December 22, 2015 AD
A Realistic Look at Wind Energy
We need high-capacity electrical power in Summer to run our air conditioners, along with all the other electrical apparatus in our homes and businesses. Look at the two columns to the far left. Note that “Installed Capacity” (in MegaWatts) for natural gas is the same as “Summer Capacity”, whereas “Summer Capacity” for wind power is merely one-eighth its “Installed Capacity”.
Environmental Impact
To construct a coal-fired electrical power generation plant, there must be a costly environmental impact assessment. The same holds true for nuclear power plant construction. Such assessments are required for wind farms, but not with the same scrutiny and most certainly not with the same worldview.
Our federal government, acting through the EPA and DOE, along with the IPCC, holds a worldview that any power plant powered by natural, God-provided ‘fossil fuels’ is inherently very bad for us. Thus, the opinion of these two leftist entities is wind power is inherently “clean” and “harmless” to the environment.
Use of windmills for the generation of electrical energy is the only legal means by which Texans can indiscriminately kill eagles and other protected species of birds and bats. Back in 2013 we know that over 600,000 bats were annually killed by windmills nationwide, according to an article in Popular Science dated November 19, 2013. Why are bats important?
Bat Conservation International says, “Many of the more than 1,300 bat species consume vast amounts of insects, including some of the most damaging agricultural pests. Others pollinate many valuable plants, ensuring the production of fruits that support local economies, as well as diverse animal populations. Fruit-eating bats in the tropics disperse seeds that are critical to restoring cleared or damaged rainforests. Even bat droppings (called guano) are valuable as a rich natural fertilizer. Guano is a major natural resource worldwide, and, when mined responsibly with bats in mind, it can provide significant economic benefits for landowners and local communities.”
How will energy removed from the winds affect agriculture in Texas? How will the destruction by windmills of birds and bats that control insect populations affect agriculture in Texas? Can there be any effects on Texas weather? No one knows. No one is asking these questions. Except little old me.
Reality Check
- Coal-fired power plants currently fuel 41% of global electricity and, in some countries, coal fuels a higher percentage of electricity. Source: World Coal Association
- For the first time ever, natural gas trumped coal as the top source of electric power generation in the U.S. In April, roughly 31 percent of electric power generation came from natural gas, whereas coal accounted for 30 percent. Source: CNBC – Natural gas tops coal as top source of electricity in US
- Regardless how Barack Obama politicizes various federal departments of the Executive Branch to promote hypothetical global-warming/climate-change, genuine science developed by NASA continues to disprove this president’s agenda to destroy natural energy sources like coal and methane gas. Natural News: Global warming debunked: NASA report verifies carbon dioxide actually cools atmosphere
- Two different styles of volcanic eruption appear to have been the principal determinants of climate change throughout geologic time. Source: Watts Up With That?
Summary
Environmental activists promote wind energy as the perfect source of electricity, regardless history and the facts. We must demand Congress protect us from such activists, chief among them Barack Hussein Obama.
John White
Rockwall, Texas
Vox Populi Non Peri 