Wind Watch’s Post

“The lessons here are that wind power is not environmentally friendly, and it is not cost effective. And even if it were, its intermittent, weather-dependent generation isn’t particularly practical. It’s certainly not worth risking the extinction of several species to produce.” —Robert Roper, “Thar She Blows!” October 5, 2023

Wind power expansion meets grassroots resistance in Brazil’s northeast #BRA: Cousins Nilson José dos Santos and Geremias da Cruz dos Anjos grew up together in neighboring rural communities in Brazil’s impoverished Northeast. The ruggedness of the land here and recurring drought make it unsuitable for the commercial farming that has transformed so much of the country. Yet energy companies have found something here to harvest: the wind. The changes to the land have been dramatic. Enel Green Power, an Italian energy company, has put up one of Latin America’s largest . . . #windpower #windenergy

Vier Storchenjunge verlieren durch Unfall ihren Vater #DEU: [The blades of a wind turbine in Seelze-Dedensen have proved fatal for a stork father. One of the blades caught the legs of the stork flying past, who then died in agony. Because the stork mother is unable to raise four chicks on her own, two of them were taken to the wildlife and species protection station in Sachsenhagen.] Die Flügel eines Windrades in Seelze-Dedensen sind für einen Storchenvater zum Verhängnis geworden. Einer der Flügel erwischte die Beine des vorbeifliegenden . . . #windpower #windenergy

Could wind farm survey or navy sonar have caused whale deaths? #SCT: Last summer another smaller pod of long-finned pilot whales washed up on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles. At that time it was suggested that seismic surveys, carried out to locate potential locations for offshore wind farms, were potentially responsible. There was fresh speculation that similar acoustic activity had been carried out along the seabed west of Orkney. #windpower #windenergy

Wind turbine workers at Hull’s Siemens Gamesa blade plant balloted for strike action over pay #ENG: Around 300 Siemens Gamesa wind turbine workers in Hull are being balloted for strike action over pay, the Unite union said today (Friday, July 12). The workers, who construct 108m-long wind turbine blades by hand, are angry at a 4.5 per cent pay offer plus an opaque incentive scheme, according to Unite. Since 2018, wages at the factory on the banks of the Humber estuary have dropped by 11.9 per cent in real terms, it said. Unite general secretary Sharon . . . #windpower #windenergy

Copper thieves target wind turbines near Saskatchewan border #AB: RCMP are looking for thieves who stole copper from wind turbines in eastern Alberta. Provost RCMP reported three “incidents of mischief” in which thieves damaged the turbines while removing copper over the last three days from the structures north of Hayter, Alta., a hamlet close to the Saskatchewan border located 262 kilometres southeast of Edmonton. Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call Provost RCMP at 780-753-2215, local police or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS). #windpower #windenergy

(archive: 2014) Wind farms on undegraded peatlands are unlikely to reduce future carbon emissions #SCT: Highlights Future wind farms located on undegraded peats will not reduce carbon emissions. This is due to projected changes in fossil fuels used to generate electricity. Future policy should avoid constructing wind farms on undegraded peats. Abstract Onshore wind energy is a key component of the renewable energies used by governments to reduce carbon emissions from electricity production, but will carbon emissions be reduced when wind farms are located on carbon-rich peatands? Wind farms are often located in uplands because . . . #windpower #windenergy

(video archive) Blown Away: Blown Away: the hidden costs and harms of large-scale wind energy #windpower #windenergy

“This industry has always wrapped itself in the mantle of green power and has sought to use the environmental benefits of wind power as an excuse for not doing anything about the environmental harms it causes.” —Rick Wiebe, Calif.

Illinois clean energy transition excludes key constituents in energy justice equation, study argues #IL: Illinois has made transitioning to clean energy a major priority in recent years with the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) in 2016 and the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) in 2021. Both pieces of legislation prioritize an equitable transition, aiming to avoid and address historical wrongdoings associated with environmental injustice. However, a recent study, published in Political Geography by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, suggests the state, in attempting to redress historical wrongs, used an overly . . . #windpower #windenergy