What are the Pros and Cons of Wind Energy

The pros and cons of wind energy are normal and occur whenever a new technology begins to grow in popularity. There is nothing complex about the idea of using the kinetic power of wind to provide electricity for homes and businesses. Though the concept of using energy from the wind is a simple one, implementing the technology is another story.

It is the implementation that leads to arguments about the pros and cons of wind energy. You might think the cost of installing towers and wind turbines is the source of conflict but that’s not the case. The arguments are more practical in nature and focus on reliability of wind energy and on potential environmental drawbacks of wind farm developments.

Damage to Wildlife

One potential problem often used as an argument against wind turbines was the potential harm to bird species due to the tall towers that might interfere with flight paths. Anti-wind energy groups postulated birds would be killed flying into the towers and blades and that associated energy plants would cause pollution that further reduced bird populations.

It’s true that a limited number of birds might be harmed by wind turbines, this does not seem to be a realistic problem. Birds are killed frequently when they fly into glass windows of high rise buildings but that doesn’t eliminate use of skyscrapers. Birds often fly into glass panes because the glass is invisible and they are seeing their own reflection in the window. Many buildings have solved this problem by adding graphics or other elements either on or behind big glass windows in tall structures. This gives the appearance of substance and reduces bird death greatly.

Wind towers are not made of glass nor do they have reflective windows. Studies of established wind farms have shown no reduction in the species or number of birds that live, feed and reproduce in the area of the wind turbines. This has removed the objections of anti-wind power groups. Birds in flight seem capable of avoiding collisions with the wind turbines and have been able to coexist quite well with wind farms.

Environmental Effects and Land Management

A major environmental argument when discussing the pros and cons of wind energy has been conce
for the acreage needed to build a wind farm. It was believed that all of the land where wind turbines were located would be unusable. Supporters of wind energy claimed the physical space needed for a wind tower was the exact size of the base of the structure. Opponents claimed a full five acres of land was rendered unusable for each wind turbine installation. They say a safety zone must be included around each wind tower base.

The land use argument was more than simply a disagreement about land devoted to wind energy. The questions was whether it was safe to use the land near wind farms and whether it was responsible to dedicated a full 50 acres of land to produce a single megawatt of power. Part of the argument focused on tree removal as land around used for wind energy must be totally cleared for the wind farm to operate efficiently.

Time has shown that land used for a wind farm can also be used for agriculture at the same time. The towers do not keep grass or pasture from growing and you can find cattle and sheep grazing between the wind towers. Farmers and ranchers could allow wind farms to be located on their vast acreage without losing use of the land as pasture for livestock.

One by one, many of the pros and cons of wind energy have been debated and solutions found. One problem that remains is the question of whether the energy that can be harnessed from the wind is worth the cost of production. Wind turbines are expensive and the environmental impact goes much farther than the wind farm installation.

There are environmental consequences in produces the huge towers, blades and turbines. The lifespan of the wind farms is not yet established completely and anti-wind energy groups question whether the environmental damage of manufacturing is greater than the value of the energy produced.

Summary

The technology is rapidly advancing and established wind farms are studied to answer questions about the pros and cons of wind energy. One of the latest studies has led to plans to better configure wind farms by placing the towers closer together. Computer models seem to show this would increase the efficiency of energy production contrary to previous beliefs.

The use of wind energy is often limited to commercial installations today. The cost of installing towers is prohibitive for most consumers but this could change. Smaller towers, more efficient and less expensive turbines and improved energy production could make wind energy a viable alte
ative in the future.