late Seventies, when wind turbine accident data began to be collected, all of these incidents and more have occurred. Despite that, to reduce their frequency may prove easier to achieve than competitively priced development.
