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WIND POWER MAY BE THE GREATEST SCAM OF OUR AGE. by The Elephant's Child

February 23, 2012, 6:52 am
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Environment, Junk Science, Politics | Tags: Intermittent Nature, No subsidy—No Wind, Wind Power Failure

The wind power industry is in a panic. 

The deal to renew a tax credit failed on Thursday in Washington. 

This will have major ramifications where installations of wind projects are planned. Without the subsidy, wind goes out of business.

Christopher Booker points out the problems in Britain’s Daily Mail.  

Governmental obsession with wind is an enormous political blunder. 

Under an agreement with the European Union, Britain is committed within ten years — at enormous expense — to generate nearly a third of its electricity from renewable sources. 

He lists 3 major reasons why it is a gigantic fraud:

1. Promoters speak entirely about “capacity” which means the energy a turbine could produce if all conditions were perfect all the time. Doesn’t happen. Wind is, by its very nature, intermittent, and requires backup from a conventional power plant whenever the wind is not blowing. The expense of putting up wind farms gets an added, and uncounted, expense of building new conventional power plants.
2. Wind is a preposterously expensive way to produce electricity. No one would dream of building wind turbines unless they were guaranteed a huge government subsidy. What other industry gets a public subsidy of 100% or 200% of the value of what it produces.
3. The idea that the industry is somehow making a vital contribution to “saving the planet” by cutting our emissions of CO2 is a lie. The CO2 reduction achieved by wind turbines is so insignificant that one large windfarm saves considerably less in a year than is given off by one jumbo jet flying between Britain and America. That doesn’t count the CO2 emissions generated by the construction.

Aside from that, academic experts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh say half of the turbines at four proposed offshore windfarms are likely to be destroyed by hurricanes in their 20-year life.  What?  Is their life expectancy only 20 years?

The proposed wind farms in Massachusetts, New Jersey , North Carolina and Texas could cost $175 million each, but researchers believe current designs of turbines mean many will not survive. In Europe, salt water damage has proved to be a big problem. 

Turbines can shut down during high winds, but can still buckle in hurricanes. Texas is the most dangerous of the places they studied.

Around the world, wind depends on government subsidy. If the subsidy is removed, the wind farms shut down. A sad comment on their economic viability.

The tax credit, which debuted in 1992, has a history of one- to two-year extensions and years in which it wasn’t extended at all. A bill tied to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended the program until the end of 2012.

Kevin Borgia, who heads the Illinois Wind Energy Coalition, said several years of stability for the tax credit helped drive down costs for wind generation. Without the tax credit, the market for wind power generation will grind to a halt, he predicts.

Paul Bowman, vice president of development at wind developer E.ON Climate and Renewables North America, which has its North American headquarters in Chicago, said his company had about $1 billion in construction planned for next year, tied to the tax credit extension.

Companies are laying off workers or planning layoffs. Some are looking to other countries for business. 

Germany has dozens of anti-wind power groups, and there are increasing numbers in Britain. 

The Dutch have lost interest. 

Spain is out except for the Canary Islands. 

It’s hard for governments who were so sure they had abundant clean green energy at hand to admit that they were only green dreams.

https://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/wind-power-may-be-the-greatest-scam-of-our-age/