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Things you should know about Eric Rosenbloom’s paper ‘A Problem with Wind Power’
Things you should know about Eric Rosenbloom’s paper ‘A Problem with Wind Power’ (http://www.aweo.org/ProblemWithWind.html and on SaveJonesBeach.org) In his very strange paper, a Mr. Rosenbloom argues that power produced by large wind plants is useless and that "large wind turbines use as much electricity as they produce". Amazingly, Rosenbloom states that "It is clear that industrial wind generation is not able to contribute anything against the problems of global warming, pollution, nuclear waste, or dependence on imports." Read on to find out the truth about some of Mr. Rosenbloom's imaginative distortions. |
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The Problem with ‘A Problem with Wind Power’
The Distortion "No power plants have been shutdown in other countries with wind turbines because wind is an intermittent resource. The Truth Both Germany and Sweden have shut down nuclear reactors with the intent of supplying the loss of capacity with wind power (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8058171/)&(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4536203.stm) The Distortion If you build wind turbines you need backup generation The Truth Electric grid systems can handle a certain percent of wind power without needing additional generation. The 140MW able to be produced by the wind park is within these parameters. The grid is already designed to compensate for loss-of-load contingencies when large power plant units suddenly become unavailable The Distortion Because other electric generators need to be running at lower efficiencies in ‘spinning reserve’ they will actually pollute more than the avoided emissions from the wind turbines The Truth The fact is: electrical generating units are constantly varying their outputs, starting and stopping, as the demand for electricity rises and falls throughout the day. When not running or burning less fuel, they pollute less! The Distortion Other countries are reducing their subsides for wind power The Truth This is what is supposed to happen with any industry as it reaches a sustainable point in any market. E.g. Spain began to reduce subsides in 2002 and their wind generating capacity still grew 33% in the last two years. (in the USA fossil fuels still receive very large subsides despite overwhelming market penetration) The Distortion The German Energy Agency report issued in February 2005 said increasing wind generation would raise costs by 3.7 times The Truth Completely false. We encourage you to visit the agencies website and read their report to see for yourself that Mr.Rosenbloom’s claim was uniformed (http://www.deutsche-energie-agentur.de). The true additional cost per household is 12 euro a year The Distortion The US Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the use of monopole towers as a means to mitigate bird deaths The Truth Completely False, the document Mr.Rosenbloom cites, actually promotes the use of monopoles to mitigate bird deaths. It appears he didn’t read his own citation.(http://www.fws.gov/habitatconservation/wind.pdf , pg.6 statement # 1) |