So, before we proclaim victory against our profligate use of fossil fuels in the last 50 years, politicians and environmental groups might ponder the huge costs in dollars and environmental damage before 20-storey windmills festoon our coastlines, our sea lanes and our beautiful Quebec hills.

Bowark Energy, LTD of Alberta Canada entered into agreements with landowners "in an around Letellier, St. Joseph and the rural municipalities of Montcalm and Rhineland to secure exclusive right-of way and easement across, over, under, through and above the Lands for purposes of constructing, operating and maintaining electrical power generating wind turbines, electrical powerlines and related facilities and for any other Project related purposes".

This document compiled for Ontario electricity consumers provides an comprehensive explanation of the hidden-costs of industrial wind energy. It also directly addresses the question of whether wind power provides a meaningful reduction in carbon emissions.

In times of low wind, or during maintenance, a wind turbine will consume a small amount of power to run computers, communications, hydraulics, yaw motors, heaters and radiator fans. When a turbine is generating, its power curve (or rated output) is net of power consumption, so it does not draw power from the grid at that time. Commercial scale wind turbines produce power 70-80% of the time, with output ranging from a small amount to the full rated capacity of the turbine. A typical wind turbine will produce 100 times more power than it consumes in a given month. Its consumption and peak load are very small. A 1.8 MW turbine may have peak load of 27kW, with a resting consumption of as low as 5 kW. Wind turbines are principally suppliers of power to the system, and any consumption is purely incidental. As such, wind turbines are not typical demand customers and should not be treated as other loads.

Mr. Schneider, a retired biologist from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and a 38-year resident of Cape Vincent, provided these compelling comments in response to Canadian Hydro Developers' environmental review report on the Wolfe Island wind project. The first page of his letter is provided below. The full text can be accessed by clicking on the link(s) at the bottom of this page.

This community based surveillance activity was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Robert McMurtry, the Former Dean of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario. The health survey revealed that out of 76 respondents, 53 people now living near different wind power facilities in Ontario reported that industrial wind turbines were having a significant negative impact on their lives. The adverse effects range from headaches and sleep disturbance to tinnitus (ringing in the ear) and depression. The abstract of his report is posted below. The full report, complete with responses from participants can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

On Jun 12, MA DOER granted Hydro Quebec approval for 108MW of wind to be eligible for the MA Rec market. There is an additional 212MW of wind that is already operating and may soon follow. DOER's decision is attached. A number of folks familiar with the New England REC market believe this decision, to be followed by others, will seriously depress REC values.

International Experience With Implementing Wind Energy examines the relative costs, advantages and disadvantages of wind generation. In addition, the report explores infrastructure issues, public attitudes toward wind development, and the various policy instruments used to support the development of wind energy in countries that are leaders in implementing wind energy.

Rube Goldberg would admire the utter purity of the pretensions of wind technology in pursuit of a safer modern world, claiming to be saving the environment while wreaking havoc upon it. But even he might be astonished by the spin of wind industry spokesmen. Consider the comments made by the American Wind Industry Association.s Christina Real de Azua in the wake of the virtual nonperformance of California.s more than 13,000 wind turbines in mitigating the electricity crisis precipitated by last July.s .heat storm.. .You really don.t count on wind energy as capacity,. she said. .It is different from other technologies because it can.t be dispatched.. (84) The press reported her comments solemnly without question, without even a risible chortle. Because they perceive time to be running out on fossil fuels, and the lure of non-polluting wind power is so seductive, otherwise sensible people are promoting it at any cost, without investigating potential negative consequences-- and with no apparent knowledge of even recent environmental history or grid operations.

Eventually, the pedal of wishful thinking and political demagoguery will meet the renitent metal of reality in the form of the Second Law of Thermodynamics (85) and public resistance, as it has in Denmark and Germany. Ironically, support for industrial wind energy because of a desire for reductions in fossil-fueled power and their polluting emissions leads ineluctably to nuclear power, particularly under pressure of relentlessly increasing demand for reliable electricity. Environmentalists who demand dependable power generation at minimum environmental risk should take care about what they wish for, more aware that, with Rube Goldberg machines, the desired outcome is unlikely to be achieved. Subsidies given to industrial wind technology divert resources that could otherwise support effective measures, while uninformed rhetoric on its behalf distracts from the discourse.and political action-- necessary for achieving more enlightened policy.